In the wake of the big 3 commercial networks launching Facebook Watch bulletins today, a thread to compare and contrast their approaches. (Individual network critiques, Caps etc can go in their own threads).
I haven’t viewed Seven’s as yet but I thought Nine’s package was a lot better than Ten’s. Much more adapted to the platform it was on rather than Ten’s which seemed like a shortened news bulletin chucked online.
In addition, There’s really no need for top of the bulletin headlines when the bulletins are so short. Use graphics to tell what’s coming up, especially as viewers will be joining in progress while it’s still live. The ‘Top Stories’ style on Nine I thought better reflected that rather than Ten’s traditional approach.
I think they’re great! I did find it interesting the presentation approach they used. Seven presenting in 9:16 portrait mode allowed for some interesting split screen transitions between stories.
9NewsWatch with Sylvia Jeffreys - 109k views
The Latest with Michael Usher, 7 News - 81k views
10 News First Sydney with Sandra Sully - 2.7k views
– Melbourne with Jennifer Kyte - 1.4k views
– Queensland with Georgina Lewis - 316 views
– Adelaide with Rebecca Morse - 2.1k views
– Perth with Narelda Jacobs - 1.6k views
– with Natarsha Belling afternoon - 3.7k views
– with Natarsha Belling morning - 5.6k views
No one is going to care - as @onair said, these are simply another video on Facebook from networks who are already sharing a decent amount of video content already. Trying to explain it is just a waste of time and effort
But the general public don’t distinguish between what’s on Facebook and Facebook Watch.
Most people can understand a live bulletin on Facebook. News networks especially 7 and 9, pump out a lot of their video on there. It’s not that much of a leap towards live video.
Totally Agree. And that’s the problem. People have no idea what FB Watch is meant to be. And FB really wants it to be something. So they need to explain what it is meant to be to consumers.
Does FB ever advertise their ‘products’ on broadcast TV or radio? Perhaps a holistic ad campaign for Facebook Watch is required on all networks to introduce the concept to viewers/users. Tap this to get this.
Depends. They might be seen as an inexpensive yet invaluable way of reaching younger viewers, and increasing brand awareness. It’s been hard to monetise Twitter and Facebook but networks persist because they drive engagement.
I watched Nine and Seven’s offerings from last night today. I think they’re great and could see them becoming relatively popular. There’s a good mix of important news and viral content - striking the right balance between the two will be key. Too much viral content and it does nothing for your brand and is arguably no different to other video producers on Facebook, too hyper local and you risk being crushed by Facebook’s terrible algorithms.
The one thing they both can leverage is an established news brand, and I think The Latest does that better than Nine’s bulletin by having Usher presenting a quasi-traditional news bulletin with all the authority and gravitas. Nine’s is a bit more wishywashy and I can see younger generations just moving on.
If they can bed in for 18 months, I can see both offerings attracting a loyal nightly following. These are national bulletins so an audience of 200k isn’t out of the question, especially considering there are more people on FB each night than there are watching TV.