Facebook Trying to Lure YouTube's Top Content Producers: Report

Facebook Inc has approached some of YouTube's biggest content producers to get them to distribute their videos on the social network, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Facebook seems to be taking on Google Inc's video site by trying to lure its biggest content producers to the social network, the Journal said.

Popular content from Walt Disney Co's Maker Studios and Collective Digital Studio can already be found on Facebook via the site's news feed and on individual creator's pages, the report said.

One of YouTube's viral series "The Annoying Orange" by Collective has a dedicated page on the social network.

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"Our partnerships team regularly has conversations with content creators about how to best utilize all of Facebook's offerings, video included," a Facebook spokeswoman told the Journal.

Until recently, much of the video content on Facebook was YouTube videos posted by users, but Facebook now allows users to upload videos directly to its site. This enables the site to sell ads with the videos, the report said.

If Facebook succeeds with its video push, it could undercut YouTube's dominance of the online video ad market, the Journal added, citing eMarketer estimates.

Facebook was not immediately available to comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2014