What is Facebook Gaming?
As Facebook continues to dip its toes into every facet of the internet, Facebook Gaming was created as a streaming platform to rival Twitch. Facebook Gaming is built directly into Facebook, meaning it can be easily accessed by the platforms existing 2.8 billion users. In just over 2 years since Facebook Gaming launched, the platform has become a significant player in the streaming space, with stats including:
1.06 Billion hours watched in Q1 2021 - 12.1% of the streaming market share
Viewership increased by 15% in Q1 2021
Average viewership increased 91% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021
While Twitch remains the king of streaming, Facebook Gaming has been steadily growing since its launch. The biggest advantage to Facebook Gaming is the offering of a central hub for the streamer, with their own Facebook page connected to their stream. This provides an easy place for streamers to engage with their community before and after streams.
Opportunities on Facebook Gaming
As Facebook Gaming is very similar to Twitch, there are similar opportunities to engaging with streamers, such as:
Create a Facebook Gaming Creator Page to host your own streams and engage with users directly
On Facebook Gaming, you can create your own Gaming Creator Page for your brand as the go-to place where gamers can follow and connect with your brand. This can be done separately from your overall brand page to ensure only those interested in following and watching streams can access it.
Sponsor Streamers on Facebook gaming to showcase your brand, do giveaways, or have special themed streams
If your brand isn’t looking to start its own stream, there’s always the opportunity of partnering with existing streamers to help promote your product in their streams and on their Creator Page.
The biggest advantage Facebook Gaming has over Twitch is the ability to boost game streams. Whether it’s your brand or a streamer you’re working with, you can boost streams to reach a wider audience. With the ability to boost streams, you can show your brand’s game stream to gamers or boost a partner’s stream to reach your demographics who align with your audience.
Measuring Success
Like Twitch, Facebook Gaming has similar stats and insights you can pull and use to measure success. While there are many different stats to choose from, here are some key metrics to keep in mind.
Concurrents - The total number of users viewing a stream at a given time
This can also show average concurrent viewers over multiple streams or the highest number in a single stream.
Unique Views - The total number of unique accounts/profiles/devices that viewed the stream
Think of views and unique views like impressions and reach on other platforms.
Chat Messages - Total number of messages posted in chat during a given stream
While not a make-or-break factor, chat messages are a good way of seeing how engaged the community is with the streamer.
Potential Risks
What are the potential risks of Facebook Gaming? What are some things to be cautious of? Every platform has a risk to it, and we all know, Facebook is no different. Here are a few things you should keep in mind and how to tackle them:
Moderation - As Facebook Gaming is a live platform and has a chat function, trolls will often enter a stream’s chat and post rude, offensive language or links to NSFW websites.
Streamers combat this in several ways, including having active moderators who can delete, mute, and ban users. Additional bots can limit the posting of links or the use of certain words within the chat.
Live Video - Streams are done live, so they benefit from chat interaction. The downside to this is all of the potential issues with live videos, such as technical difficulties or human error.
Most long-time streamers know their setups and can tackle errors, but sometimes things happen and result in shorter or delayed streams. If streams are delayed or have to be moved to another time, be understanding with the streamer, they aren’t a fan of it either.
Unexpected incidents - With content being live, there is more of a chance where unexpected things can happen, such as emotional outbursts, accidental statements, or things appearing on stream that are unexpected.
This may be something you consider a big issue, but most streamers take the platform seriously as it’s their lively hood and source of income. They don’t want to jeopardize it or the sponsors they work with. Just be sure that the streamers you are working with fit your brand, and you have an open dialogue with them.
Don’t let these stop you from activating on the platform. Every social site on the internet has potential risks; be sure your team has done the research and have an open dialogue with the partners you work with. The rewards far outweigh the risk; as long as you’re prepared, you’ll be ready for anything!