Meta's Reels revenue narrows in on TikTok, boosted by AI
The Hindu
Meta’s Reels’ annual revenue run rate has jumped to $10 billion, up from around $3 billion as of last fall.
Reels, Meta Platforms' answer to viral short-form video app TikTok, elicited eyerolls when it launched in 2020 and was regarded as yet another example of Meta copying a popular rival.
But on Wednesday, Meta revealed numbers that show Reels videos are growing rapidly among both users and advertisers and are quickly catching up to the ByteDance-owned TikTok app that is beloved by young users and has reshaped the social media landscape.
Meta says the rags-to-riches growth of Reels, which are viewable on both Facebook and Instagram, speaks in part to the company's improving recommendation software, long the Chinese-owned rival's strong point.
"We can show Reels that we think you're interested in based on our discovery engines," Justin Osofsky, Meta's head of online sales, operations and partnerships, said in an interview on Thursday.
(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)
The number of Reels video plays on Facebook and Instagram now top 200 billion per day, up from 140 billion last fall. TikTok did not respond immediately to a request to provide its daily figures.
The growth of Reels "creates a base that you have the opportunity to further monetise," Osofsky said.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.
The 16th edition of Bhoomi Habba was held on June 8, at the Visthar campus. The festival drew a vibrant crowd who came together to celebrate eco-consciousness through a variety of engaging activities, creative workshops, panel discussions, interactive exhibits and performances, all centered around this year’s theme: “Save Water, Save Lives.”