FACEBOOK has launched a new spin-off website that lets people watch and live-stream video games: FB.GG.

It's a clear attempt by the tech giant to claw back some of the youngsters fleeing the social network for cooler apps like Instagram and Snapchat.

FB.GG still borrows the core Facebook design – that boxy blue and white look.

It is also sure to rival popular video gaming streaming services that already exist, like Amazon's Twitch and Google's YouTube Gaming.

Estimates suggest that young gamers spend more than three hours a week watching other people play, so FB.GG seems sensible enough as an idea.

The 'GG' part of the name refers to "good game", popular gamer slang usually uttered at the end of a multiplayer match.

Right now, FB.GG's most top-streamed and highest-watched video game is Fortnite.

Fortnite is the smash-hit "battle royale" shooter that has taken the world by storm – and hooked Britain's youth.

There are currently just under 3,000 Fortnite live streams at the time of writing, which have racked up more than 238,000 views.

In fact, four of the top five Facebook games being live-streamed are "battle royale" genre games like Fortnite.

This genre involves dropping players onto a multiplayer map and letting them fight to the bitter end in a last-person-standing deathmatch.

Facebook will be looking to capitalise on the huge market for watching people play video games with FB.GG.

Currently, Amazon's Twitch.tv is probably the most well-known game streaming site.

Last year, gamers watched 355billion minutes of gameplay from over 2milllion broadcasters.

The site drew in over 15million visitors each day, with more than a million viewers tuning in concurrently for ELEAGUE'S Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Grand Final tournament.

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The audience for watching video games is predominantly young adults and teenagers.

That's a market Facebook is keen to capture, as the social network has struggled to keep a hold on its youngest users.

Back in February, it emerged that Facebook had lost 700,000 12- to 24-year-olds compared to 2017.

And a recent survey from Pew Research suggested that 51% of 13- to 17-year-olds in the USA use Facebook – compared to 71% in 2015.