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Jun 29, 2021 - Economy

Scoop: Instagram testing ad revenue share with publishers via IGTV

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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Instagram will start testing IGTV ads with publishers this month, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It's the first time Instagram is offering publishers a share of revenue for their content on its platform.

Details: The company has begun outreach to a small set of publishers to begin testing an IGTV ads revenue share product with them.

  • Instagram rolled out ad revenue share programs broadly for creators on IGTV earlier this month.
  • Publishers it's approached include those with sizable Instagram audiences, sources tell Axios, like ATTN: and Group Nine Media, which is home to brands like NowThis, PopSugar and others.

Flashback: Publishers with massive followings were growing frustrated with Instagram over prior monetization talks that were tabled during the pandemic.

  • Instagram doesn't have a designated news tab like Facebook that is used to license publisher content. (It does, however, pay a few publishers for some select content.)

The big picture: IGTV ad revenue shares are Instagram's most competitive offering with YouTube. IGTV has offered to split ad revenue with creators, giving them 55% of all revenue — the same rate offered by YouTube.

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