• by Colin Kirkland , May 10, 2023

Meta has announced that it is testing a new way to pay creators on Reels, giving them a cut of its ad revenue for the first time -- a move that more closely resembles YouTube’s payout structure. 

Meta began testing Ads on Facebook Reels last year and is now inviting “thousands more creators” and advertisers to join its updated tests -- including creators who participated in the company’s “Reels Play” bonus program on Facebook, part of Meta’s $1 billion creator fund, which paused in March of this year. 

In the coming weeks, Meta says it will begin testing a similar program on Instagram, but more evolved -- including a payout model that pays creators based on the performance of their public Reels, not the earning of ads on them. 

The performance-based program will pay creators a share of ad revenue based on a Reel’s total plays, not other “variables outside of creators’ control,” such as the amount of ads that have already been shown to their followers, or the relevancy of those ads. 

Meta’s ad revenue grew to $43.2 billion in 2022, showing a $1 billion increase from the previous year.

By splitting ad revenue, the company is incentivizing creators and advertisers to focus purely on the content that is resonating with their audiences while allowing advertisers more ad inventory to reach larger audiences and providing users a more consistent and relevant viewing experience.

The new program follows the same kind of approach as YouTube in paying creators from a pool of Reels ad revenue, as opposed to monetizing based on the specific campaigns displayed.

In order to earn from Ads on Reels, Meta says that creators must complete an onboarding process, adding that “all creators onboarding to the test will automatically be added to the new payout model.”