Quartz launches new business show with Facebook Watch

Quartz will be one of the 20 publishers launching a new Facebook Watch series this summer, with a new show about the global economy called “Quartz News,” Facebook’s Campbell Brown told Axios Monday.

Why it matters: This is the digital news site’s first weekly show and it will be focused on international reporting. It’s also an opportunity for Facebook to experiment with an outlet that’s trying to weave a bot messaging experiment into the Watch experience.

How it works: A Messenger experience created by the Quartz Bot Studio will complement the programming by surfacing story headlines in chats with users, encouraging viewers to engage in conversations about the news, and asking users to send us imagery they’ve shot around the world. Quartz says its messenger bot has exchanges 99 messages with the average user.

• “We’re creating a new kind of news show, one that is truly global, digitally native, and creative — and that makes viewers smarter about the top business issues. We’re also integrating it deeply with an interactive bot experience, drawing from our flagship Quartz for Messenger on Facebook,” says Quartz editor-in-chief and co-president Kevin Delaney.
• Quartz says its goal is to explore unique perspectives on the economic and technological forces underpinning global events.
• Quartz’s Preeti Varathan, an economics and finance reporter in New York, will be a reporter on the show. The show will display journalism from Quartz news bureaus around the world in Asia, Africa, India, Europe and the Americas.