Creators Don’t Know How to Access Their Instagram Payments

Meta announced in July that it would invest $1 billion in programs to help creators monetize the content they post to Facebook and Instagram by the end of 2022. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post at the time, “We want to build the best platforms for millions of creators to make a living.” But more than six months into the campaign, four creators told Adweek that there is little transparency into how to access these funds and what formula the platform uses for adjudicating payouts. “It’s not transparent,” said Noelle Downing, whose lifestyle content draws 460,000 followers on Instagram. She has not received any payout from Instagram. “The normal Instagram users will probably think there’s some tab I can hit to see this information and they probably think Instagram pays me to be on the platform, but they don’t.” Caspar Lee, a creator with 2.4 million Instagram followers and 1.3 million on Facebook and also the co-founder of influencer marketing platform Influencer.com and influencer agency Margravine, said it’s still not clear how creators access and are paid through one of Meta’s most direct programs to pay creators—a bonus offered based on Reels viewership. More Marketers Turn to Meta’s Creative Tailoring and Testing Tools “It’s not something I’ve had access to or any creators that I work with are accessing,” Lee said, referring to those he works with at Margravine. Meta launched its investment campaign to lure creatives to its platforms as it faces increased competition for younger eyeballs. Teen users of the Facebook app are expected to decline by 45% in 2023 and Meta employees estimate teens spend two and three times more time on TikTok than on Instagram, according to internal documents leaked late last year by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Compounding this problem, an investigation from tech newsletter Platformer found that the great majority of Facebook’s most widely-viewed posts in the third quarter of 2021 were originally published elsewhere. Meta debuted Instagram Subscriptions yesterday, letting a handful of U.S. creators earn money through fans. But if it is implemented like Meta's current monetization streams, creators are unlikely to be able to guarantee consistent revenue. Meta did not respond to a request for comment. Inconsistent payouts Meta has offered several potential revenue streams as part of its $1 billion creator payout, including options to include ads in videos on Facebook and Instagram, access to tips from fans and a bonus program designed to reward creators who make popular Reels, a short-form TikTok competitor launched in 2020 on Instagram. The bonus program started as a summer bonus, but Meta extended the program in late September alongside its announcement that the Reels short-form video feature would also be on Facebook. The catch is, the creators interviewed by Adweek were not sure how to access these funds. Stephanie Hjelmeseth, an Instagram-focused creator with 110,000 followers, told Adweek that Instagram offered her a $1,200 bonus if she received 1.1 million views on Reels. In November, she received $280 for 65,000 plays and in December received $250 for 30,000 plays. “They just give an arbitrary number and us creators don’t know where that number comes from,” she said. “What is the cents per play that we’re really getting? If we don’t really have the equation or metric it’s just very unknown,” she added, noting that she wasn't prioritizing this bonus as a revenue stream. An Instagram post describing the Reels bonus gives a few guidelines about which creators get access and how much they can receive. The post specifies that anyone over 18 with a public Instagram account who has created a Reel with at least 1,000 views—and meets certain community guidelines and partner monetization policies—is eligible, and that selected creators can earn up to $10,000. In November, Instagram offered to pay one creator $35,000 if they received 58 million views that month, according to a report by Insider. Other monetization options Meta offers can be similarly variable. For several years, Facebook has offered creators an option to monetize through ads on videos, competing with YouTube's offering. But Facebook only offers eligibility for creators with 10,000 followers with 600,000 minutes viewed in the last 60 days, a higher threshold than YouTube which only requires 1,000 subscribers for 4,000 hours watched in the last 12 months. YouTube is after all a video-first platform in a way Facebook is not. Although, some might find it easier to amass Facebook followers rather than YouTube subscribers. Funds, revenue shares and brand partnerships David Hoffmann, whose Davidsbeenhere travel channel attracts 971,000 YouTube subscribers and 126,000 Facebook followers, says Facebook's video ad monetization stream can be unpredictable. "You really have to put out a lot of content and you have one or two bangers," Hoffmann said. "It’s almost like a hit or miss every time." Hoffmann earns his income primarily through YouTube's revenue-sharing programs. Unlike Hoffmann, many creators monetize primarily through brand partnerships, rather than payouts from platforms, including revenue sharing or bonuses. Still, creators will likely prioritize platforms where payouts are reliable, Lee said. “It’s always good when platforms share their revenue with their creators. It would be nice if they were transparent,” Lee said. “A fund is great. A transparent revenue split is going to attract the most creators. And it’s a fight to have the best creators.” This article was updated to clarify that the creators Caspar Lee refers to are part of his Margravine talent agency.

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Creators Don’t Know How to Access Instagram’s $1 Billion Fund

Creators say Meta’s new monetization schemes lack transparency, as the platform tries to woo talent from rivals

Catherine Perloff

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Catherine Perloff