-->
Save your FREE seat for Streaming Media Connect in November. Register Now!

Facebook Premieres Gets Global Launch, Enhances Group Viewing

Article Featured Image

Starting today, any publisher or creator on Facebook can create a live group viewing experience using pre-recorded videos. The feature is called Premieres, and the social network first announced it back in April. Using Premieres, people can plan a group viewing experience up to a week in advance, then premiere a video for all to see at a schedule time.

With New York Comic Con starting Thursday, Facebook has picked a solid time to launch. Facebook announced Marvel Comics will host a premiere showing behind-the-scenes "Ant Man and the Wasp" clips, while WB will debut an extended trailer for "Aquaman," both coming later this week.

Facebook Premieres can show up in the Watch area, which the company says will help with discoverability. They'll also show in Pages and the News Feed.

Several companies have experimented with Premieres, including Sony, the Buffalo Bills, and BuzzFeed:

“We recently tested Facebook Premieres with an episode of 'Unsolved' and saw great fan engagement and stickiness, with the audience tuning in for nearly the full episode! We’re looking forward to experimenting with Premieres moving forward as we continue to innovate our publishing strategy," says Maycie Timpone, director of social media for Buzzfeed.

Facebook is also announcing the rollout of Video Polls to more Pages. Available through the Live API or the video publishing tool, creators will be able to add polls to live videos. Support for on-demand videos is coming soon.

Facebook Premieres on mobile

Streaming Covers
Free
for qualified subscribers
Subscribe Now Current Issue Past Issues
Related Articles

Facebook in Talks with HBO, Showtime, Starz to Sell Subs: Report

In what could be a high profile failure for the social network, it's reportedly in talks to sell subscriptions to cable networks to its members.

Group Video Viewing Becomes an Event With Facebook Premieres

A select group of video creators can now post recorded videos to Facebook Live and create buzz-worthy events for fans.