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euro news1112v3_news 10/12/2015 18:20 Page 4 Facebook VP: ‘Facebook and TV happy bedfellows’ icola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s vice president for EMEA, has suggested that although time spent online is now eclipsing time spent on television, we are living in a golden age of TV, with Facebook and TV “happy bedfellows”. Delivering a Media Mastermind Keynote at MIPCOM, she noted that video is exploding, quoting Cisco research predicting that it will account for 80% of Internet data by 2019. “What we see on Facebook today is that there are over 4 billion video views every day, and 75 per cent of them are on mobile.” She explained how Facebook had worked with Sky in the UK on the premiere for the last season of Game of Thrones. Facebook had 2.2m people who were enthusiastic about Game of Thrones on its social network, but expanded it N through similar franchises: The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings, Borgias and Deadwood to reach an audience of 8.3m people. On the night of the premiere, Facebook helped Sky to push out sponsored video and photos to that audience. “Nielsen told us that the ad recall for this was three times the global average, and it drew a massive audience to the premiere,” she reported. “This couldn’t have happened even two years ago. Facebook and TV really are happy bedfellows. We see Facebook usage peaks at exactly the same time TV viewing peaks in every country in the world. Eighty per cent of people who are on social media are on Facebook, and they’re the ones that are on during live TV broadcasts.” “What we see on Facebook today is that there are over 4 billion video views every day.” EBU welcomes WRC-15 UHF decision R epresentatives of over 150 governments attending the ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) have taken the decision that UHF spectrum will remain exclusively allocated to terrestrial TV services in ITU ‘Region 1’ well into the next decade. Delegates reached this conclusion after deliberations over whether the lower UHF frequency band (470-694 MHz) should be retained for broadcasting only or also allocated to 10 EUROMEDIA mobile broadband. There will be a review of the spectrum use in the entire UHF band (470-960 MHz) at the WRC in 2023. Only then will it be decided whether to make further changes to the Radio Regulations. This added security will enable many countries in ITU Region 1 to continue with their digital switchover programmes without the risk of an impending Mendelsohn also revealed new tools Facebook was introducing for broadcasters. Hashtag voting and polling would enable people to cast their vote on Facebook in a post or comment, which producers can then take to use in the show. In addition, Native Polling would allow viewers to give their opinions, even if they were not voting to influence a show. Video and photo submission had been used for the recent Republican presidential candidates’ debate on Fox, when viewers could submit videos with their questions via Facebook. A new Facebook Video Gallery feature would help producers curate this i