At the end of April we noted that two of the most popular tools used by artists to live-stream concerts from home – Facebook Live and Facebook-owned Instagram Live – were, at the time, not monetizeable.
That was until Facebook revealed it was planning to allow owners of Pages “to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook”.
Now, Instagram has officially announced that advertising is coming to IGTV. It’s one of two new revenue generating opportunities for creators on the platform, alongside the monetization of Instagram Live via the launch of new fan-purchased ‘Badges’.
A blog post published by Instagram today (May 27) states that advertising in IGTV will be rolled out starting next week. It adds that “we want to support creators’ investment in IGTV by sharing advertising revenue with them”.
According to Instagram COO Justin Osofsky, speaking toThe Verge, the platform will be sharing what he calls an “industry standard” 55% of ad revenue with creators.
Instagram writes that “these updates are a step forward in giving creators ways to earn money and grow their business” and that as “we test and gather feedback, we’ll find more ways to support creators on Instagram”.
IGTV ads will initially appear when people click to watch IGTV videos from previews in their feed.
The video ads will be built for mobile specifically and will be up to 15 seconds long. Instagram says that it plans to test various experiences within IGTV ads throughout 2020.
Features to be tested include the option to skip ads “to make sure the final result works well for people, creators and advertisers”.
IGTV ads will initially be tested “with a small group of creators and advertisers” in the US.
Instagram plans to expand the ads beyond this group “slowly over time as [it] improve[s] the experience”.
Additionally, the platform will start testing the new Badges in Live feature in June with a select group of creators and businesses.
Access to Badges will expand across the US, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, and Mexico.
Again, speaking to the Verge, Instagram’s Osofsky states that Badges will cost $0.99, $1.99, and $4.99 and that the platform won’t be taking share of Badge revenue initially.
“As we scale this product, introduce a rev[enue] share,” he said.
“Live has helped creators and businesses stay connected to their followers and bring people together. With badges, creators can generate income from the content they’re already creating.”
Instagram’s blog post goes on to explain that Badges will show up next to a person’s name throughout a live video.
Fans who have purchased badges, meanwhile, “will stand out in the comments and unlock additional features, including placement on a creator’s list of badge holders and access to a special heart”.
According to Instagram, Live saw a 70% increase in views from February to March, as everyone from “fitness instructors to dancers, artists to chefs,” have turned to Live to connect with audiences during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Live has helped creators and businesses stay connected to their followers and bring people together,” states Instagram. “With badges, creators can generate income from the content they’re already creating.”
In addition to badges in Live and IGTV ads, Instagram says that over the coming months it plans to expand shopping access to more creators who want to sell their own merchandise.
Live Shopping was announced by Facebook earlier this month and allows businesses to set up a free online store, which customers can then access via either Facebook or Instagram.
Facebook Shops have already started to be rolled out, and they’ll be made more widely available over the coming months.
Access to Facebook’s Brand Collabs Manager will also be expanded to help Instagram creators find potential brand partners.
Music Business Worldwide