Ooyala Enables Video Monetization On Facebook With New Social TV Offering

In July I reported that Ooyala was working on a deal with Facebook and today, Ooyala officially announced their new social TV offering for Facebook dubbed Ooyala Social. The new solution offers content owners the ability to monetize their video on Facebook via rentals, subscriptions, advertising or purchases and also gives Facebook users the ability to share videos, chat live while viewing and watch video across multiple screens and devices.

Miramax, which began streaming movie rentals on Facebook last month, is the first content owner using the new system and Mitzi Reaugh, the SVP of Strategy and Business Development at Miramax will be one of the speakers at the Streaming Media West show in LA in November, on a panel entitled "Facebook: Transforming The Future of Online Media."

While most people tend to think of content offerings in the market from Netflix and Hulu as being the future of over-the-top video offerings, Facebook is reaching 750M monthly users on their platform who are already using a lot of social elements, something neither Netflix or Hulu has. Before long, Facebook's platform is going to become more important to the major studios looking to deliver premium content than either Netflix or Hulu can ever become.

And if Facebook is smart, they don't ever come out with a video offering of their own and instead, let the content owners create their own video subscriptions services that Facebook simply promotes and organizes all in one place. Down the road, Facebook's platform is going to enable content owners to make a lot of cash from their videos and Ooyala is smart to start laying the groundwork now to enable content monetization on Facebook's platform.