In an apparent attempt to compete with creator subscription services like Patreon, Instagram has begun alpha testing of a subscriber feature in January. Today, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced the expansion of experimental features, along with some updates on how it has evolved over the past six months.
When the feature started beta in January, only 10 creators had access to the feature, like Olympic gymnasts Jordan Chiles and astrologers Aliza Kelly. The initial alpha intro supports subscriber-only stories, subscriber badges, and subscriber-only live events. Now, according to Mosseri, tens of thousands of creators have access, and the pool of subscriber-only features is expanding. New updates to Instagram subscriptions include subscriber group chats, subscriber-only videos and posts, and a subscribers-only tab on creator profiles, so fans paying graves can view the content they have unlocked access to.
“One thing that is really important for creators everywhere is sustainable income,” Mosseri said in a blog post video. “At the end of the day, if you’re a creator, you’re a business, and a great way to establish some sustainable and predictable income is through subscriptions.”
Currently, Meta doesn’t take any cut from creator earnings on its platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This policy will stay in place until 2024 – it was originally supposed to end in 2023, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last month that this setup will last for an extra year. This is an obvious attempt to get creators involved in monetizing Meta’s products in the long run, but for now, it’s a great thing for creators. Zuckerberg doesn’t know how much Meta will cut after this rollout ends, but he said last year that it will be “30% less that Apple and others take.”
However, in the metaverse, the company will Cut 47.5% from the sale of digital assets – 30% through the Meta Quest store and 17.5% through the Horizon Worlds platform.
Outside of our VR headset, however, Meta has implemented a number of creator-oriented features that probably won’t be taxing. Yesterday, Instagram launched a creator market, which is currently in an invite-only stage, will allow brands and creators to connect about potential deals and partnerships. Several startups have tried to facilitate these connections, and while those platforms have been around for longer, Instagram may have an edge in that their own products are sourced. from this platform.
