Is Instagram creator-friendly?

The Future. Once creators identified TikTok as a platform on which they could go viral, build huge followings, and land ad sponsorships more easily than on Instagram, they began to divert their attention away from the Meta-owned app. And Meta execs have taken notice. If Meta hopes to win back the creators who will keep Instagram relevant (and lucrative), they may have to greenlight a revenue-sharing model for creators sooner rather than later.

Reel money
The Information breaks down why Meta has been resistant to splitting profits generated in Instagram feeds.

• Meta leaders worry that a revenue-sharing model will not only cost the company money but also set a precedent that can’t be reversed.
• In Q3 2022, Meta’s ad revenue dropped by 4%, partially because Instagram users spent more time on Reels, where there are fewer ads than on Instagram’s main feed.
• Meta doesn’t know where to place ads on Reels, as videos can run anywhere between 90 and 15 seconds, which is too short for an ad to go in the middle.

Progress report
After the Instagram partnerships team told Chief Adam Mosseri that Meta would need to pay creators more and increase their views if Meta wanted to stay competitive, Mosseri made creators the center of the company’s attention.

• Instagram adopted a TikTok-esque Discovery model that promotes creator content over regular content shared on the app by users’ friends and families.
• Meta started paying creators $35,000 in monthly bonuses for posting Reels.
• It also installed a subscription tier that lets fans pay to access bonus content from creators.

What’s next?

While the timeline for Meta’s revenue-sharing project is unclear, company representatives have hinted at a launch in Q4 2023.

As short videos have transformed popular culture over the last few years, they’ve given creators more leverage than ever before.

Without creators, it’s unlikely that Instagram — or any platform, for that matter — can retain users or drive new trends.