At noon EDT Thursday (Aug. 29), Jay Z and Justin Timberlake's "Holy Grail" music video became the first clip by a major music star to premiere on Facebook — and with a 24-hour exclusivity window to boot. The premiere utilizes Facebook's proprietary video player, which will have the exclusive on the clip before YouTube and any other video provider until noon EDT on Friday Aug. 30.
"What we’re doing with Jay Z today is really exciting and we think emblematic of the evolution fo music and how musicians can connect with their fans," says Nick Grudin, head of content partnerships for Facebook. "And we think that is particularly evident in Jay Z’s approach here, which will really allow him to go direct to a massive and instant global audience. It's something that only Facebook I think can really deliver in this way, given the scale of the audiences musicians have and the global nature of those audiences and the social dynamics of what happens when they engage on Facebook."
With over 17 million Facebook fans for Jay Z and 25 million for Justin Timberlake, the combined reach for "Holy Grail" is significant -- especially when compared to Twitter, where Jay Z's @S_C_ account has only 2.9 million followers and @jtimberlake has 24.9 million, slightly below his Facebook following. Plus, the portfolio of artists in Jay Z's Roc Nation family and beyond (Shakira, Rihanna, wife Beyonce) are among the platform's most-followed personalities.