The Top Facebook Live Statistics Prove That Live Streaming Has Forever Changed Facebook Video
Facebook Live is one of Facebook’s greatest frontiers, and as the platform grows, statistics on the Facebook Live change.
Since launching in April 2016, Facebook Live has seen incredible growth. As its matured, it’s proven a valuable tool for media companies and brands, and discernible trends have emerged among users. To keep this article as accurate and helpful as possible, we’ve updated some of the key statistics in this post. We’ve preserved the original text of the article and added clearly marked updates below the relevant passages.
Facebook Live has ushered in something of a new era of Facebook video. Opening up the platform to new content opportunities, Facebook Live has already had some profound effects on the way users perceive and interact with video on Facebook.
Facebook Live gives publishers, media companies, celebrities, influencers, and brands a chance to share an entirely new type of content, focused on what’s happening in a single moment. Though it continues to evolve and develop, Facebook Live is already something of a juggernaut in the broadcasting space. We took a look at some key Facebook Live statistics to find out where Facebook Live came from, where it’s been, and where it might be going next.
The Top Facebook Live Statistics Prove That Live Streaming Has Forever Changed Facebook Video
Facebook Live is one of Facebook’s greatest frontiers, and as the platform grows, statistics on the Facebook Live change. We’ve updated this article to provide the most current and relevant statistics on Facebook Live.
Since launching in April 2016, Facebook Live has seen incredible growth. As its matured, it’s proven a valuable tool for media companies and brands, and discernible trends have emerged among users. To keep this article as accurate and helpful as possible, we’ve updated some of the key statistics in this post. We’ve preserved the original text of the article and added clearly marked updates below the relevant passages.
Facebook Live has ushered in something of a new era of Facebook video. Opening up the platform to new content opportunities, Facebook Live has already had some profound effects on the way users perceive and interact with video on Facebook.
Facebook Live gives publishers, media companies, celebrities, influencers, and brands a chance to share an entirely new type of content, focused on what’s happening in a single moment. Though it continues to evolve and develop, Facebook Live is already something of a juggernaut in the broadcasting space. We took a look at some key Facebook Live statistics to find out where Facebook Live came from, where it’s been, and where it might be going next.
The 15 Facebook Live Statistics Everyone Should Know
1. “Facebook Live Stream” Search Popularity Has Risen Over 330% Since Facebook Live’s Rollout
Facebook’s live video streaming platform originally debuted for use with top celebrities on August 5, 2015 before being available for everyone (April 6, 2016). According to Google Trends, search popularity for the “Facebook live stream” has risen over 330% from its inception to date with spikes in accordance to major events, publisher and influencer adoption, and New Year’s Eve (Facebook Live’s heaviest date of use so far).
2. Facebook Paid Publishers And Celebrities $50 Million To Use Facebook Live
Knowing that compelling content was going to be pivotal to Facebook Live’s success, Facebook made deals with major publishers and personalities in order to get them to use the platform. Buzzfeed, the New York Times, and CNN had the highest value contracts, with Facebook paying out $3.05 million, $3.03 million, and $2.5 million to each publisher respectively.
3. Facebook Paid $2.2 Million To Influencers Using Facebook Live
It wasn’t just publishers that were bringing money. Facebook also paid influencers a combined total of $2.2 million to use Facebook Live. With content coming from a variety of sources, from large media companies to independent influencers, Facebook Live is home to more diverse content.
4. Between January And May 2016, Facebook Saw A 300% Increase In Live Videos From Media Companies
In January 2016, just 11% of Facebook pages for media companies were home to Facebook Live videos. By May 2016, that number had grown to 44%. Over four months, that’s a 300% increase, which speaks to pretty outstanding growth in a short period of time for the platform.
5. Facebook Live Views, Likes, And Shares Grew To Near 20% Or More For Top Social Media Stars
Facebook made deals with top social influencers to create content for a set period on Facebook Live. The three most highly paid influencers on Facebook Live were Ray William Johnson at $224,000, Brent Rivera at $213,333, and Logan Paul at $210,667.
While Facebook paid influencers to post regularly with their live streaming platform, for many influencers, live video growth has continued month upon month serving to illustrate the symbiotic nature of social media apps and networks today and their social media stars.
Influencer pages aren’t the only ones seeing big gains. In June, company Facebook pages streamed nearly 200 live videos, six times more than the number of videos posted from company pages in January.
6. Facebook’s Video Views (Including Live) Could Eclipse 64 Billion Video Views Per Day By August 2017
In April 2015, Facebook Video had 4 billion per day. By November 2015, that number swelled to 8 billion daily views. Assuming a linear trend in growth, that puts Facebook Video on track to see more than 64 billion views per day by August 2017, and around 32 billion views per day currently.
7. At Just 3 Seconds Per View, Facebook Is Generating Over 3,000 Years’ Worth Of Watch Time Each Day
Given the assumption of linear growth, if Facebook Video’s current daily views are around 32 billion per day, Facebook would be generating over 3,000 years’ worth of watch time every day if every view was only about 3 seconds. That’s a lot, but it’s nowhere near the kind of watch time YouTube logs. On February 27, 2017, YouTube announced that over one billion hours of content are viewed on YouTube every day (that’s 114,000+ years worth of video watched each day on YouTube).
8. Facebook Live Videos Are Watched 3x Longer Than Videos That Aren’t Live Anymore
Facebook Live is all about what’s happening in the moment. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that content that’s still live draws much more engagement than video that’s no longer live. According to Facebook, users watch Facebook Live videos 3x longer than videos that aren’t live.
9. Users Comment On Facebook Live Videos At 10x The Rate Of Regular Videos
Facebook Live is a dream for engagement, driving comments at over ten times the rate of non-live videos. Again, because the focus of Facebook Live is a window into and interaction with a moment in time as it unfolds in real time, commenting is about being a part of a live conversation. It exists in a way that is more dynamic and prone to evolution than commenting spaces on regular videos, and that’s a powerful engagement tool.
10. Chewbacca Mom Is Facebook Live’s Most Watched Video With 166 Million Views
Facebook Live videos make for some seriously viral content. Candace Payne’s viral Chewbacca Mom video is the most watched, followed by Ted Yoder’s Tears for Fears cover on a hammered dulcimer and Buzzfeed’s 2020 Election Countdown Clock.
11. 70% Of The Trial Group For Facebook Live Was Made Up Of High School Or College-Aged Users
The majority of the trial group for Facebook Live was made up of users who were high school or college-aged, and former Facebook employees told The Wall Street Journal that a large portion of those in the trial group were African-American teenagers. WSJ postulates that this is a good indication that Facebook seems to have wanted to woo young users back to the platform with Facebook Live, focusing particularly those users who were already jumping ship for the likes of Snapchat.
12. Facebook Live Has Been Used To Broadcast At Least 50 Violent Or Criminal Incidents
Facebook Live isn’t just Chewbacca Mom and live event broadcasts, though. There’s a considerable “dark side” to the live broadcasting platform. By WSJ’s count, at least 50 criminal or violent incidents have been broadcast over Facebook Live, including assault, murder and suicide.
Recognizing this issue, Mark Zuckerberg announced in a Facebook post on May 3, 2017, that Facebook is adding 3,000 people to the effort to monitor live content and to review reports. Specifically, Facebook is attempting to speed up and improve its process for removing content that includes things like hate speech. These individuals monitoring content will also be a part of the effort to coordinate with local law enforcement to send help to anyone who’s in danger of being hurt or hurting themselves.
13. New Year’s Eve 2016 Was Facebook Live’s Biggest Night Yet
Facebook saw its biggest Live numbers on New Year’s Eve. More users went live on NYE than ever before in the history of the feature, which stands to reason given the attention focused on a single moment on a single night.
14. Daily Watch Time For Facebook Live Broadcasts Has Grown By More Than 4x
Facebook Live has been readily adopted on the platform. Since its launch in 2016, daily watch time for the broadcasting format grew by more than 4 times 400%? The urgency behind a Live broadcast makes them especially impactful and compelling to users scrolling through their Facebook feeds for news and the latest happenings.
15. 1 In Every 5 Facebook Videos Is A Live Broadcast
Facebook users aren’t just consuming Facebook Live content — they’re also creating it. Facebook reports that 1 in every 5 Facebook videos is a Live broadcast. While Facebook Live might have been used initially by influencers and professional social media content creators, it has taken off with average users who share thoughts and experiences with their friends. Facebook Live is also becoming for marketers, and many brands are seeing a positive effect on brand awareness and ad recall through Facebook Live integrations.
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