Facebook Courts Publishers in Looming YouTube Battle

By: John McDermott | Digiday

Facebook wants to compete with YouTube in video, so it’s asking for a little help from its media company friends — and even a few YouTube stars.

The social network has in recent months been wooing publishers’ video teams, selling them on the advantages of uploading videos directly to Facebook’s proprietary video player. Advertisers are clamoring for “premium” (i.e., publisher-made) video — Time Inc. has sold 99 percent of its video inventory – and Facebook wants to ensure that it is a primary destination for it.