According to publishers who spoke to Recode, Facebook is not expected to renew the deals it made last year to promote the production of live video by news publishers.

The company is instead expected to emphasise long “premium” video content in the future. Whether or not Facebook would pay for this content is not known at this point.

This would mark a significant change in Facebook’s priorities, as the social media giant previously promoted heavily Facebook Live, its live-streaming feature that also many newspapers embraced.

As Facebook hasn't revealed the reasons behind the move, it is speculated to be motivated either by Facebook Live having enough users, or live-streaming ultimately being less compelling than Facebook expected.

Many have also commented that the episode is another demonstration of Facebook’s power over the news media: by promoting specific type of content, the company encouraged publishers to shift accordingly – only to see the priorities (and potential revenue) change later. 

Coincidentally, the Washington Post said it was investing in its video production, with a Daily Show-style series seemingly in the plans, Nieman Journalism Lab reported.