Instagram has long been expected to become an important YouTube competitor, at least when it comes to attracting creators and influencers. Either way, IGTV seems to have realized that it will not achieve its goal without a real monetization solution.
Jane Manchun Wong has shared screenshots in a Tweet of an IGTV ads section under the Instagram Partner Program: “You’re eligible to monetize your IGTV videos. You can earn money by running short ads on your IGTV videos. When you monetize on IGTV, you agree to follow the Partner Program monetization policies.”
Instagram is working on IGTV Ads to let influencers monetize their content by running short ads on their IGTV Videos pic.twitter.com/wOhbnpsfjL
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 7, 2020
There is no information on how these policies would be enforced, but we can easily imagine that Facebook’s partner monetization policies will likely be used as a guide.
Instagram confirmed the test via a spokesperson who said in a statement, “we continue to explore ways to help creators monetize with IGTV. We don’t have more details to share now, but we will as they develop further.”
Creators and publishers love Instagram but have long waited for means to monetize their efforts on the platform. The solution already exists on Facebook Watch, Facebook’s equivalent to Instagram’s IGTV, where Creators can earn money with pre-roll and mid-roll in-stream ads where they keep 55% of the revenue generated.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri elaborated in a Tweet, that “It’s no secret that we’ve been exploring this. We focused first on making sure the product had legs—or else there would be little to monetize in the first place. IGTV is still in its early days, but it’s growing, so we’re exploring more ways to make it sustainable for creators.”