diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py
index 96b5a81bb..33d2acc91 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py
@@ -465,9 +465,13 @@ class FacebookIE(InfoExtractor):
         thumbnail = self._og_search_thumbnail(webpage)
 
         if is_live:
-            view_count = parse_count(self._search_regex(r'viewerCount:([\d]+)', webpage, 'views', fatal=False))
+            view_count = parse_count(
+                self._search_regex(r'viewerCount:([\d]+)', webpage, 'views', fatal=False) or \
+                self._search_regex(r'[\'\"]viewerCount[\'\"]\s*:\s*(\d+)', tahoe_data.primary, 'views', fatal=False)
+            )
         else:
             view_count = parse_count(self._extract_meta_count(['postViewCount', 'viewCount'], webpage, tahoe_data, 'likes'))
+
         likes_count = parse_count(self._extract_likes(webpage, tahoe_data))
         shares_count = parse_count(self._extract_meta_count(['sharecount'], webpage, tahoe_data, 'shares'))