Facebook to invest over $1 billion in content creators through end of 2022
- Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends
Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that Facebook and Instagram plan to together invest over $1 billion in creators through the end of 2022.
Why it matters: This is by far Facebook's biggest investment in attracting creators to its platform to-date.
- Facebook has slowly begun to roll out products and policies that favor creators, including revenue shares for ads sold against IGTV video content and "stars," which are akin to tips for creators from fans. It's said in the past it would not take a cut of any creator revenue until 2023.
Details: According to a spokesperson, the investment will fall in two buckets:
- Seed funding for creators to produce their own content.
- New bonus programs to pay eligible creators for hitting certain milestones when they use Facebook’s tools.
Beginning this summer, Facebook will roll out specific bonus programs for users who post content on Instagram's "Reels" platform, a feature similar to TikTok, as well as bonuses for other content efforts. Come this fall, bonus programs will be available to users creating in-stream videos on Facebook.
The big picture: As the creator economy expands, reports have suggested that Facebook has struggled to retain a competitive edge when it comes to incentivizing creators to use their platform over rivals like YouTube and TikTok.