Facebook announced a series of new monetization options for creators, focusing on short video clips – which could put more pressure on TikTok, which is still working on its own revenue sharing programs.
First, in the short video – Facebook announced that creators will now be able to make money from videos of just one minute, “with an ad with minimal interruption running for 30 seconds”.
“For videos of three minutes or more, an ad can be shown with 45 seconds. Previously, only videos of three minutes or more could be monetized with in-stream ads, with an ad showing no earlier than 1 minute.”
Offering the ability to monetize short clips can attract more creators to Facebook and away from TikTok, which is looking to e-commerce integrations as a key tool to provide users with more monetization options.
Of course, one minute is still twice the length of Instagram Reels clips, so Facebook does not provide monetization tools for all creators, nor for your TikTok clone directly. But if you’re already making popular 30-second clips, it’s probably not difficult to extend your content for a minute to qualify for monetization.
This can be a great attraction for those looking to diversify their reach.
In fact, Facebook specifically notes that short-form content is a priority, including stories:
“We are especially focused on monetizing short videos. In the coming weeks, we will begin testing the ability of content creators to monetize their Facebook stories with ads that look like stickers and receive a portion of the resulting revenue. The initial test is small, we hope to expand soon for more content creators. And then expand it to short videos on Facebook, eventually providing a way for content creators to monetize that popular content. “
It looks like it will come to the Moments while Facebook is also exploring other in-stream ad formats “that increase engagement through rewards or product interaction”.
Will this pose a significant challenge for TikTok?
In addition, Facebook also updating your eligibility criteria for in-stream ads.
To qualify for monetization, creators now need to:
- 600,000 total minutes viewed any combination of video uploads – on demand, live and previously live – in the last 60 days.
- 5 or more active videos uploads or previously live videos. Videos must be published, not deleted and comply with our Content monetization policies.
The addition of live content expands the scope of monetization, while the new parameters also provide more space for short format creators to participate.
Live is another important area of focus, with Facebook opening up its live video monetization options to more creators – which until now was an invite-only program. Now, those looking to add in-stream ads on your live streams must have 60,000 live minutes viewed in the last 60 days.
Facebook is also looking to raise awareness about its live streaming gift program, Stars, by providing free promotional stars on certain streams to make users more accustomed to the process.
Is investing in Facebook $ 7 million in credits to promote the use of Stars, which could eventually cause more people to donate to their favorite streamers via Stars, while also showing the potential for monetization of Stars to a larger group of broadcasters.
Facebook has been working to improve its star options in recent months – in December, it described a number of star tools, including animated graphics for variable prices and stars set in the comments section.
Facebook is also looking to expand the use of stars in different formats, with a new test of Stars for video on demand, while also looking at how you can add Star options for short video clips.
And finally, Facebook is expanding its online paid event tools to more regions.
“Today, paid online events are in 20 countries, and we will expand paid online events to 24 more countries in the coming weeks: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. “
Facebook is also looking to expand its fan subscription tools to more regions.
It is interesting to consider the impacts of the various Facebook monetization initiatives and how they can impact the broader picture of the creator. Facebook says it is seeing strong growth in this regard:
“From 2019 to 2020, the number of content creators earning the equivalent of $ 10,000 per month grew by 88% and content creators earning $ 1,000 per month grew by 94%.”
If Facebook can facilitate more revenue potential, it will attract more creators – with the expansion to short-form content clearly aimed at combating the rise of TikTok and providing more options for this new wave of producers.
While TikTok continues to gain momentum, the biggest risk for the platform remains effective monetization and helping its top creators to make money – because if they can’t do that on TikTok, they will eventually switch to other platforms like Facebook and YouTube, where they can earn a lot.
This was a significant element in the downfall of Vine – eventually, without effective monetization tools for short videos, Vine’s top creators moved to other platforms, taking their large audience with them, which saw many become millionaires as Vine slowly disappeared. .
That’s why, as noted, TikTok is working hard to add e-commerce integrations and other revenue-generating tools in order to keep these big stars close at hand – and why Facebook is now looking to make video monetization short a greater focus, keeping the pressure on the app on the rise.
Will this work in favor of Facebook? Will these new features provide significant opportunities for creators?
And given Facebook’s recent actions in Australia, where it cut local news pages overnight due to a dispute with the local government, will creators be willing to trust Facebook more as they seek to build more trust in such tools?
There are many issues to consider, but now it’s good to see Facebook adding more monetization options and more ways for creators to monetize their efforts.