Instagram really wants you to post Reels, and if you're lucky, they'll pay you up to $10,000 for one. Competitor platforms like as YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight, and Instagram Reels are enticing users to upload their short-form video on their apps instead of TikTok as TikTok approaches 1 billion monthly active users. Instagram is increasing the ante on its monthly Reels Play incentive programme by establishing a $100 million creative fund for Shorts, Snapchat is providing cash awards for contributions to Spotlight competitions, and YouTube has launched a $100 million creator fund for Shorts.

Instagram is rewarding users for sharing on Reels
However, creators are perplexed as to what factors determine how much of a bonus they are eligible for from Instagram, and the platform isn't addressing their concerns. Instagram informed media that the service is still in its early stages and is an experiment. However, for creators who rely on these sites for a job, the lack of transparency might be troubling. This week, the bonus programme had a problem, leading qualified authors to be notified that they were ineligible for the reward. This issue has been resolved, according to Instagram.

In a month, Maddy Corbin, who has 52,000 Instagram followers, was offered up to $1,000 for her reels. Other creators, on the other hand, were being offered other arrangements. Corbin told TechCrunch, "I noticed other guys who had more followers than me and they could only make $600." Others with less followers were given an offer of $800. "I wish I had a better understanding of how something was created." All I can think of is that it's dependent on the performance of previous reels."


Last month, a maker with approximately 24,000 Instagram followers — less than half as many as Corbin — informed TechCrunch that they were given a bonus of up to $800 if all reels released that month had 1.7 million views. The bonus isn't all-or-nothing; throughout the bonus time, the inventor purposefully posted one reel per day, resulting in 1.49 million spins and a $689.90 reward. Nonetheless, they were dismayed when all Meta-owned applications, including Instagram, were down for six hours last month due to server troubles, slowing the spread of their Reels.

However, Instagram increased the incentive this month, allowing this author to earn up to $8,500 for 9.28 million views. This is a larger payout-per-view rate than last month, and there's the possibility of making nearly ten times more money. This is a greater pay-per-view than they earn on TikTok, where they have 32,000 followers, according to the inventor.


It's unclear how Instagram calculates its bonus offer; one Reddit member was promised up to $35,000 for 58 million views in a month. Miguel Lozada, a Twitch broadcaster with about 800 Instagram followers, was offered the same $8,500 as a creative with 24,000 followers. According to TechCrunch, another user with 59,000 followers was granted a $850 incentive this month.

"We're continue to test payouts as we roll out to additional artists," Instagram told TechCrunch. "Expect them to vary while we're still getting started." "We've developed bonuses to aid as many creators as possible in a way that is both attainable and results in significant revenue." Over time, we want bonuses to become more tailored."


After joining the bonus scheme, some producers claimed that their reels weren't getting as much attention. "I was probably making around $40 a day the first three days [I had access to incentives], then it absolutely crashed after approximately week one, and it dropped down to like pennies and dollars each day," Corbin said. "It's been intriguing since my content distribution strategy hasn't altered all that much." These perks are "rolling out slowly," according to Instagram's help website, and are not yet available to all users. First and foremost, these benefits are exclusively accessible in the United States.


To be eligible for these campaigns, users must be at least 18 years old and follow Instagram's partner monetization regulations, which are a little hazy, according to TechCrunch. According to the regulation, artists must have a "sufficient following base," although Instagram doesn't define "sufficient" - TechCrunch spoke with creators who were granted the bonus and had follower counts ranging from 800 to 59,000.

This week, Instagram also introduced the Reels Surprise bonus programme, which will pay up to $10,000 to up to 150 U.S.-based producers every week for a particularly inspiring or amusing reel. To be eligible, creators in the United States must be at least 18 years old, follow Instagram's community rules and partner monetization policies, have a reel with at least 1,000 views, and have not yet received a bonus.


The Instagram algorithm deflates content with watermarks from other social media networks to dissuade users from repeating TikTok content. However, YouTube Shorts has been even more active in its efforts to entice well-known filmmakers to join its platform. According to Business Insider, some prominent TikTokers were given $50,000 to publish 100 YouTube Shorts over the course of six months. This programme is different from YouTube's $100 million Shorts fund and was not made public. Creators had to wait seven days after releasing a short on YouTube before they could republish it on another site, according to talent managers who talked to Business Insider.

TikTok is still growing, but it's competing against long-standing heavyweights like Google-owned YouTube and Meta-owned Instagram — and spending $10,000 at a single user's short video isn't a major financial investment for those businesses. [Source: TechCrunch]