Meta to roll out new monetization tools on Instagram and Facebook, including a creator marketplace – TechCrunch

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the company is rolling out more ways for creators to make money on Facebook and Instagram, and is also expanding some of its current monetization tools to more creators.

Most notably, Zuckerberg announced that Meta is testing a designated place on Instagram where creators can get discovered and paid for content. Meta notes that the creator marketplace allows brands to share new partnership opportunities. Once a brand finds a creator that they want to partner with, they can send a project with the details to them, including information about deliverables and payment. Meta notes that there will be a partnership messaging folder within Instagram DMs where creators and brands will be able to filter through their offers and projects.

It’s worth noting that Meta’s take on its marketplace for creators seems to be similar to TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, which is the video app’s in-house influencer marketing platform. TikTok’s Creator Marketplace allows brands to discover top TikTok personalities for their marketing campaigns, which is what Meta looks to be aiming to do with its own creator marketplace. It’s clear that Meta’s Creator Marketplace will be part of its continued efforts to take on TikTok and woo more creators to its platform.

Meta is also launching interoperable subscriptions to let creators give their paying subscribers on other platforms access to subscriber-only Facebook Groups. The company notes that these exclusive groups are Meta’s first investment in interoperable monetization tools for creators, which lets creators receive payments from their fans on other platforms, and offer access to exclusive features on Facebook.

As for the company’s current monetization offerings, Zuckerberg announced that Meta is opening up the Facebook Reels Play Bonus program to more creators on Facebook and also letting creators cross-post their Instagram Reels to Facebook and monetize them there as well. The Reels Play Bonus program is a part of Meta’s larger $1 billion creator fund.

Starting next week, U.S.-based creators can apply for the Facebook Reels Play bonus program if they have created more than five Reels and have a total of at least 100,000 views in the last 30 days. Creators must meet Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies to be eligible for the program. Prior to this expansion, the program was invite-only. Meta says it has received a lot of interest in the program, and is now allowing people to apply to join the program.

Zuckerberg also announced that Meta is opening up Facebook Stars, the virtual items that allow fans to express their support for their favorite creators, to all eligible creators. Starting this week, creators who have at least 1,000 followers over the last 60 days will be eligible to onboard. Creators must be in a region where Stars are available and must also meet Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies. Meta is also bringing back Stars Fest, a month-long celebration from June 15th to July 15th to recognize Stars creators.

Zuckerberg also announced that Meta is expanding it NFT test on Instagram so more creators around the world can display their NFTs on Instagram. The supported blockchains for showcasing NFTs on Instagram are Ethereum and Polygon, with support for Flow and Solana coming soon. Zuckerberg noted that the company will bring this test to Facebook soon too, starting with a small group of U.S.-based creators. The Facebook test will allow creators to cross-post on Instagram and Facebook. Meta is also going to test NFTs in Instagram Stories with SparkAR soon.

“We’re heading towards a future where more people can do creative work they enjoy, and I want platforms like ours to play a role in making that happen,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post about today’s announcement.

Lastly, Zuckerberg said in order to get more money directly to creators, Meta is going going to keep paid online events, fan subscriptions, badges, and its upcoming independent news products free for creators until 2024. The company had previously said it was going to do this until 2023, but is now extending this commitment.