Content creators in Kenya will earn money from postings on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram from June this year following a deal between President William Ruto and the social media firm.
In a dispatch following a meeting between the duo at State House Nairobi, the Presidential Press Service said the development is a culmination of a year-long push by the government to have creators earn from their online content, as it happens on other platforms such as YouTube and X.
“Kenyan content creators who meet the eligibility criteria will now earn from their Facebook and Instagram spaces as we start monetisation by June this year,” said Meta’s President of global affairs Nick Clegg.
On his part, President Ruto hailed the move noting that it will open up new income streams for Kenya’s young population while calling upon Meta to make the monetisation available on M-Pesa.
“Now content creators can begin earning from their imagination and creativity. I have kept my word to negotiate and get them fresh opportunities. We are banking on the digital space to create jobs for the millions of jobless youths in our country,” said Dr Ruto.
To qualify for the programme, a creator is required to have at least 5,000 followers on their private Facebook profile or 10,000 followers on a Facebook page and a minimum of five live videos on a profile or three on a page.
Video content posted on a Facebook profile must have a minimum of 60,000 total minutes viewed in the last 60 days from organic followers while for a page, the requirement is 600,000 viewed minutes within the same duration.
Per industry insiders, Facebook compensates content creators Sh1,074 ($8) to Sh2,685 ($20) per 1,000 views, and the average CPM (Cost Per Mile) in most African countries ranges in the lows of Sh1,074 – Sh1,342($10) because the marketing industry is underdeveloped when comparing it with countries like USA, Australia, Canada, and the UK.
The development comes at a time when fresh data from the Communications Authority of Kenya shows that Facebook has overtaken the instant messaging platform WhatsApp to become the most used social media application in the country, pointing to vast earning potential for creators once the monetisation feature goes live.
Some of the monetisation tools will include instream ads which are image or video advertisements that appear before, during, or after a content creator's video, offering a non-disruptive way for advertisers to reach their target audience while viewers engage with content.
