Facebook has signed deals with several media companies and celebrities to create video content for Facebook Live, its live video-streaming service.
According to reports from Wall Street Journal, Facebook has signed deals with over 140 media companies and celebrities for an amount totalling $50m.
The report said the move is to create a revenue source from its live streaming service as well as create more attractive video content for its users.
Facebook is already a hub for videos with about 100 million videos being watched every day. Yet, it does not have a robust revenue generating platform like Youtube. Hence, this move could take Facebook one step closer to earning revenue from videos.
Some of the companies with which Facebook has entered contracts with include CNN, The New York Times, Vox Media, Tastemade, Mashable, Huffington Post and with celebrities such as Chef Gordon Ramsay, Kevin Hart, Deepak Chopra and NFL quarterback Russell Wilson.
The news about Facebook contracting with celebrities came out in March. It was reported that Facebook chief operations officer Sheryl Sandberg in Hollywood looking to hire talents from agencies and managers.
In April, an executive from Facebook confirmed that the social media company was signing contracts with media companies and celebrities. Buzzfeed and New York Times were reportedly paid $3m each and CNN was paid $2.5m. These are some of the highest paid entities for producing content.
An anonymous source said that Buzzfeed would be paid about $250,000 for 20 posts per month over a period of three months.
Media houses have been putting in lot of video content, but it did not create the required buzz among users. Instead, video content from celebrities was getting lot of attention from users.
Video content from celebrities and public figures accounted for about 60% of the most viewed videos and video content from media houses accounted for just over 15%.
