Facebook’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team has launched Venue, a new app that helps fans experience live events more interactively.
We’ve seen a lot of activity lately from NPE, Facebook’s experimental app division, launching six new apps in the last two months. The seventh app in a row – Venue – was launched just last week and is now available on iOS and Android.
According to the recent announcement, Venue is an app that “brings passionate fans and expert commentators together to experience live events in a new interactive way.”
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So, what does this mean, exactly? Facebook has found that despite offering an “opportunity for millions of people to consume content simultaneously” and drawing a huge number of viewers, live broadcasts are still “mostly solo viewing experiences.” As a result, fans want new ways to engage with other fans and experts.
With Venue, Facebook gives those fans an interactive second-screen experience, curated by experts, and concentrated on specific moments in events. From the outset, Venue will focus on improving the second screen experiences of sports fans, and Facebook has partnered with NASCAR, which has been one of the first sports to return to live-action after COVID-19.
“As NASCAR makes its return to action over the coming weeks, Venue will provide users with a unique and exciting way to connect with fellow race fans from around the globe – all from the safety and comfort of their own homes,” explains Tim Clark, NASCAR’s SVP and Chief Digital Officer. “NASCAR was built on innovation, and we couldn’t be more excited to help a great partner like Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team innovate around new platforms.”
Venue lets fans watch events with expert commentators – journalists, current or former athletes, or aspiring “fan-analysts” – who host a venue for each race, during which they provide commentary, ask questions, run polls, and open up short chats, like “personal concierges for the main event.”
The app also helps fans focus on the moments that matter splitting attention between a race and their phones better than how they do it today. Commentators are able to create “Moments” (short-lived digital opportunities for fans to connect) based on more memorable or interesting things happening on the track, and fans are notified whenever a new Moment is created. They can then jump in and out of Venue
Finally, Venue provides a great way for fans to connect with other fans. The app is currently available on iOS and Android in the United States.