Facebook Live offers a wide variety of video content features, which has led to some unique and equally surprising Facebook Live stats over the years.
Although there are plenty of people who don’t live stream on Facebook, there are millions that make use of the feature on a consistent basis.
Data from 2018 shows that Facebook Live reached a total view count of 2 billion back in 2018.
Moreover, in that same year, the number of broadcasts on Facebook Live reached 3.5 billion.
It’s a feature that’s an integral part of the social media giant, and it brings in an increasing number of interested viewers every year.
In this article, we’re going to look at a handful of Facebook Live stats to highlight just how popular the feature really is.
Key Statistics
- Those who use Facebook Live watch live videos 3 times longer than pre-recorded content
- 1 out of every 5 videos on FB was a live broadcast in 2017
- At one point in a single year, Facebook Live’s search popularity grew to over 330%
- Compared to other video formats, Facebook Live generates 6 times as many interactions than pre-recorded videos
- When it was first released, Facebook spent $50 million to have celebrities use the new feature
Facebook Live Stats: An Overview
The term live streaming isn’t a foreign concept to most people nowadays.
It’s a feature that’s integrated into many social media platforms, online forums, and more.
We all know how big Facebook has become over the years, but very few people understand just how popular the platform’s live features have become.
You’ll find two sides to the coin on this topic, as live-streaming stats generally come from the streamers themselves and those who enjoy watching live-stream content.
Nevertheless, you can expect Facebook put its all into the live stream features, and there are plenty of statistics to back that up.
1. Statistics on Usage
It’s no secret that Facebook Live generates billions of views everywhere, and this is all thanks to dedicated users.
Recent data highlights that the social platform saw a 50% increase in the use of live video in 2021. That’s strong growth in just a year’s time.
You can assume that this overall growth comes from many angles, such as everyday individuals, celebrities, influencers, and all-around creatives.
The company may not see a 50% increase every year, but this doesn’t mean it hasn’t seen other periods of substantial growth.
Usage has increased over time for a number of reasons, some of which pertain to the release of new features and awareness among users.
In its early days, many people still relied on other live-streaming platforms, but as time passes, Facebook Live welcomes new users consistently.
(BloggingWizard)
2. There are Millions of Broadcasters
If you take a look at statistics from 2018, you’ll discover that the platform saw roughly 3.5 billion broadcasts throughout the year.
This number alone shows how many people actively use Facebook Live all around the world.
On another interesting note, Facebook Live generates a lot of reactions from users, way more than you might expect.
Between 2016 and 2018, all of the broadcasts on FB Live combined came out to an estimated 150 billion.
The social platform and its live-streaming features are seeing no shortage of user interest.
In today’s world, Facebook Live is seen as one of the top streaming platforms among competitors in this particular space.
Of course, when thinking of the current state of FB Live, anyone could assume that the yearly number of broadcasts has increased quite a bit.
The live streaming feature has been quite popular for a few years now, but its community of users is stronger than it has ever been.
(99Firms)
3. View Count Shows the Not-so-Humble Beginnings of FB Live
Facebook put a ton of marketing behind its live-streaming features as soon as the feature became available to the public.
It’s understandable, as they were trying to gain traction on the new feature, and it worked as billions of views rolled in within a pretty short time frame.
In the first two years of the feature being available on the platform, Facebook Live generated over 2 billion views.
Keep in mind that this is merely the beginning of FB Live features on the platform, which means this number has grown quite a bit since it was last recorded.
Considering FB Live videos generate six times more reactions than pre-recorded videos, it seems users love to engage with live videos as a whole.
Facebook came out of the gate swinging with this feature, and it has been a hit out of the park for them ever since.
One might argue that other streaming platforms are better, but this is essentially one popular feature among an entire suite of social tools that Facebook offers.
This makes live streaming a sensical approach for creators, individuals, businesses, and more.
(99Firms/BloggingWizard)
4. Long-Form Content Wins
Many people join live broadcasts as it gives them time to focus on a single piece of content that generally has more to offer than a quick scroll.
Pre-recorded content is held at a cap for how long the video can run, whereas with live videos, there’s no restriction.
This allows people to connect with their audiences on a deeper and more personal level.
Statistics show that the most popular live streams are generally around 15 to 20 minutes long.
Viewers like to hang around and interact with their favorite creators, and streamers offer long-form content that delivers much more value than what you usually find on the timeline.
These numbers are pretty average, but this isn’t to say that short-form content doesn’t exist in live streams.
Nevertheless, FB Live incentivizes long-form content by giving both viewers and streamers more than one reason to stick around as long as possible.
It’s a win-win in many aspects and has proven to be a successful approach for many creators.
(EarthWeb)
5. Celebrities Were a Big Part of Marketing FB Live
When Facebook Live was just getting started, the company focused on many angles when it came to marketing the new feature to the masses.
One of their marketing strategies that cost a pretty penny was to pay various celebrities to use the live-streaming platform.
To be exact, this strategy cost Facebook $50 million before it was all said and done.
On top of that, the company spent an additional $2.5 million to get support from the likes of the New York Times and BuzzFeed.
All of this on its own is bound to generate a lot of user interest, and it goes to show Facebook’s faith in their product from the jump.
This tactic isn’t so uncommon as it has been used many times by corporations throughout history.
The shocking part is the budget, as it’s pretty clear they aimed to work with as many influential brands and personalities as possible.
(BloggingWizard)
A Look Into the Numbers Surrounding Engagement
In the modern era of social media, engagement metrics are monitored from many different angles.
Engagement numbers can tell you a lot about how a creator or live streaming is performing on the social media platform.
It’s also a metric that’s guaranteed to vary quite a bit over time, but there are a few statistics on this topic that display just how many people interact with live videos on Facebook.
6. A Vacuum for Comments
In many aspects, FB Live videos generate more engagement than regular posts by a long shot.
It’s known that, on average, live videos on Facebook bring in 10 times more comments than pre-recorded content.
The whole concept around live streaming makes viewers feel more engaged, which leads to many of them actively interacting with the stream as they watch.
This makes a lot of sense as people can directly interact with some of their favorite creators, and in many circumstances, these creators acknowledge comments along the way.
It’s a digital space where viewers and creators can feel more connected.
Many people are highly fond of this environment for this specific reason.
Streamers are also quite clever to instigate more comments on their live videos.
This can show itself in the form of a giveaway, contest, Q&A, and a slew of other ideas that are perfect for the live-streaming environment.
(BloggingWizard)
7. FB Live Videos Drive More Engagement than Pre-Recorded Content
When you compare engagement metrics between traditional videos and live content, FB Live videos take the cake in more than one area.
In the case of overall engagement, live videos bring in three times more engagement than pre-recorded videos.
The gap between the two is only getting wider.
It’s important to note that the term “engagement” on this topic considers many different factors.
Some of these include how many reactions, comments, and shares a video receives on the platform.
In the chart below, you can see how live streaming stacks up to traditional videos in regard to different aspects of engagement.
You can see that traditional, pre-recorded content doesn’t even stand a chance.
The difference does seem pretty staggering, but at the end of the day, live streaming simply influences more interaction from viewers across the board.
(BloggingWizard)
8. How Many Live Videos are in the Top 10,000 Posts on Facebook?
Even though all of the statistics mentioned in this article make FB Live sound like a beast, among other features, it barely scratches the surface when it comes to the top posts on the platform.
Although FB Live is obviously popular, many other types of content on the platform come with their own level of popularity.
Not to mention other types of content have existed on the social platform years before live streaming became a thing.
Among the top 10,000 posts on Facebook, live videos only account for 1% of them.
Some of this stems from people actively discovering and using FB Live, in addition to other forms of content holding more power, as that’s what people are used to.
This data was taken from 2020, and live videos are bound to become more common, but they aren’t necessarily the most popular form of content on the platform.
(EarthWeb)
9. What’s the Average Number of Shares for Live Videos?
When most people think about engagement, their brain generally stops at likes and comments, as those are the first two options that many people consider using when engaging with content.
However, sharing content has become an equally important feature.
On average, FB Live videos receive 11,314 shares, which can be considered a hefty number by any content creator.
Sharing helps spread awareness of the content, expanding audiences and keeping people connected through shared interests.
The early days of the “share button” were simply to send content to people you know or re-post it to your own page.
Nowadays, it’s an important metric in regard to engagement, as it can increase the number of views, likes, comments, and shares.
In many circumstances, this is what causes content to go viral, as sharing content can lead to a domino effect among users.
(EarthWeb)
10. Average Engagement by Post Type
Many of the statistics in this article make it sound like FB Live is sitting at the top among other features, but this isn’t always the case.
When you put the major types of posts together, the average engagement numbers in some areas are humbling for live video users.
The table below highlights the most popular types of posts on Facebook and the average engagement each of them receives on average.
| Post Type | Engagement |
| Native Video | 144,157 |
| Photo | 113,889 |
| Live Video | 101,362 |
| Link | 97,795 |
Something to keep in mind is that FB Live didn’t come about until 2016, whereas photo and native video have been around for many years prior.
This always makes it impressive that live video is able to come so close in such a short amount of time.
Another fact that’s important to mention is that this is the most recent day taken from 2019.
It may not take long before live video surpasses photo posts, as it’s clearly finding its way to the top in terms of engagement.
(NewsWhip)
How Marketers are Using Facebook Live Video
Any time a new feature comes up on a social media platform, marketers are some of the first to catch wind of it.
Regarding effective marketing strategies, understanding every facet of social media platforms is a part of the job.
It’s also important to deliver effective marketing campaigns, and marketers wasted no time making use of FB Live videos.
11. Marketers go to Facebook for Their Live Streaming Needs
There’s no question that marketers could make use of many other streaming platforms to push their campaigns.
However, data shows that a majority of marketers prefer FB Live over other popular live-streaming services.
A recent study highlighted that around 30% of marketers who make use of live videos rely on FB Live to get the job done.
Part of this is due to the many other marketing tools available through Facebook, but it also has to do with the potential reach that can be found on the platform.
Although live videos aren’t the most common marketing strategy, it has still proven to be effective under the right circumstances.
Nevertheless, this is just another reason why FB Live is quickly dominating the live-streaming industry, as it serves much more than just creators and viewers.
(BloggingWizard)
12. Businesses Making Use of Live Videos
Whether it’s a marketing team or a small mom-and-pop shop, more and more businesses are utilizing FB Live to get more eyes on their products and services.
Data taken from 2018 shows that 42.7% of businesses broadcasted at least one live video in 2018.
Considering this metric was taken five years ago, you can guarantee that many more businesses are making use of this feature in today’s world.
What’s even more interesting is that this number is a 38% increase from 2017, as over two-thirds of companies didn’t post a single live video during that year.
Aside from FB Live itself, live streaming as a whole has become increasingly popular over the last five years.
With new features and more incentives for content creators and viewers, individuals and organizations are spending more time making live video content.
(99Firms)
13. The Efficacy of Live Videos for Marketing Agendas
It makes sense why more businesses are catching on to what FB Live has to offer, but not all of them agree it’s worth the time and effort.
The most recent data shows that around 24% of organizations feel live videos were effective for their marketing and awareness efforts.
On the flip side, 29% of businesses don’t have a definitive answer on whether or not live video has been effective for them.
Of course, you’ll also find some middle ground with this topic.
For example, 36% of businesses can only agree that live video has been somewhat effective for their marketing strategies.
These varying opinions are understandable, as marketing comes with a lot of trial and error and A/B testing.
Some of these businesses may have had more time with the feature than others.
Overall, more companies are catching on to FB Live’s benefits, but it may take a while before we see any kind of mass adoption from a marketing standpoint.
(EarthWeb)
14. Some Companies Use FB Live Every Day
There’s a niche group of organizations out there that clearly see the benefits of creating live video content.
Only 1% of businesses share live videos with their audiences on a daily basis.
Even if they don’t drive crazy engagement numbers with every post, they understand that consistency is key.
Among the number of organizations surveyed, 58% admitted to being infrequent with the number of live videos they post.
12% of them mentioned that they share at least one live video every week, and only ¼ of them share a live video once a month.
A small group in this survey accounts for 5%, as they note sharing live video content a few times a week.
In some cases, the reality is that not everyone is set up to create live video content, nor is it really warranted for every business’s purpose.
One might argue with that sentiment, but some organizations are okay with not being a part of the live-streaming crowd.
You could argue this hinders some of their brand awareness, but creating live video content can be a task for some organizations.
On the other side, many companies are more than happy and equipped to deliver high-quality, effective live video content to their audiences.
(EarthWeb)
15. Most People Prefer to See Live Videos from Brands
When you think of the word “brand,” most people immediately think of large corporations, when in today’s world, the term has expanded to many different angles.
For example, individuals can have their own brand as a social media presence, while other brands may simply be a traditional brick-and-mortar store.
Nevertheless, statistics show that 82% of people prefer to see live video content from brands.
This likely comes from the thought process of seeing content from brands they already trust, as it adds an extra personal layer to the image and personality of the brand’s overall presence.
This is a significant factor in why marketers have added live video to their strategy focus, as the engagement numbers behind consumers don’t lie.
However, even with this information being publicly available, only 12.8% of companies posted live video content to Facebook in 2020.
The widespread use case of live video seems to be a slow-burning process, but it has proven to be a successful route for marketers and businesses, year over year.
(BloggingWizard)
In Conclusion
If you were to ask around the general public, most people would have a variety of preferences when it comes to their favorite live-streaming platform.
From a statistics standpoint, it’s evident that FB Live video is one of the most popular between viewers, creators, businesses, marketers, and many other demographics.
Even with many statistics changing drastically from one year to the next, there’s no doubt that FB Live video and its surrounding features are becoming increasingly popular.
This article provided a detailed overview of Facebook Live stats to give a clear look at the state of live streaming on the platform.
Sources
