Facebook buys Fayteq post-production video effects company
Facebook has announced it has acquired post-production effects specialist Fayteq. The purchase of the German start-up suggested Facebook is keen to focus on more premium content on the network, although no details of the deal have been released publicly. Facebook has also announced the addition of a video tab called Watch that will feature in a redesign of the platform, which could become a direct competitor to Google's YouTube.

In the same week as it announced its entry to the video market, Facebook has confirmed the purchase of Fayteq, a company that specializes in post-production effects – a move suggesting that it wants to further premium content on the social network.

Details of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, although a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the purchase with press. The startup is Germany-based, with its LinkedIn page suggesting that it has between 11-50 employees, and a statement on Fayteq’s website claiming that its “products and services are not available for purchase.”

The addition of post-production capabilities to Facebook’s stack, reports suggest that Fayteq specializes in both the addition and removal of objects to video content, would further its strategy of enhancing animated content on the network.

Earlier this week it announced the launch of a dedicated video tab in a redesign of the social network where it plans to host original or licensed content; a move that many industry observers interpreted as a direct challenge to Google-owned YouTube.

The update means that the social network’s 2 billion registered account holders will now be presented with a ‘watch’ tab from which a range of shows, many of them funded directly by Facebook, will be on offer.

Content curation is based on the social signals indicated by Facebook users, with Facebook typically encouraging social interaction around the content. Upon launch, programming from media outlets such as Mashable, Axel Springer-owned Business Insider, among others, is available, with the social network understood to be helping to co-fund said efforts to better popularize the update.

Facebook has not publicly discussed its plans to monetize the service, but the social network has been using mid-roll video ads since the early part of 2017.

Presently, there have been no public disclosures on how Facebook plans to utilize the capabilities of Fayteq, but media companies are already experimenting with the capability to introduce product placement in a post-production environment.

Earlier this week, The Drum caught up with Accenture’s head of research and development to discuss its plans to roll out product placement technology that can seamlessly insert a brand into online video, including the ability to replace existing labeling (see video below).