INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook wants to help connect brands to creators so they can work out sponsored content and product placement deals, even if it won&t be
Confirming our scoop from May, Facebook today launched its Brand Collabs Manager
It a search engine that brands can use to browse different web celebrities based on the demographics of their audience and portfolios of
their past sponsored content.
Creators hoping to score sponsorship deals will be able to compile a portfolio connected to their Facebook
Page that shows off how they can seamlessly work brands into their content
Brands will also be able to find them based on the top countries where they&re popular, and audience characteristics like interests, gender,
education, relationship status, life events or home ownership.
Facebook also made a wide range of other creator monetization announcements
today:
Facebook Creator app that launched on iOS in November rolled out globally on Android today (this link should be active soon once the
app populates across Google Play)
The Creator app lets content makers add intros and outros to Live broadcasts, cross-post content to Twitter and Instagram, see a unified
inbox of their Facebook and Instagram comments plus Messenger chats, and more ways to connect with fans.
Ad Breaks, or mid-video
commercials, are rolling out to more U.S
creators, starting with those that make longer and original content with loyal fans
Creators keep 55 percent of the ad revenue from the ads.
Patreon-Style Subscriptionsare rolling out to more creators, letting them charge
fans $4.99 per month for access to exclusive behind the scenes content plus a badge that highlights that they&re a patron
Facebook also offers microtransaction tipping of video creators through its new virtual currency called Stars.
Top Fan Badges that
highlight a creator most engaged fans will now roll out more broadly after a strong initial reaction to tests in March.
Rights Manager,
which lets content owners upload their videos so Facebook can fingerprint them and block others from uploading them, is now available for
creators not just publishers.
Facebook also made a big announcement today about the launch of interactive video features and its first set
of gameshows built with them
Creators can add quizzes, polls, gamification and more to their videos so users can play along instead of passively viewing
Facebook Watch hub for original content is also expanding to a wider range of show formats and creators.
Facebook launches gameshows
platform with interactive video
Why Facebook wants sponsored content
Facebook needs the hottest new content from creators if it wants to
prevent users& attention from slipping to YouTube, Netflix, Twitch and elsewhere
But to keep creators loyal, it has to make sure they&re earning money off its platform
The problem is, injecting Ad Breaks that don&t scare off viewers can be difficult, especially on shorter videos.
But Vine proved that six
seconds can be enough to convey a subtle marketing message
A startup called Niche rose to arrange deals between creators and brands who wanted a musician to make a song out of the windows and doors
of their new Honda car, or a comedian to make a joke referencing Coca-Cola
Twitter eventually acquired Niche for a reported $50 million so it could earn money off Vine without having to insert traditional ads
[Disclosure: My cousin Darren Lachtman was a co-founder of Niche.]
Vine naturally attracted content makers in a way that Facebook has had
YouTube sizable ad revenue shares, Patreon subscriptions and Twitch fan tipping are pulling creators away from Facebook.
So rather than
immediately try to monetize this sponsored content, Facebook is launching the Brand Collabs Manager to prove to creators that it can get
Facebook already offered a way for creators to tag their content with disclosure tags about brands they were working with
But now it going out of its way to facilitate the deals
Fan subscriptions and tipping come from the same motive: letting creators monetize through their audience rather than the platform
itself.
Spinning up these initiatives to be more than third-rate knockoffs of Niche, YouTube, Patreon and Twitch will take some work
But hey, it cheaper for Facebook than paying these viral stars out of pocket.
A leaked look at Facebook search engine for influencer
