Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp mother company Meta has announced the roll out two monetization features for creators in Kenya.
In a statement on Tuesday, Meta said features; In-Stream Ads on Facebook and Facebook Ads on Reels, will enable creators earn money by producing original videos and building their community.
According to Meta’s Global Partnerships Lead for Africa, Middle East, and Türkiye, Moon Baz, the features will empower Kenyan creators to earn an income through their content.
She said it will help grow the creative business in the country.
“Every day, we’re inspired by the incredible African creators who use Facebook to tell their stories, connect with others, and bring people together.
“This expansion will empower eligible creators in Kenya’s vibrant creative industry to earn money, setting a high bar for creativity worldwide and making Meta’s family of apps the one-stop-shop for all creators,” Baz said.
Meta said that In-Stream Ads can play before, during, or after on-demand videos, whether it’s pre-recorded content or recordings of previous live streams.
These include Pre-roll Ads (before the video starts), Mid-roll Ads (during videos), Image Ads (static images displayed beneath the content), and Post-roll Ads (end of videos).
The company said Ads on Facebook Reels will integrate seamlessly into original Reels, and creators will get paid based on the performance of their original reels.
Kenyan creators are eligible to earn from their videos and reels on Facebook, starting August 6, 2024 (today).
Meta noted that the features have support in over 30 languages globally including Swahili.
To use either product, creators must pass and comply with Facebook’s Partner Monetisation Policies and Content Monetisation Policies, and be at least 18 years old.
For In-Stream Ads, Meta said creators must meet certain eligibility requirements, such as having a minimum of 5,000 followers.
In March, President William Ruto held talks with the Meta team and content creators to have them monetise their content on Facebook.
He announced that social platforms under the Meta brand (Facebook and Instagram) would start paying Kenyan digital creators through M-Pesa.
Ruto said the team from Meta had already experimented the same and that it is working, and once the eligibility program was rolled out, creators would start receiving their pay via the mobile money platform.
“I’m very happy that the monetisation is also going to be on M-Pesa. I think many people have been wondering how do we do this because not many of our content creators have credit cards or other instruments, but I was very happy to hear that the team from Meta has already carried out experiments and that it works,” Ruto said.
“Therefore in the next few weeks and months, it will now be possible for our content creators to transact using M-Pesa which is much more easy, accessible and a space where many Kenyans interact freely and much more comfortably.”
