Facebook Live will spin up 360-degree streaming to match YouTube

National Geographic will air the first 360-degree live stream on Facebook.

YouTube added 360-degree live streaming back in April, and tomorrow, Facebook will preview its own version of the all-encompassing broadcast format.

On Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET, National Geographic’s Facebook Page will air the platform’s first 360-degree live stream. The broadcast will document eight scientists returning to the real world after spending the past 80 days living in pods to simulate life on Mars Matt Damon-style. The stream, from the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, will detail their experience and host a Q&A with viewers.

But, like living on Mars, it will be awhile before any brands beyond National Geographic can try out 360-degree live streaming on Facebook.

Facebook plans to open up 360-degree live streaming to Pages using its Live API tool — that allows them to broadcast on Facebook through non-phone cameras like a 360-degree rig — sometime “in the coming months,” according to a company blog post. And Facebook expects to roll it out to everyone sometime next year, though only people with 360-degree cameras will be able to produce their own “Live 360” streams, as Facebook is calling its 360-degree live-streaming feature.

Whenever Facebook officially opens up 360-degree live streaming — and assuming the resolution doesn’t recall video streaming circa 2006 — it could open up more reasons for viewers to be interested in live streams on Facebook. Sports teams could use it to give people a better of view of what it’s like to watch a game in their stadiums; same goes for music festivals. News publishers could use it to give an even rawer on-the-ground look at breaking news events. And brands could use it when they have an event they know they want to broadcast but don’t know how they want to frame the live stream.

About The Author

Tim Peterson

Tim Peterson, Third Door Media’s Social Media Reporter, has been covering the digital marketing industry since 2011. He has reported for Advertising Age, Adweek and Direct Marketing News. A born-and-raised Angeleno who graduated from New York University, he currently lives in Los Angeles. He has broken stories on Snapchat’s ad plans, Hulu founding CEO Jason Kilar’s attempt to take on YouTube and the assemblage of Amazon’s ad-tech stack; analyzed YouTube’s programming strategy, Facebook’s ad-tech ambitions and ad blocking’s rise; and documented digital video’s biggest annual event VidCon, BuzzFeed’s branded video production process and Snapchat Discover’s ad load six months after launch. He has also developed tools to monitor brands’ early adoption of live-streaming apps, compare Yahoo’s and Google’s search designs and examine the NFL’s YouTube and Facebook video strategies.