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Facebook Unveils FB.gg to Compete with Twitch
Facebook has unveiled a homepage for streaming gaming content to supplement its Gaming Creator program. The new destination FB.gg, designed to compete with Twitch (think: social network for gamers), aggregates gaming videos, suggests live streaming feeds, showcases creators (discoverability is an issue on Twitch) and enables users to search content by game title. The social media giant also announced that it would be introducing functionality offering viewers the opportunity to tip ($.01/per) broadcasters, giving emerging creators the chance to monetize their work. The Level Up program has not yet been rolled out, but a select group of gamers have been allowed to charge fans ($5) to subscribe to their channels.
Howie Long-Short: Facebook is looking to take its cut of a video game streaming market that generated $4.6 billion in revenue last year; 37% of which was controlled Twitch. The company will profit from FB.gg by taking a percentage of the transaction amount when a viewer buys Facebook Stars, the virtual currency used to tip streamers. The percentage will range from 5%-30%, depending on the number of stars included within the “pack” (more stars = lower percentage).
Back in late April, Facebook reported Q1 ’18 earnings increased +62% YoY (to $1.69/share adjusted) on revenue that grew 49% (to $11.97 billion), bouncing back strongly from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Ad revenue (+50% YoY, avg. revenue per user was $5.53), operating margin (+5% YoY, to 46%) and usership (+13% YoY) also all rose during the most recent quarter. Shares popped 8.5% after FB posted Q1 ’18 financials and have steadily climbed since, closing Tuesday at $192.40.
Twitch was acquired by Amazon (AMZN) for $970 million in 2014. The company increased concurrent viewership +21% during Q1 ’18 (to 953,000), growing its already large lead in the game streaming market over 2nd place YouTube Gaming (GOOGL, -12% to 272,000); but, Facebook (FB, +103% to 56,000) also reported significant audience growth last quarter and will enter Q3 ’18 armed with an enhanced destination for gaming enthusiasts.
As for AMZN, they posted their most profitable quarter ever in Q1 ’18. AMZN grew revenue +43% to $35.7 billion, while net income rose 121% to $1.6 billion. Cloud computing (+49% YoY to $5.44 billion), subscription services (+60% YoY to $3.1 billion) and ad revenue (+139% YoY to $2.03 billion) all contributed to the record quarter. AMZN shares are up 7.5% over the last 3 weeks and climbed past $1,700 for the first-time last week, before closing on Tuesday at $1,698.76.
Fan Marino: ESL (think: Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) signed an exclusive broadcast deal with Facebook Watch, as opposed to the market leader Twitch. Why? As World Esports Association Commissioner Ken Hershman points out, in addition to being a “tremendous streaming platform”, Facebook is “a social and engagement platform.” FB’s targeting capabilities and recommendation engine have enabled the esports federation to grow rapidly, from 750,000 viewers/mo. to more than 25 million within a year.
For those wondering, .gg stands for good game.
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