1 in 5 Facebook videos are now Live, according to Facebook video product lead Fidji Simo. Additionally, Simo says the daily watch time for Facebook Live broadcasts has grown by more than 4x over the past year.
Why it matters:
Revenue: Mark Zuckerberg has been warning investors for months that Facebook advertising revenue was expected to "come down meaningfully" as the company grapples with the fact that they can't add more display ad units to the newsfeed without it becoming overly saturated. With little room left to grow Facebook's display ad business, the next logical way for Facebook to make money is through video advertising. Earlier this year, Facebook announced it was testing mid roll ads for Live videos with select publishers. The success of Live means Facebook could make up for display advertising losses with Live video ads.
Content partnerships: Facebook's Live success could help them court more content partners for live video. So far they've won the MLB live streaming partnership but lost the coveted NFL streaming partnership earlier this week to Amazon.
