Facebook Live testing revenue sharing models for original content

Facebook has begun testing ads with Facebook Live as they plan on creating a revenue sharing model with original video creators on their platform. Facebook Live was launched earlier this year, since then there has been anticipation regarding when the company would introduce ads to monetize the well received feature.

Despite of Live's huge success, there has been a void when it comes to original content on the platform. Content creators do not prefer sharing videos on Facebook as they offer no source of income as opposed to the much lucrative ad deals available on Google owned Youtube.

Facebook is trying to offer greener pastures to YouTube content creators trying to get them to switch teams. The company is testing a few revenue models which they hope will encourage YouTube stars to jump ship.

The social media giant plans to offer upto 55% of ad revenue to creators which is similar to what YouTube offers. Twitter offers a much bigger piece of the revenue cake (read 70%) to creators on their platform with their revenue sharing program, Amplify.

Creators are still expected to be skeptical about switching platforms as Facebook still does not have a concrete revenue sharing model and strategy in place. The company’s primary concern is deciding where to place ads in videos without hampering the viewer experience. YouTube style pre-roll ads might discourage users to wait and watch since Facebook videos auto-play.

Facebook has been contemplating placing ads in the middle of long videos. Among other ways of monetizing content on their platform, Facebook is said to have been experimenting with a ‘tip jar’ which would enable users to donate to creators.

If and when Facebook perfect their revenue sharing models and figure out their dilemma of where to place ads, this move will open the floodgates for creators to augment their income by re-sharing content on multiple platforms and reaching a much larger audience.

With the Titans of social media vying to grab creators for themselves, the video content market is expected to become competitive and much more interesting.