Facebook has long maintained that it’s far from a media company even though there are many that would contest that claim which is probably why the company’s decision to launch a video news channel might not sit well with some. According to a new report by Axios today, Facebook is gearing up to launch a news section in its Watch online video platform. The company is said to be testing different video partnerships with “roughly 10 publishers.”
If the report is true, then Facebook is developing the first standalone news product for national news in its Watch platform. Its previous news-related efforts have included Instant Articles which weren’t necessarily limited to news outlets.
The report adds that Facebook is talking to both legacy and digital-first news publishers to create a daily video feature which would run for at least one year. The guidelines it has reportedly set include content being a minimum of three minutes.
Facebook is said to be testing what works best as it plans to launch this news channel in Watch by the summer this year. It may also work closely with publishers to understand their budget needs and provide them with monetization opportunities on its platform.
“Timely news video is the latest step in our strategy to make targeted investments in new types of programming on Facebook Watch,” said Campbell Brown, the Head of News Partnerships for Facebook in a statement provided to the scribe. He added that Facebook plans to meet with a “wide-range” of potential partners to develop new programming for the social environment.
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