Facebook has been talking about its video streaming platform, Facebook Watch, for sometime now and the service is finally rolling out to users across the globe on the mobile app. Facebook Watch is said to be in the testing phase, with some users seeing the feature showing up at the top of their Facebook main feeds.
The service is currently letting you stream video content from channels like Mashable, The Quint, FilterCopy and any other page with videos that you have liked on the platform. Reports suggest that Facebook will be adding its original content to Watch in the coming months, giving it a separate space for users to browse.
The feature shows up on the Facebook app via a new update, which is accessible from the Google Play Store on a user’s device. Apple users can also access the service on iPhones, after updating the Facebook app.
There’s not a lot of information on the app as of now, but with video streaming via mobile data on the rise, especially in India, it would have been unthinkable for Facebook to not enter this space.
Even Google cited recently that over 95 percent of Indian users are consuming videos in vernacular languages, and more are likely to be added in the near future. Facebook has already started live streaming Spanish La Liga football in India, and hopefully, Watch will have space for its catalogue as well.
Google has YouTube, Amazon has Prime Video and then there are other streaming services such as Netflix and Hotstar that cater to video streaming in the Indian market. Many expect Apple to join the ranks, alongside Facebook soon.
With more than a billion users on its platform, Facebook will be hoping to curate and create localised video content for India, with strong emphasis on vernacular language.
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