Facebook pitches revenue-sharing deal to wary publishers
Source: Dan Taylor,
Facebook is pushing for a deal with publishers that will allow it to host articles directly on its mobile app, but publishers may have second thoughts about such a proposal, according to a New York Times report.
Although publishers are wary, they are listening to Facebook’s offer to share revenues in exchange for those rights. With 1.3 billion users, the social network can provide a huge audience to those publications. Its mobile app is opened by 654 million users every day.
Facebook has started a so-called “listening tour” with publishers to discuss options for collaboration, and the social network is particularly interested in the mobile aspect of such a deal.
Facebook could offer a more popular and easy to use way to view content than publishers, who often have sites that are slowed down by constant advertising bidding on their sites ― a problem Facebook insists it can solve.
However, many publishers are wary of any deal with the social media giant, as signing a content share agreement would mean signing over many of the rights they have over data about readers.
Facebook, on the other hand, insists that they are having conversations with publishers in order to make sure it is a win-win for both sides, and that the ultimate goal is to come up with a good experience for the consumer as well as publishers.
The social network has tried a version of this approach before: In 2011, publishers including the Washington Post and the Independent partnered with Facebook to create a “Social Reader” app, but pulled out a year later since most consumer engagement was happening on Facebook with little clickthrough to the publishers’ sites.
Meanwhile, Facebook is continuing to perform well on the stock market. The company’s stock has jumped 30 percent in the last six months, and that rise is expected to continue, according to Forbes.
Facebook posted 61 percent revenue growth in the second quarter, and investors are anxiously awaiting third quarter results expected soon to see if the company can keep that kind of growth up.
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