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Facebook Keen on TV-Like Programming Excluding Hard News?

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Reportedly, Facebook Inc. is now looking to bring TV like programming to its platform, including a variety of genres like sports, lifestyle and gaming but with the exception of hard news.

Per The Wall Street Journal, after having come under fire for fake news dissemination that was widely considered to be the reason for the surprise elections results, Facebook has chosen to stay away from hard news programming.

WSJ stated, citing sources familiar with the matter, Facebook is ready to shell out “low-to-mid six figures” per episode that runs for half an hour. This figure is low compared with millions of dollars that Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) and others pay for obtaining content. Facebook is more keen on getting weekly series for its platform reports WSJ.

Facebook is focused on boosting live video content on its platform. Online video is emerging as a big opportunity to boost ad revenues. Ad revenues contribute over 90% to Facebook’s total revenue. Earlier, it was reported that Facebook is looking to grab a share of the reportedly $70 billon brand advertising that is allocated to linear TV by increasing video content on its platform.  At its last earnings call, Facebook said that video emerged as a “megatrend” on the same lines like mobile.

As video ads generate more revenues than its photo and text-based substitutes, Facebook and a host of other social media sites like Twitter are trying to incorporate more and more video oriented content to bring in more ad dollars.

Facebook recently unveiled a new TV app to enhance the video viewing experience. The app will be initially available on app stores on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Samsung Smart TV and will be rolled out to other platforms gradually.

Moreover, to enhance the video viewing experiencing, Facebook, in a blog post, had mentioned that mobile users will be able to hear sound automatically in their news feed. Earlier, one had to tap on the video to listen but with the new feed, there is no need for that. Users can choose to “disable” the feature by switching off “Videos in News Feed Start With Sound” in Settings. Also, Facebook has improved vertical video experiencing on mobile phones by incorporating a “larger format.” The company also introduced a picture-in-picture view that will help users to watch videos and scroll at the same time.

Last year, it signed deals with media houses and Internet celebrities to churn out more content for its live platform and added a host of new features to Facebook Live. Also, recently, it brought on board an ex-MTV executive, Mina Lefevre, to increase original live video content on the platform.

Recently, Facebook collaborated with Univision Communications Inc. to live stream 46 Liga MX games for an undisclosed amount. Live streaming of these games (also the playoffs) will be available only in the U.S. Reportedly, live streaming of these games at present will be ad free as Facebook works out an ad revenue model. It is also reportedly in talks with MLB.

Streaming especially live sports is one of the most lucrative opportunities as it helps to boost engagement levels (especially millennials) and brings more advertisers. All social media sites are scrambling to get more and more sports oriented live streaming on their platform.

Zacks Rank & Share Price Movement

Facebook carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past one year, Facebook’s shares have registered growth of 29.66% compared with the Zacks Internet Services industry’s gain of 15.64%.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Pick

A better-ranked stock in the wider technology space is MeetMe Inc , which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

In the trailing four quarters, MeetMe recorded a positive average earnings surprise of 36.07%.

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