Publishers Eye Facebook's Push for News Videos With Caution

Facebook will pay publishers up front to create the content, according to a person familiar with the program, who added that questions related to advertising on the section have not been answered yet. Some publishers are wary of the new program, given Facebook's track record of introducing new initiatives with news organizations only to later cut back financial support. For example, in 2016 Facebook signed video creators, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, to 12-month deals collectively worth at least $50 million to create live video. Facebook didn't renew many of those deals after they expired, leaving publishers without funding for content producers hired to produce live video on Facebook. That said, given the prospects of exposure on the world's biggest social network and potential revenue from lucrative video ad sales, some news publishers are still considering participating in the Facebook Watch news initiative--under the right circumstances.