YouTube has been giving video creators a 55% cut of ad revenue for years now, which has helped many people make a significant amount of money on their videos. Facebook, however, has never been willing to share any of their ad revenue, even though they are getting a lot of traffic and income from the videos being created by third parties. It seems that this is going to start to change this fall.
Facebook has announced that they will be testing a new system where selected video creators such as the NBA and Funny or Die, will get a cut of the revenue that is generated with their content on Facebook.
When someone clicks on a video, they will be taken to a Suggested Videos page, where the Facebook algorithm will display a number of videos similar to the one that was just clicked on. This page will also have the auto-play feature on it, but now without the mute on. As users view these sponsored videos, it will generate revenue, which will get shared with the creator of the videos.
If multiple video creators qualify for a revenue split, Facebook will divide it up based on how long each video was played.
The system is still in testing, and there is no word on how marketers will be able to buy sponsored videos yet. During the initial trial phase, the sponsored videos won’t actually be paid ads at all. Assuming all goes well with the trial, Facebook will roll out options for marketers and brands to purchase views. These views will likely be paid similar to news feed ads, which count as being seen after either three or ten seconds of viewership by users.
If the system gets put in place throughout the social network, it is likely that they would open it up to many more video producers, giving them the option to make a significant amount of money from the videos they make.
