Facebook Officially Launches ‘Subscriptions’ Platform For Creators

After first announcing Subscriptions in June of 2020, Facebook has officially rolled out the initiative to more creators.

The goal, according to Facebook, is helping creators make more money, earn a sustainable living, and have more control over the businesses they build on the platform.

Subscriptions allow fans of a creator’s content to support them consistently through recurring monthly payments. Subsequently, creators can recognise their biggest supporters, and give them special experiences when they interact with their Page, as well as host things like subscriber-only Lives and Groups, or special discounts.

To help creators grow their subscription businesses, Facebook will pay creators a bonus of $5 – $20 for every new subscriber they get from now until the end of 2021. This new bonus program is part of the company’s commitment to invest over $1 billion in creators through 2022.

Creators can earn a bonus of up to $10,000 over the course of the program. It’s invite-only in all 27 markets where the Subscriptions feature is available to creators. Facebook wants to expand the program further in the coming months to support creators in building sustainable subscription businesses.

Facebook has already announced that it will not be collecting fees on Subscription purchases until 2023 at the earliest.

However, Facebook points out that creators must still forfeit 15-30% of their earnings to companies like Apple whenever people purchase Subscriptions within the Facebook app on mobile devices.

As a result, they are now offering creators the ability to direct people to a website to complete their Subscriptions purchase using Facebook Pay. When people purchase Subscriptions from this website on web or mobile, creators will be able to keep 100 per cent of the money they earn, excluding taxes. Creators can find their personalized promotional link in Creator Studio, which they can share with their audiences, including over email or text.

Facebook plans to launch an estimated earnings breakdown that will show creators where their purchases come from, estimated taxes and how much they pay to Apple and others in fees. These metrics are already available for paid online events.

Interestingly, Facebook is also giving creators the ability to download their subscribers’ email addresses from December, so they can develop relationships off Facebook.

People who already subscribe to a creator can opt into sharing their email address in the supporter hub settings section of the creator’s Page.

Today, subscribers get a badge when they subscribe to a creator so that they stand out during a live video or when they leave a comment.

In livestreams, subscriber badges will be differentiated based on how long a person has been a subscriber. This will make it even easier for creators to give their most dedicated supporters attention.

On the anniversaries of their Subscriptions, subscribers’ comments will get highlighted with special colors and animation so they stand out from the crowd.

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