Facebook has been talking the talk on live video. During Tuesday’s F8 keynote speech, Mark Zuckerberg started to show how it’s going walk the walk.
Zuckerberg announced that Facebook has opened its Live platform to allow streaming from other devices and services. (Before now, users could only use Facebook Live from its apps.)
Live will also be getting a dedicated tab in the Facebook app that will open into a new list of live video streams from friends, brands, celebrities and media companies.
Zuckerberg introduced the example with a drone that flew around him and streamed video of the conference. The drone was from DJI, which is a launch partner for the new open interface.
Tastemade and BuzzFeed were also featured as content partners that had been working on making live content.
Zuckerberg touted that Facebook’s live streams were already amassing huge audiences.
“We’re seeing TV stars get bigger audiences on Live than they’re getting on their TV shows,” he said.
Zuckerberg unleashes a drone. I wonder if this is how it ends for me. #F8 pic.twitter.com/H4XES0WEFJ
— Erin Carson (@ErinCarson) April 12, 2016
Drones aside, an open interface that allows any live video to be piped into Facebook could dramatically change the television industry.
Some major broadcasters have already been working with Facebook to distribute high-quality live video. Univision’s and Fusion’s Jorge Ramos has been one of them. ABC recently put a broadcast-quality live feed through Facebook of David Muir reporting from Cuba.
As of today, just about any broadcaster now has the ability to put its live video through Facebook.
“You’re not going to need one of these anymore to stream a live experience,” said Chris Cox, head of product at Facebook, later during the keynote, while pointing to a picture of a TV production van.
He also pointed to a picture of a complex rig that had been created to hold on iPhone for live streaming.
“You kind of know immediately this is not what the future is supposed to look like,” Cox said.
Cox revealed a new, small camera meant to livestream on Facebook called Mevo.
