Meta’s Instagram & Facebook Reels Play Bonus Program Is Coming To An End
Written by djfrosty on March 10, 2023
Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Meta
If you are a content creator caking off the Reels Play bonus program on Instagram and Facebook, you’re going to have to find another way to bring in coins. Meta is officially getting rid of the program.
If you’re wondering why you haven’t gotten that notification to start pumping out those Instagram Reels, there is a good reason for that. Meta is ending the program, as seen on The Verge, first reported by Business Insider.
According to Business Insider, Meta will not offer any “new or renewed” Reels Play bonus deals, but the company will honor existing commitments.
In a statement to The Verge via an email, Paige Cohen, a Meta spokesperson, said, “We are evolving the test of our Reels Play bonus on Instagram and Facebook as we focus on investing in a suite of monetization solutions to help creators earn steady streams of income. We will look into ways to run the program in a more targeted form, for example, in potential new markets.”
The rollout of the Reels Play bonus program has been far from perfect since its launch in 2021 as a direct response to the TikTok payout program.
Initially, content creators were cashing out, receiving payouts sometimes in the tens of thousands. Over time those payments have gotten smaller, and content creators are having a tough time achieving those large payouts again.
Meta initially had a $2 billion player pool that the company promised to content creators through 2022, so we guess the well has run dry.
You can still make money through subscriptions and badges, but those methods are not as reliable as making reels.
Instagram Is Not The Only Social Media Platform Pinching Pennies
According to The Verge, Snapchat, offering content creators $1 million a day in viral content on its TokTok-like feature Spotlight, gradually cut that amount over 2022, introducing other monetization methods like ad revenue.
YouTube was offering creators cash payouts to pump out YouTube Shorts, but that ended with the video-sharing platform moving to a revenue-sharing model last fall.
Welp.
We shall see if this decision impacts Instagram users’ decision to make reels going forward.
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Photos: NurPhoto / Getty