By Lerte Tellah – Nairobi
According to the social network, Facebook’s parent company Meta has finally released features that enable content producers on its platform in Kenya to get money from short-form videos through advertising.
The tech giant unveiled two revenue-generating options on Tuesday: “ads on reels,” which run alongside brief videos uploaded to Facebook, and “in-stream advertisements,” which appear before, during, or after videos posted on the social media platform.
Kenya is currently one of the twelve African nations where Meta pays writers a portion of the money they earn from their ads. Others include, among others, Ghana, Rwanda, Nigeria, Egypt, and the Seychelles.
“This expansion will empower eligible creators in the vibrant creative industry in Kenya to earn money, whilst setting the bar high for creativity across the world and making Meta’s family of apps the one-stop-shop for all creators,” said Moon Baz, Meta’s global partnerships lead for Africa, Middle East and Turkey.
When Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg visited Kenya in March and had meetings with President William Ruto, the process of bringing Meta’s monetisation features to the country got underway.
Originally, it was intended to launch the features on Facebook and Instagram by June. However, Instagram creators may have to wait a bit longer, as Meta has only disclosed Facebook monetization.
In order to be eligible for the new program, creators must have 5,000 or more Facebook followers as well as more than 60,000 minutes of total watch time over the previous two months.
At least 52% of Kenyans aged 15 and older use Facebook, making it the most popular social media platform in the nation right now, according to the most recent data from the Communications