NEW YORK: Facebook’s fledgling Watch video platform is expected to show clips from the “Late Late Show with James Corden” later today, having secured a deal with CBS, which usually distributes clips on YouTube and its own online channels.

Short-form content from CBS’s “Late Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, one of the most popular late-night chat shows in America, already aired on Facebook Watch last Thursday and the show with James Corden will be the next stage of the CBS experiment.

Although both CBS and Facebook would not disclose the terms of the deal, Variety reported that neither CBS shows will include original content. Instead, the broadcaster will distribute clips from its TV broadcasts, as it does currently with YouTube.

Facebook launched Watch in August last year with the aim of showing thousands of videos in the future and mounting a serious challenge to the ad budgets allocated to YouTube.

However, according to Advertising Age, the platform has “struggled to gain its footing as a destination for video viewing” even though videos posted to Watch do well in Facebook’s News Feed.

Another hurdle confronting Facebook is that several major media companies want to handle their own ad sales, which runs counter to Facebook’s traditional ad revenue-sharing model.

That said, Facebook confirmed recently that it would begin tests to allow its partners to sell their own ads, although Advertising Age said it remains unclear whether this will apply to CBS.

But with Facebook Watch bringing on board high-profile programmes like the Late Late Show, a significant advantage for the platform, as it tries to compete with YouTube, is to build engagement with viewers.

“The significance of this deal is about expanding our Watch offering to present more fresh and engaging content, which is a priority for us,” a Facebook spokesperson explained.

“With CBS and late night, these are shows that build community and encourage a lot of engagement.”

Sourced from Variety, Advertising Age; additional content by WARC staff