Instagram takes on YouTube by helping video influencers make money off ads
- Social media platform Instagram has announced it will show ads before long-form IGTV videos for the first time, allowing creators to profit directly off them
- The company plans to share 55 per cent of the ad revenue with creators
Instagram will let creators profit directly from their videos, helping popular users generate more revenue during the Covid-19 crisis, while moving into more direct competition with YouTube.
Starting next week, Instagram will show ads before clips that run on its IGTV service for longer-form videos. The company plans to share 55 per cent of the revenue with creators, the same portion that YouTube gives its stars.
The company will also start testing a way for users to sell digital badges in their live videos. If viewers buy a badge, their names will stand out among fans’ comments, designating them as supporters. The video host will receive all the money directly for the first few months of the test, until Instagram starts taking a share of the revenue later this year or in 2021, the company says.
Influencers with large fan bases typically make their money from deals with brands to post about their products or events, negotiated without Instagram’s involvement. But some of that business has dried up during the pandemic lockdown. Travel influencers, for instance, aren’t being paid to stay in resorts while using certain brands.
“This has been a trying time, where creators have been there for their fans,” says Justin Osofsky, Instagram’s chief operating officer. “It’s a time of uncertainty with less paid work generally.”
But the move isn’t just to support influencers and KOLs (key opinion leaders), it’s for Instagram and parent Facebook to make money off a surge in attention.