Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and now Facebook Watch. The new contender for original content, Facebook Watch goes big with star power in the dramedy “Sorry for Your Loss.” Created by playwright Kit Steinkellner (“Z: The Beginning of Everything”), “Sorry for Your Loss” follows the story of a young widow dealing with the sudden death of her husband and the unexpected struggles this hardship causes in her family life. Yet despite the heavy topic, this ten-episode half-hour series gave viewers a refreshing look at grief, loss, and mental illness. ‘Sorry’ was so successful, that Facebook has recently announced a Season 2 is forthcoming.
‘Sorry’ was the first major scripted series for the fledgling streaming service. Elizabeth Olsen and Kelly Marie Tran headline the series, which also stars Mamoudou Athie, Jovan Adepo, and Janet McTeer. Upon its release, the series received pretty great reviews, particularly for its lead, Olsen, who was recently nominated for a Best Actress award at next year’s Critics’ Choice.
Facebook wasn’t just talking up “Sorry for Your Loss,” however. The social media network also decided to release some viewership numbers for its Watch platform. While the streamer wouldn’t give specific viewership totals for the various series, themselves, Facebook was sure to mention that on a daily basis over 75 million viewers watch at least one minute of Watch programming, with the average watch time of 20 minutes. On a sheer numbers standpoint, that’s an incredible statistic for a service that many people you talk to have probably never heard of.
So, how can 75 million people stream programming on Facebook Watch but yet not many people are talking about it? Well, Facebook currently has over 1.5 billion people signed up for its service worldwide. That means that only 5% of those people on the social media network are checking out Watch content. Obviously, with a potential viewer base of over a billion, Facebook will continue to attempt to expand it’s content offerings.
And as Variety is quick to point out, if you look at the “likes” that the “Sorry for Your Loss” Facebook page currently has, it’s not that impressive. The Elizabeth Olsen series only has 146,000 users following it, which is a fraction of the 75 million viewers. Granted, not every viewer is going to follow the series’ Page, but it’s a good indication that the viewership numbers are a pretty unreliable barometer for actual people watching ‘Sorry.’
One good thing for your wallet, Facebook Watch doesn’t cost anything to stream. Instead, the social media network is going the commercial route, making a profit by placing ads throughout each video (hey, it’s Facebook, they’re not going to pass up on a chance to make money).
“Sorry for Your Loss” Season 1 is available now on Facebook Watch.