The new 90-minute Features format is currently being tested among a limited selection of users in the United States and Brazil. Platform leadership acknowledged the necessity of creator economics, but noted that scaling performance incentives remains financially unfeasible because current payouts outpace revenue generation. Furthermore, critics such as Sidney Raskind and M. Brandon Lee pointed out that Instagram still restricts supplementary earning avenues like affiliate linking while offering only audience reach.
Key points
Creators are pushing back against providing long-form landscape content without the reven…: Creators are pushing back against providing long-form landscape content without the revenue-sharing guarantees offered by YouTube.
Instagram relies primarily on brand partnerships and fan contributions rather than direct…: Instagram relies primarily on brand partnerships and fan contributions rather than direct platform disbursements to fund its creators.
Uploaded Features content will serve to train Meta's artificial intelligence models while…: Uploaded Features content will serve to train Meta's artificial intelligence models while providing audience reach instead of direct pay.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Instagram is testing long-form videos (again) to lure in creatives from YouTube, but the platform hasn’t figured out how (or if) it’ll actually pay them. After Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced Features on Monday, creators immediately started voicing their complaints on Threads and Reddit about the lack of monetization opportunities, compared to the ad share and performance-based incentives provided by YouTube.
Instagram doesn’t have a plan to pay long-form video creators
Creators are asking why they should use Features if Instagram won’t reward them like YouTube does
Creators are asking why they should use Features if Instagram won’t reward them like YouTube does
Mosseri addressed the monetization concerns in a Threads post yesterday, saying “We understand the economics matter a ton, and are exploring multiple options to help long-form creators get paid.” It’s anyone’s guess what those solutions will look like.
In one post on Threads, creator Sidneyraz (real name Sidney Raskind) said it feels like Mosseri and Meta are “just making fun of us” by not giving creators the ability to place long-form monetization ads into Features videos. “Y’all…
Meta is stepping up its direct competition with rival video platforms by targeting established digital talent. According to reporting from Business Insider, the company is deploying targeted financial incentives to persuade creators to bring their existing long-form catalogs over to a dedicated format. The push represents a calculated effort to expand beyond short-form clips and secure deeper audience engagement.
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