Facebook is prepared to pay big money to Hollywood for original, scripted TV shows for the platform

Facebook’s media ambitions apparently extend as far as Hollywood, and even beyond. A report in The Wall Street Journal suggests that the social media giant is prepared to pay big money to Hollywood for original TV shows for the platform. The WSJ report has sources who claim that Facebook is willing to pay up to $3 million per episode in some cases. Facebook is also looking for content that can be more cheaply procured. According to the report, the targeted audience will be in the 13-34 range. The shows are expected to launch “late summer.” Facebook has been pushing for more video content on its platform and has been working with a number of content creators to push more such content on the platform. The company has already given some publishers access to **in-stream video ads** and is working on a number of camera designs for high-end, 360-degree video capture. Just last week, Facebook also unveiled a **dedicated video creation app** for its star video broadcasters. Engadget reports that Facebook is looking at shows like Pretty Little Liars, Scandal and The Bachelor and that over two dozen shows are already on the way. Facebook rival Snapchat already has big name publishers like Disney and Time Warner on its platform, but these publishers rely on a different format. Facebook appears to be looking for original content and full length TV shows the likes of which appear on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, etc. The video content is expected to include shows that are between 10 minutes and 30 minutes long. Ironically, it was just last year that a study published by Newswhip suggested that Facebook’s falling user engagement and rising video content were related. According to the report, **the increasing focus on video content** has apparently led to a decline in the engagement of regular content.