Facebook may not be known for unique videos like its competitors, but the firm is now offering content creators a chance to make money off their creations.
The social media giant announced Thursday that such users can place advertisements in short-form videos, with the initial test starting with stickers in Facebook Stories.
Creators can earn an income with videos as short as one minute, which was previously only set for three minute clips and for users by invite-only.
However, Facebook seems a little late to the service, as its rivals have offered content creators this revenue stream for some time – Snapchat pays over $1 million per day to creators who make viral short videos on its feature called Snapchat Spotlight.
Facebook has become a go-to source for news and viral videos, but rarely has it been known for original content.
However, Thursday’s announcement may be enough to attract budding stars to use the Mark Zuckerberg-owned site for their own passion – while increasing Facebook’s user base.
And the move will also pit it against other powerhouses in the market such as Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok.
The feature will begin by testing ads that look like stickers, which content creators can use in their Facebook Stories to earn money.
‘Video creators can now earn money from videos as short as one minute long, with a minimally interruptive ad running at 30 seconds,’ Yoav Arnstein, Director, Facebook App Monetization, wrote in the announcement.
‘For videos three minutes or longer, an ad can be shown 45 seconds in.’
More creators can now qualify to earn ad revenue from live-streaming videos on Facebook, previously an invite-only program.
‘While ads can be a great way to monetize livestreams, the built-in engagement of Live also lends itself well to earning money with Stars,’ Arnstein shard.
‘With a focus on rewarding fan loyalty, we’ve seen Stars enhance the connection between content creators and their community of fans’
Arnstein also notes that over the past six months, users sent video and gaming creators an average of one billion Stars, which users pay as tips to creators per month – an equivalent in $10 million per month.
The social media giant said it would also give away $7 million in free Facebook Stars.
Facebook also shared that the number of content creators earning the equivalent of $10,000 per month grew 88 percent from 2019 through 2020.
The firm has allowed content creators to earn revenue through its platform, but by invite-only, but now that a number of services are offering income it seems Facebook does not want to be left behind in the mad dash to provide the public with unique, entertaining content.
