Facebook Rewatch

[Skanky Vamp]

Facebook is playing the nostalgia card in its latest bid to drive up video viewing and video ad sales: using TV reruns.

The social-media giant is launching every episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural drama “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and spinoff “Angel” along with sci-fi show “Firefly” on Facebook Watch for free to users the U.S. All 268 episodes of the shows will be available to watch starting Friday, Nov. 30, under a licensing pact with 20th Century Fox Television.

Facebook has set up dedicated show pages for each of the series: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” will be available at this link; “Angel” is available at this link; and “Firefly” is streaming here.

The trio of shows, which aired on TV more than 15 years ago, is not exclusive to Facebook: All seasons of the three also are available on Hulu’s subscription service.

But Facebook believes the cult-favorite shows — particularly “Buffy” — will drive up watch time by letting fans experience the series in a brand-new, social way (along with the fact they’re free to watch). This week it expanded the Watch Party co-viewing feature to everyone on Facebook, making it possible for users to start Watch Parties from their Timeline or from any public video on Facebook. The company’s hope is that “Buffy,” “Angel” and “Firefly” will spawn thousands of Watch Party sessions.

Facebook also is enlisting talent from the shows to promote the free streaming — including Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series. On Friday, Gellar announced the free streaming of the show in a video on her Facebook Page, which has nearly 1 million followers, in which she underscored the platform’s co-viewing features to watch along with other “Buffy” fans on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=201741504044849

 

[caitaintdead]

I haven't looked too much into this as I'm of the understanding that it is American only - is that right?

 

[wickedwillow]

Hopefully it will bring more fans in

 

[NileQT87]

Too bad it's not like the Classic Doctor Who marathon on Twitch... Watching newbie young people react to William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton while making silly memes in the chat was all the fun of seeing things you've seen many times. It sure makes the weirdest moments that go far into MST3K territory 10x more fun ( ::cough:: The Web Planet ::cough:: ). Seeing what the young newbies are saying/noticing can be really interesting for the oldies.

But yeah, if this were international, getting together a sizable group and having a chat would actually make this worth watching for the people who have all of it on DVD and their computers (in multiple versions of NTSC, PAL and HD--is this just me?--they're all different!). And if I had my way, the streaming would mix up BtVS and AtS in chronological order to get everyone watching both.

Back when Pivot was doing their not-ready-for-primetime HD roll out, half the fun of mocking every mistake the reconstruction team made was the comaradery of a bunch of nerds pouring over every frame together of a show they had seen a million times and were noticing new things due to the sides being opened up or being less dark.

 

[EarthLogic]

Oh so this is why I keep getting Watch Party invites! I thought it was just BtVS FB group admins doing watches on Rabb.it or something.

 

[DagonSphere]

I would like Buffy to be on a platform where it's actually watched and discovered by new viewers. Or do people actually use Facebook Watch?

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Or do people actually use Facebook Watch?

Not really. Not that many people know about it. But it's still pretty much in its infancy. That's why they count of the stars of what is streaming to get the word out. About 50% of all adult FB users didn't know what it was.

 

[Wild At Heart]

I've been wanting to do a rewatch with some of my friends but they don't really have the time or have already seen the show & aren't up for it :-/