The Internet's live video duopoly: Facebook vs YouTube
- Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends
Facebook launched its live platform last year. It now says 1 in 5 videos on its platform are live, and daily time spent watching Facebook Live broadcasts has grown by more than 4x.
Why it matters: The video duopoly of Facebook and YouTube is killing it in the arms race for live-streaming dominance, which should have traditional TV companies worried. Nearly half of online users watch live-streaming every week and nearly a quarter say they watch live-streaming every day, per Magid's latest social broadcasting study.
Facebook also announced earlier this year it's finally matching YouTube in giving publishers a 55 percent cut of ad dollars to seed its real-time offerings.
Both platforms have launched a ton of live-streaming partnerships around sports in particular. Why? Look at the type of programming watched live versus on DVR, via comScore:
- Sports: 90% - 10%
- News: 90% - 10%
- Comedy: 85% - 15%
- Movies: 85% - 15%
- Reality: 75% - 25%
- Drama: 71% - 29%