Spring has sprung, and if you are stuck inside because of the spring rains, we’ve got some subscription insights to keep you occupied. In this edition of Five on Friday, Facebook steps up its video game to compete with YouTube, Information Week asks ‘how valuable is your data,’ Hubspot shares sales questions to help you identify your customer’s core needs, Google pledges big bucks to support news organizations and to stop fake news, and Deloitte reports that more than half of U.S. households subscribe to a video streaming service.

Facebook Faces Off Against YouTube with Subscription Features

If you are a video creator, you will soon have more options for where to build and grown an online community of fans. On Monday, Facebook announced that it is testing news tools and experiences for creators, which will allow the social platform to compete against YouTube for top creative talent. Here are a few highlights of the features Facebook will offer:

• A creator’s top fans will have a badge next to their names and it will add them to a leaderboard of highly engaged fans. They’ll be ranked based on how often they comment, share, react or watch a particular creator’s content. Fans will opt into the experience and can opt out at any time.
• Through a special Creator app, creators like Belly Full, Wuz Good and LeJuan James can get audience insights. Currently available only on iOS, Facebook said it will roll out a Facebook Creator app for Android soon.
• Facebook will offer more monetization options for creators. The social platform currently offers branded content ad breaks for creators who create shows for Facebook Watch, and it will be adding two more: a tool for advertisers and creators to more easily connected for branded opportunities, and a way for fans to support creators with a monthly subscription fee. While Facebook didn’t spell it out, Recode reports the subscription fee will be $4.99 a month.

‘Every day on Facebook, creators use video to bring their communities together around common passions,’ said Fidji Simo, VP of Product and Sibyl Goldman, Director of Entertainment Partnerships, in a blog post. ‘We’ve been working closely with creators to understand what they need to be successful on Facebook. To support them, we’re focused on three areas: helping them engage and grow their community, manage their presence, and build a business on Facebook.’

What Is Your Data Worth?

In a recent article, ‘How Valuable Is Your Company’s Data?‘ for Information Week, Lisa Morgan explores the value of data. Morgan points out that companies are amassing an enormous amount of data and many consider it one of their greatest assets, but what is that data actually worth? She breaks it down into these value segments:

• Direct value – direct monetization of the data
• Automation value – using data, tasks are automated using chatbots, robotic processes and artificial intelligence
• Recombinant value – creating additional value by combining a company’s data with external data from an outside source
• Algorithmic value – making recommendation engines to drive value (e.g., Netflix and Amazon)
• Risk-of-loss value – measuring the economic loss of data

‘No single equation can accurately assess the value of a company’s data. The value of data depends on several factors, including the usability, accessibility and cleanliness of the data,’ Morgan writes. ‘While there’s no standard playbook for valuing data, expect data valuation and the inability to value data to have a direct impact on startup, public company, and merger and acquisition target valuations.’

Learn more about the value of data and the different ways it can be used in Morgan’s original article on Information Week.

5 Sales Questions to Identify Your Customer’s Pain Points and Primary Needs

The best sales people are successful because they listen to their customers, and they ask the right questions to yield information about their pain points and primary needs. In a recent article for Hubspot, ‘38 Sales Questions to Quickly Identify Your Customer’s Core Needs,’ Tony Alessandra shared his top picks from best questions to ask in a sales meeting and best questions to ask customers. We’ve selected five from his top 10 best sales questions list:

1. What are your short- and long-term goals?
2. Who has your business now, and why did you choose that vendor?
3. What is your boss hoping to accomplish in the next year?
4. Where would you put the emphasis regarding price, quality and service?
5. What level of service are you looking for?

For more top sales questions, read Alessandra’s complete list on Hubspot.

Google Pledges $300 Million Over Three Years to Stop Fake News

Google is committing $300 million over the next three years to support quality journalism and fight the spread of fake news in a project called the Google News Initiative. Google says this is its effort to work with the news industry to build ‘a stronger future for journalism.’ GNI has three primary objectives, according to a blog post by Philipp Schindler, chief business officer for Google:

• Elevate and strengthen quality journalism
• Evolve business models to drive sustainable growth
• Empower news organizations through technological innovation

One of the projects in the GNI is the creation of Disinfo Lab. In partnership with Harvard Kennedy School’s First Draft, the lab will work to identify misinformation and disinformation during elections and breaking news cycles.

‘People come to Google looking for information they can trust, and that information often comes from the reporting of journalists and news organizations around the world. And while the demand for quality journalism is as high as it’s ever been, the business of journalism is under pressure, as publications around the world face challenges from an industry-wide transition to digital,’ wrote Schindler.

‘That matters deeply to Google. After all, our mission to build a more informed world is inherently tied to the reporting of journalists and news organizations. Our shared mission also reflects shared business interests. Platforms like Search and YouTube depend on a healthy ecosystem of publishers producing great digital content,’ Schindler added.

Learn more about the Google News Initiative on the Google blog.

Deloitte Report: More than Half of U.S. Households Subscribe to SVOD

In a new report, Deloitte offers insight into how consumers use streaming video. Here are a few key findings in the report:

–      55 percent of U.S. households subscribe to a streaming video service, representing 450 percent growth since 2009.

–      The average subscriber pays for 3 streaming video services. Millennial subscribers average 4 SVOD services.

–      Viewers watch an average of 38 hours watching video content every week, 39 percent of which is streamed.

–      There are more than 200 SVOD services in the U.S.

–      U.S. consumers spend about $2.1 billion per month on SVOD services.

–      48 percent of U.S. consumers stream TV content every day or at least weekly.

How often do you watch streaming video services? How many services do you subscribe to? Read more findings from the Deloitte report here.