Facebook introduced its new internal video platform, Watch, in August, and music brands are already hopping on the bandwagon. iHeartRadio is one of the early adopters, and has launched a show called “iHeartNow with Elvis Duran.” Duran is a iHeartMedia radio and podcast personality, and he will host interviews with musicians and celebrities. The show will have new episodes every afternoon.
So far, Watch appears to be dominated by brands that already had strong video strategies. Sports programming is common, as are videos by popular YouTubers. Facebook invested heavily in music industry job recruitment prior to the launch of Watch, possibly to help put licensing and rights structures in place so that videos on this platform would be able to legally use copyrighted music in their programming. Depending on how successful Watch ends up being as a YouTube rival, more broadcasters and streaming services may end up putting their content on this platform as well.