Helping creators earn more and diversify their revenue on Facebook

We've made a lot of great progress, but we still have work to do. That's why we're taking this opportunity to share more ways that you can monetise on Facebook:

Earn money from all types of videos

From Live to short and long form, you share an eclectic mix of videos on Facebook. Since launching in-stream ads, we've expanded the format to include pre-, mid-, post-roll and image ads, as well as formats specific to Live.

You can now earn money from videos as short as 1 minute long, with a minimally interruptive ad running at 30 seconds. For videos three minutes or longer, an ad can be shown 45 seconds in with automatic insertion. Previously, only three-minute or longer videos could monetise with in-stream ads, with an ad shown no earlier than 1 minute.

This has translated into growing payouts for creators – in-stream ad payouts grew over 55% from 2019 to 2020 – with video creators of all sizes earning meaningful revenue. For example, from the end of 2019 until April 2020, Korean chef Seonkyoung Longest's in-stream revenue increased roughly 50% per month.

Looking ahead, we're especially focused on short-form video monetisation. In the coming weeks, we'll begin testing the ability for you to monetise your Facebook stories with ads that look like stickers and receive a portion of the resulting revenue. While the initial test is small, we hope to soon expand to more creators, and then broaden it to short-form videos on Facebook.

Increasing access to video monetisation

Now that we've expanded the types of videos that you can monetise on Facebook, we're updating our eligibility criteria so that more creators can monetise their videos with in-stream ads. To join our in-stream ad for video-on-demand programme, Pages must now have:

Our previous requirements only considered at least three-minute-long on-demand videos. This updated criteria helps video creators that primarily create Live and short-form videos to monetise their recorded videos.

Bear in mind that you must still publish from a Page (not a profile) with at least 10,000 followers, be 18 years old and located in a supported country, and your Page must pass and remain compliant with our Partner Monetisation Policies.

Expanding in-stream ads for Live

When the pandemic struck, Dena Blizzard went from performing in comedy clubs across the United States for a living, to live-streaming on Facebook from home. With in-stream ads for Live, she's been able to make up for lost revenue. She saw 65% growth in earnings after joining the programme, and in-stream ads for Live generates over 50% of her total earnings.

Because of stories like this, we're excited to now make it possible for more creators to monetise their Live videos with in-stream ads. This programme previously was invitation only.

To qualify for our in-stream ads for Live programme, you must have 60,000 Live minutes viewed in the last 60 days, in addition to meeting the video-on-demand programme requirements. Watch time or uploads from cross-posted videos don't count towards qualification for both programmes.

You can check your eligibility and submit your Pages for review for both in-stream ad programmes in Creator Studio.

Earning revenue on Live with Stars

While ads can be a great way to monetise live streams, the built-in engagement of Live also lends itself well to earning money with Stars. With a focus on rewarding fan loyalty, we've seen Stars enhance the connection between creators and their community of fans.

For example, Vincenzo Girasoli – also known as Idressitalian – uses Live to bring his fans on virtual tours of Italy and monetises with Stars. From May to September 2020, he averaged 634 people sending him Stars every month and received over one million Stars just in one day.

We're happy to announce that Facebook is investing USD 7 million over the next few months in consumer education and adoption via free Stars. During certain Star-enabled live streams, some people will see an offer to claim free Stars that they can send at their discretion to their favourite creators to boost their visibility and connection with the creator and add to the creators' earnings.

We've also introduced several enhancements to Stars. In addition to badges that Stars senders already receive, now comments sent with Stars visually stand out and are pinned inside the Live player where other viewers can see them. We're also introducing virtual gifts that people can send creators.

We're rapidly expanding Stars to Live-focused video creators in 15+ markets. Those invited can now get access to the feature from their mobile device before they go live and earn Stars, and then finish their account setup on their computer in Creator Studio afterwards. You can check eligibility and express interest in getting access here.

While Stars has been primarily for live streams, over the coming weeks, we'll start testing Stars for video on demand, exploring features for both short- and long-form recorded videos.

Expanding paid online events and fan subscriptions

In August 2020, we introduced our paid online event feature, and since then, it's grown tremendously, giving you another valuable way to earn money on Facebook. Pages are hosting a wide range of paid online events – cooking classes, comedy shows, live podcast recordings, virtual tours, make-up tutorials and more – and are reaching and monetising new and larger audiences.

Comedian, Daphnique Springs, reimagined her live comedy showcase for a primarily virtual world using paid online events and exceeded her expectations completely – enabling her to deliver her brand of live comedy to a virtual audience, replace lost income and reach new audiences.

Today, paid online events are in 20 countries, and we'll be expanding paid online events to 24 additional countries in the coming weeks: Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Our fan subscriptions feature also continues to see strong growth and is providing a reliable source of revenue to creators worldwide – there are now over 1 million active fan subscriptions to creators on Facebook. In the upcoming months, we will also expand the product to more countries – we're currently in 25+ markets and will be expanding to an additional 10 countries; Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

For both paid online events and fan subscriptions, Facebook will continue to not collect any revenue share from either of these products until at least August 2021.

Products and tools built for you

Creators can earn money from ads via our in-stream ads programme, from the support of their fans via fan subscriptions and paid online events, through our Stars feature and with paid partnerships via branded content and Brand Collabs Manager. This means that you can choose the mix of products that best matches the community that you've built and the content that you share.

To access any of our monetisation programmes, creators must abide by our Partner Monetisation Policies and Content Monetisation Policies. These sets of policies include our Community Standards and an additional level of standards above and beyond our Community Standards that govern both Pages and Page content to ensure that monetised content creates value for people.

We are committed to continuing to improve all our monetisation products so that you can thrive on Facebook. Visit Creator Studio to learn more about our offerings and for tips, best practices and to check eligibility for all products.