Facebook's purchase of QuickFire Networks underscores the significance of video to the social network, as Facebook looks to become a video powerhouse with the acquisition.
The terms of the deal between Facebook and QuickFire Networks was not disclosed.
QuickFire Networks will be supporting the increased video consumption on Facebook, as the social network revealed that the amount of videos that United States users post on Facebook have almost doubled compared to the previous year.
According to Facebook, users have been viewing an average of 1 billion videos daily since June 2014, with over half of the active daily users of the social network watching at least one video daily.
"Video is an essential part of the Facebook experience. We are excited to bring QuickFire Networks on board as we continue delivering a high quality video experience to the over 1.3 billion people who use Facebook," said Liz Allbright, a spokeswoman for Facebook.
As Facebook users increase their viewing rate of videos, the importance of videos have likewise increased for advertisers who are looking to reach out to a wider audience. Analysts also expect video advertisements to greatly contribute to sales of Facebook.
Craig Lee, CEO of QuickFire Networks, said that the video startup was created to assist the Internet in managing the "massive consumption of video."
The company's technology is able to reduce the required bandwidth of viewing videos online without sacrificing the quality of the content. QuickFire Networks said that its transcoding service is able to compress videos into files with lower bit rates without decreasing the quality of the video, and is also able to increase the quality of videos without increasing their file sizes.
Lee wrote in a blog post that the acquisition by Facebook is the next phase in the growth of QuickFire Networks, as the company looks forward to delivering high-quality video viewing experiences to Facebook users.
Important members of the 20-person team of QuickFire Networks will be joining the operations of Facebook in Menlo Park and Seattle.
The acquisition of QuickFire Networks by Facebook is the second acquisition of the social network for the year, as it has acquired the voice recognition company Wit.ai earlier this week.
Unlike Facebook's strategy of upgrading its video services with the acquisition of QuickFire Networks, the social network's plans for Wit.ai's voice recognition service is unknown. However, it is thought that the acquisition will help Facebook in the expansion and development of its cross-platform Messenger app.
