In May, Mark Zuckerberg said: “We are working to produce different types of content. Sports is a topic that we probably want to try out at some point.” What role does Facebook Watch play?
Sure, not every Facebook user is interested in sports. In the entertainment sector, there is a lot of content. What makes live sports stand out? How do you manage to lure millions of people in front of a screen?
According to digitalsport.co, this quest is “the holy grail for social media.” Twitter has established itself as a “home for Breaking News,” but Facebook is much bigger and more diverse. Both platforms want to expand their positions to become the “homes of entertainment.”
This is why the “Facebook Watch” tab is exciting, especially for sports. Facebook Watch was initially launched in the US. It is the place where Facebook collects videos and users can see live content.
Facebook Watch: More than live content?
“Live” is the big thing, but other sports formats are also conceivable. Also, entertaining TV shows with sports coverage are conceivable. Many users now also appreciate formats that they can consume at any time.
This also seems to be a mystery of recent positive podcast development. New podcast formats are shooting up like mushrooms. The southwestern press, for example, published a collection of the best football podcasts. “Lawn Radio,” “Soccer MML” and “Collinas Erben” are only a small selection of the offerings. Sports media, which are not yet broadcasting podcasts, should really think about doing so.
The link between Facebook Watch and the development of sports podcasts may not be obvious. What is meant is that the market for talk shows around the subject of sports has never been so great. Podcasts are not dependent on sports rights. You do not even have to involve athletes or those responsible. Great names help you, but are not a must. More important are moderators who can entertain their audience. This can be through new insights or just a lively discussion.
Facebook has a key advantage. It can broadcast both rights-based live content and show formats. The social media giant, for example, streams games of the MLB and MLS live. The fact that social networks buy sports rights is no longer top news. Facebook and Twitter have also joined Amazon and YouTube. Critical to Facebook: it can show live games and provide round-the-clock insights, analysis and talk formats.
Are sports entertaining?
The trend seems to go there. Besides the games many fans want additional content. Sure, fans will always be interested in what a player, coach or manager says. However, these people are increasingly being criticized for what they say. There are too few “real types”: players, especially, often try to make no mistakes. In any case, there is a need for formats where journalists or even fans speak objectively, directly and “genuinely” about sports.
With the best of intentions, no one expects a coach to say how incredibly bad his team has played. And a responsible coach would probably not reveal tactical details. People that are not connected to a sports organization won’t have the actual facts, but they can philosophize intensively and critically on these topics.
Often it is thought that sports area phenomenon of recent years, but sports have always been entertainment. Social media blurred the distinction between sports and entertainment still further. Hardly any platform is as suitable as Facebook to show the mix of live sports and other entertaining sports. According to the OTT model, FacebookWatch could offer a service of not only live events, but also 20-minute shows that fans can look at any time.
If Facebook is able to establish such a program, sports fans will have little reason to leave the platform.
