Facebook makes its 'Watch' video service international

A year after being launched in US, Facebook is making its video service ‘Watch’ go international, being available to billions of people globally across countries and languages.

Social media service Facebook launched its Watch video platform a year ago in the US. Yesterday, the company announced that they have decided to make the service be available globally. Partners will now be able to deliver content across all countries in different languages, being equivalent to YouTube and Netflix.

As per Facebook, with Watch going international, the firm will provide a place to discover new videos, and give a home to the saved videos. Users will also be able to catch up with creators and publishers they are fond of.

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With this announcement, advertisers can profit off of ad breaks by reaching those billions of users, as making Watch global creates new opportunities for creators and publishers across the world.

In order to access the feature on Android and iOS, users will have to search the Watch icon in their shortcuts bar or the ‘More’ bookmark. Watch is also available on Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, Xbox One, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Oculus TV.

At the top of their Watch feed, users will be able to see their Watchlist that will be a collection of recent videos from Pages they follow. Users will be able to customize the section through following more Pages or removing Pages from their follow list within Watch.

As explained by CNET, Watch is personalized and suggests new shows to watch, both live and recorded. The suggestions are based on what users’ friends and communities watch. It offers categories like ‘What’s Making People Laugh’, ‘Most Talked About’, and ‘What Friends Are Watching’.

The service was launched in order to ‘give people a place on Facebook to find shows and video creators they love and to start conversations with friends, other fans, and even creators themselves’. Watch makes it easier for people to see videos that their friends have liked and shared, helping them ‘discover and engage more deeply with videos they love’.