Meta, formerly known as Facebook, and Instagram is ending it’s Reels Play Bonus program for creators.
Last week, Meta announced plans to pause its Reels Play Bonus. The invite-only bonus program was designed to help creators monetize their content and get paid for views and often times, the ads promotions that played in-feed.
For many creators, they have made a full-time career from recording and editing videos and providing endless entertainment for their audiences online. For the program to suddenly end, this comes as a shock to many, as the CEO of Meta once made the Reels Play Bonus a priority investment for the company.
The Reels Play Bonus program was launched late in 2021 for Instagram and Facebook as an incentive for users to create short-form video content under 60-90 seconds long.
The bonus offered creators a range from $50- $35,000 a month based on the views their content generates. For many, this was a dream come true and an opportunity to create an additional stream of income amid the global pandemic and huge shift in the workforce and economy.
While I do believe this change will allow creators to scale back on blitz posting and take time to create more authentic content that resonates with their lifestyles and that they WANT to post, it was still a great tool to have.
Stay-at-home-moms were able to cultivate communities through their content and generate money from home, which wouldn’t have otherwise been an option for some prior to the Reels Play Bonus.
If you’re currently receiving payments from the bonus, Meta has stated that they will continue to honor the payment program for the next 30 days. Meta will not offer new or renewed bonus payments after that. You’ve also likely started to see the payment amounts dwindling and the program comes to an end.
What’s new to Meta (Facebook and Instagram?)
While the Reels Play bonus program is set to pause after this month, Meta has announced its plan to shift efforts to focusing on creating an ad revenue model, which will allow users/businesses to run advertisements in between reel scrolls, increasing viewership and the way ads are displayed across the app.
This isn’t the thing that’s changing with Meta. Creators will still have an opportunity to monetize their content by using the new paid subscription feature on Instagram and Facebook. This will allow creators to push content to a private group of people who pay for their subscription.
This news was released right around the same time Instagram announced its paid Meta Verification program, Instagram Broadcasting Channels, and the end of Instagram Live Shopping.
Tons of changes are coming for creators but there’s still plenty of ways to monetize your platforms with “gifts” from your viewers, brand deals, paid partnerships, selling your own products/services, and exploring new platforms that may offer pay-per-view monetization features.
According to Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram, Facebook and Instagram’s Paid Verification has officially launched in the US and the subscription will cost users $11.99 per month on desktop versions of the platform and $14.99 per month on mobile devices.
There is much speculation that the rollout of this new paid verification program will saturate the “blue check” market and take away from the people who earned blue check verifications from press releases, being a public figure or celebrity, and identifying prominent people/brands who are “more likely” to be imitated.
Will this new feature cause the end of the platforms or will it help users land more brand deals and increase their audiences? Tune in for more.
