Facebook vs Netflix

Slowly but surely, Facebook is becoming a video streaming juggernaut. At last count, FB had something like 1.6B users and 900M/mo active Messenger users. Recently, they introduced Facebook Live, a tool that enables tribes from all over the planet to  create and share special moments in time. But if you think they’re stopping there, think again because FB is one of the very few companies in the world that can challenge Netflix in the number of smart engineers working on open source. Facebook is building their own servers,  data centers, switches, routers, and just about anything that pops to mind. Absolutely no reason to think they won’t build an entire video streaming ecosystem of free tools with the sole intent of turning the video streaming community upside down.

This leads to the question – will FB eventually build a global OTT platform that challenges Netflix and others? First of all, it wouldn’t be hard for them since they have the platform. Next, in terms of obtaining content rights, they can just buy someone like MGM, Lions Gate, AMC or whomever. And to rub salt in the wound, they can give videos away for free and still make a killing, since they make revenue from ads. Does this make Facebook friend or foe? If I’m Netflix I’m shaking in my boots because FB has the potential to disrupt everyone and everything.

One thing to remember, one of the most important metrics to FB is the amount of time people spend on their site everyday. According to Alexa, the “Daily Time on Site” for Youtube is 23:56 minutes, followed by Facebook at 20:48, Bizety.com at 19:52 min, and Google.com at 17:24 min. This means two things: 1) individuals are spending on average 20:48 min daily on Facebook and 2) individuals are spending 19:52 min on Bizety.com, which is almost as much FB, which is kind of cool 🙂 Seriously, if FB offers entertainment via VOD, Daily Time on Site will skyrocket. Thus, if I’m a piece of the video streaming ecosystem, expect a Netflix Goliath #2 in short order.