Roger Fingas
Facebook is reportedly planning to launch high-budget scripted TV shows by late summer, directly competing against services like Amazon Video, Netflix, and Apple Music.
The company is in negotiations with Hollywood studios, and willing to fund production budgets up to $3 million per episode, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Two shows already on the slate include "Last State Standing," a game show, and "Strangers," a relationship drama.
In general video content is expected to target people aged 13 to 34, but with an extra emphasis on those 17 to 30. Facebook is said to be willing to share viewership data with studios, and planning to stagger the release of episodes, instead of debuting entire seasons at once like Amazon or Netflix. Facebook's vice president for media partnerships, Nick Grudin, confirmed some of the information.
"We're focused on episodic shows and helping all our partners understand what works across different verticals and topics," he said.
Apple recently premiered its first TV-style programming, "Planet of the Apps." It has also hired two Sony Pictures Television veterans, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to take up future programming efforts.
The company's exact ambitions have been kept under wraps, apart from growing Apple Music subscribers and hardware sales. One show featuring musician and Beats co-founder Dr. Dre, "Vital Signs," has been trapped in development hell. Another, "Carpool Karaoke," is coming on Aug. 8.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
8 Comments
I wasn't aware Apple Music was doing any "high-budget scripted TV shows" for Facebook to compete with. The ones I've seen mentioned here so far are baby steps towards that perhaps, but not the same type of programming that Facebook is apparently pursuing? Maybe Apple have announced something more "high-budget" and I missed reading about it. Netflix of course as well as Amazon have several projects available for viewing, with Netflix having the more high-profile properties so yes there's that.
I'm sure Netflix is worried.
As a consumer, I'm somewhat annoyed that more and more programming is locked away in siloed, premium systems. I already subscribe to basic cable, Netflix, and Hulu (and Apple Music), but I'm missing out on Amazon Prime-exclusive and HBO-exclusive content. I accept their right to follow these business models, but I hope something better comes along.
Why on earth is everyone all of a sudden all content production obsessed ? What on earth is going on with all these execs ? Netflix is a content supplier so creation is a natural next step, their ultimate goal is probably to be the Amazon of content, but Apple is a hardware company trying to make another iTunes like business but with out the compelling hardware that was iPod or an App store with out the iPhone foundation, makes zero sense, I get Zarkuburg is just me too'ng and doesn't want to be left behind and Bezos well he's in a very different business model all together so not really surprising but what exactly is everyone hoping to archive, where we all in need of new tv shows ? Didn't we already have enough ? Why do thes tech companies think they can make entertainment better than veterans who've been doing it for eons ?
Can we get one of these "content hungry" companies to bring back "Agent Carter?"
Facebook's video and content initiatives are competing with Google's YouTube primarily. Once Facebook gets the whole widget properly put together, YouTube will be in for a battle.
High quality content is the key to taking the eyes off of a competitive service.
Facebook and Google are direct competitors as they both use an advertising model. HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and Apple are payment based services, and not directly competitive with Facebook and Google. Good luck to Google. They are going to need it. Facebook has a very large captive audience who are fiercely loyal to the platform.