Report: Facebook is paying more than $50 million to publishers and celebs for live streaming

Facebook's live streaming platform is proving to be a significant source of cash for some media companies.  

The social network is paying out more than $50 million to publishers and celebrities who produce content for Facebook Live, according to "a document" reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. 

Facebook has contracts with close to 140 publishers and celebrities, the report said. Facebook made deals with several media partners (including Mashable) following the launch of its live streaming platform last summer, but the value of these deals was previously unknown. 

The terms of each "varies wildly," according to the Wall Street Journal, but BuzzFeed'sdeal is the most valuable at $3.05 million. In total, at least 17 are worth more than $1 million, including deals with the New York Times and CNN.

Facebook is also paying a handful of celebrities to live stream, including Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, actor Kevin Hart and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, along with YouTube stars and institutions like the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Under the contracts, publishers and celebs agree to produce a set number of broadcasts using Facebook Live. How much a publisher is paid for these broadcasts depends on how big their audience is and how many videos they agree to make, the report says. 

Facebook has high hopes for the platform, which it opened up to all its users earlier this year. Eventually, the network plans to sell ads against its video streams and is using its current deals with publishers and other influential users to jumpstart engagement with the service. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that the list of partners and contracts it reviewed didn't include all of the social network's live streaming deals, so Facebook is likely spending more than $50 million on these partnerships — something that could make Twitter-owned Periscope take notice. 

Your Periscope broadcasts can now live on forever

Live-streamed Internet broadcasts are the hottest thing in social media right now, and Periscope generated a lot of that heat when it launched in 2015. 

While Periscope broadcasts were previously only stored and viewable for 24 hours, the app is now testing out a new feature where users can choose to save videos indefinitely.

The new feature is currently in open beta, which means anyone can test it out right now, CEO Kayvon Beykpour announced in a broadcast (of course) on the service. By putting "#save" in the broadcast title, the recorded clip live on for as long as you choose. Of course, previously, there was a workaround and you could store the videos offline.

During the announcement, Beykpour said the "#save" designation in broadcast titles will go away once the feature leaves beta and becomes an official part of the app. For the time being, "#save" can't have any prefixes or suffixes attached to it in the description.

Naturally, this isn't great news for third-party app Katch, which made a business out of allowing users to save Periscope broadcasts to be posted elsewhere.

This turn from temporary to optionally permanent falls in line with Periscope's efforts to build out the platform, including its workforce. Periscope recently hired veteran tech reporter/editor Evan Hansen to begin curating and highlighting content on the app and develop an editorial team. He left a similar position atMedium as head of content labs.

With growth into areas that lean toward editorial content and content curation, it makes sense that Periscope is testing out a #save feature. If a broadcast is particularly popular and could stand to live a long life and bring in a large number of viewers over time, why not facilitate longer lifespans for videos?

With this change, it seems like Periscope is following in the steps of Facebook Live, which has always allowed users to save videos indefinitely after the broadcast is over. But in April,Beykpour told Mashable his company doesn't focus on competition like that.

"If we spent our time worrying about competitors, we wouldn’t actually build anything of value to the world," Beykpour said.

If anything, it looks as if Periscope is taking a cue from Snapchat, which also moved from purely-temporary image and video sharing to longer-lasting features and editorial content curation with stories and Discover.