Facebook seems to be really serious about live video. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company will spend more than $50 million in deals with celebrities and publishers to advertise live videos over the next year.
The highest contracts are with BuzzFeed, New York Times and CNN, which will collectively receive $3 million for a period from March 2016 to March 2017. Various personalities have also joined the advertising dance, such as Kevin Hart, Gordon Ramsey, and Deepak Chopra.
While most publishers already use Facebook on their own, the company clearly wants to create incentives for them to produce quality content. More live streams mean more people actively engaging on the social network.
For now, Facebook is promoting the new feature , but once it reaches its goal, you will see the arrival of ads through it. After all, we live in a free market and at some point the costs must be covered with a profit.
