Facebook Acqui-Hires Interactive Video Company Vidpresso, Will Integrate Tools Into Facebook Live

Interactive video startup Vidpresso announced on Monday that it was acqui-hired by Facebook, which brought its seven-person team onboard as well as its video tech — but, per a report from TechCrunch, did not buy out the company outright.

Vidpresso has been working with various creators, publishers, and broadcasters (including BuzzFeed, Nasdaq, TED, and NBC) since 2012, providing interactive tools for live video streams, including graphics, in-video comments, and polls, TechCrunch reports. In its announcement, Vidpresso said it launched back in 2012 to “make video more like HTML — easier to author, easier to change, and customized per person,” but noted that its strategy has shifted multiple times over the years and that it hasn’t “realized the full vision yet.”

That’s where Facebook comes in. The acqui-hire-sition will give Vidpresso’s tools a significantly wider user base, including Facebook video and Facebook Live creators, who will be able to utilize and customize them for their own content, Vidpresso suggested.

Putting power in the hands of creators to jazz up their videos and giving them ways for their viewers to interact with their content is a good move generally, but as for what that will look like from Facebook and Vidpresso specifically — creators will have to wait and see.