Facebook Hopes to Woo Away Creators from TikTok by Offering Money for Instagram Videos

The Facebook-owned social media platform Instagram is reportedly offering creators large sums of money to post videos to its TikTok clone, Reels.

The Verge reports that Instagram is offering creators large sums of money to post videos on Reels, its competitor for TikTok. Instagram announced a bonus program for Reels in July when Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company would be investing $1 billion in paying creators throughout 2022.

According to one Reddit post discovered by TechCrunch, one TikTok creator was offered as much as $35,000 if their Reels videos got 58.31 million views within a month. Business Insider reported a similar figure was offered to Sam and Cori Werrell if they agreed to make Reels content for their 283,000 Instagram followers.

Smaller creators have reportedly been offered significantly less. Maddy Corbin, a creator with around 52,000 Instagram followers, was reportedly offered $1,000 but stated that she was aware of other accounts being offered $600 to $800.

Another creator with 24,000 Instagram followers reportedly offered $8,500 for 9.28 million views. A similar payout was offered to a staffer of the Verge with 15,000 followers.

So far it appears as if there is little reasoning behind the figures offered, more of a general guideline based on the creator’s follower count. Instagram has stated that the program is still in its early experimental stages and tests are being constantly performed to determine how best to go forward with it.

“We’re continuing to test payments as we roll out to more creators, and expect them to fluctuate while we’re still getting started,” the company said.

YouTube and Snapchat have offered similar incentives to creators. In August, YouTube stated that it would be paying up to $10,000 a month for popular videos. Last month, Snapchat announced a new program called Spotlight Challenges which offers rewards to incentivize making videos. Snapchats prize pools generally range from $1,000 to $25,000.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com