Facebook to improve its livestreaming features, enticing more content creators

Just as Twitch is pushing on YouTube’s turf by introducing its own on-demand video feature, it seems that Facebook is pushing into Twitch’s territory. Its new Gaming Creator Pilot Program is aimed towards gaming broadcasters on the social media site, with its tools set to be showcased this weekend.

Facebook is no stranger to the gaming environment, with some broadcasters making use of its current livestreaming platform and the experience the company has gained since its acquisition of Oculus. The main aim of the Gaming Creator Pilot Program is to make it so livestreamers find it easier to build a community, utilising the social media platform to the best of its ability.

“There are a lot of great services today, but it’s hard if you’re a creator,” says head of games partnerships, Guy Cross in an interview with GamesBeat. “You have to pull together your broadcasting software. There are tools for managing monetization services. There are tools to manage your community. There are tools to promote yourself, from a marketing perspective. A lot of these tools are actually in the Facebook family of apps, whether it’s Instagram or Messenger or the Facebook platform, our developer APIs, our livestreaming API.”

While Twitch began pushing into new territory by offering exclusivity deals, Facebook is taking a different approach. This might be on the cards later down the line, but Cross assures fans that the main aim is to get content creators comfortable enough to post daily content.

StoneMountain64, one of Facebook’s top streamers explains the benefits of using Facebook instead of pre-established systems like Twitch or YouTube, stating that it is much easier for friends to directly share creator content with their friends and family, resulting in a much more immediate reaction rather than a fragmented approach between multiple third-party websites.

Image Credit: StoneMountain64

Among the new tools will be a payment method to support content creators similar to donations rather than subscribers, improvements on its video streaming quality up to 1080p resolution and 60Hz refresh rate and moderation tools to control trolling. Facebook will also host a dedicated support team that will directly work with livestreamers to refine the experience.

“Basically, we’ll manage these creators like partners,” said Facebook’s Gaming Creator Program lead John Imah. “They’ll have day-to-day management where they can reach out to someone at Facebook that’s assigned to them, whether it’s asking basic questions or finding out what we’re doing in the space. They’ll have someone they can reach out to that can provide them with guidance as to what we’re doing on the platform with products, that type of thing. A lot of the feedback and conversation we see from creators, they love that. They want to feel that they’re a part of the team.”

This alongside an exclusive deal with the Electronic Sports League (ESL) to broadcast Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 tournaments make Facebook a platform to watch when moving forward. We will find out more this weekend at the company’s summit.

KitGuru Says: The more platforms, the better. The problems with YouTube arose because, until now, it’s had little to no competition on its level. Now Facebook, Twitch, YouTube and to a lesser extent Mixer and Hitbox are in on the broadcasting world, we might see more and more practices that favour the content creator above all. How do you feel about Facebook dedicating itself to improving broadcaster features?

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