Earning with In-Stream Ads on Facebook: 2 cases

Facebook is one of the main sources of traffic for webmasters working in various affiliate marketing niches. Few people know that in this social network, you can also make money by posting video content. In this material, we’ll talk about the features of the content monetization scheme, provide instructions for enabling In-Stream Ads, and analyze several case studies on earning money through video on Facebook.

Material sourced from Palai.media

How monetization works

Facebook announced the launch of video monetization in August 2018. In the initial iteration, residents of five countries could participate in the program, and in September, an additional 21 GEOs were added to the list. It’s unclear exactly when Ukraine was included, but it’s on the list.

In videos uploaded to Facebook's media library, you can add In-Stream Ads and earn money from it. Of course, this scheme will only work if you have an audience and if your profile meets the requirements of the monetization program.

In-Stream Ads are images or advertising clips embedded within the video that generate revenue for content creators. These materials can appear before, during, or after the main video.

Once monetization is set up, you can receive the earnings in your bank account or through PayPal. Ukrainians will need only their ITN and the necessary information for receiving transfers via the Swift payment system.

Instructions for enabling monetization

You can only connect video monetization to professional profiles. Changing the page status can be done with a single click. To do this, simply go to settings and activate the professional mode.

Below are the requirements for various monetization formats. Without meeting these requirements, the monetization activation button will be unavailable.

Enabling In-Stream Ads is done in 5 steps:

1. Go to the “Monetization” tab in Facebook Business Suite.
2. Check the “Monetization Violations” status. If you see a green checkmark, there are no issues.

3. Verify if the page meets the requirements in terms of subscribers and video views.
4. Activate monetization using the corresponding button.
5. Wait for approval and enable ads for your videos. The application review process can take up to 48 hours.

6. Accumulate $100 in your account and withdraw your first earnings. 

After unlocking access to monetization tools, it's essential to continue publishing new videos and ensuring that the In-Stream Ads feature is enabled. Afterward, you can enjoy monitoring your profit statistics and increase your content flow. In some cases, after the application review, you might receive a rejection. Typically, this is related to profile limitations from the past. For example, identity verification may be required to reinstate your advertising account. Otherwise, your posts may not get recommended.

Users often complain about decreased reach after enabling monetization. This is primarily because Facebook wants to earn from the creator's followers and tailors the audience to fit advertising.

Cases on earning with video on Facebook

In each case, income from video content monetization can vary significantly. Some creators claim that Facebook pays pennies for 1000 views. However, there are also quite interesting examples, as seen in the screenshot below.

The income level depends on the following factors:

• GEO — in the USA and other tier-1 countries, RPM (Revenue per mile) is typically higher than in tier 2-3;
• content relevance — relevant and engaging videos tend to get more ad views;
• view count — profit is directly related to the number of views.

In the screenshot, you can see a report on the monetization of a page with clickbait content. The videos gather from 100 000 to 30-50 million views. Judging from the author's statistics, the ad revenue is good, but it may be challenging to replicate the experience.

For example, in 6 days in August 2022, the author earned $1313 through video monetization on Facebook. Currently, they have more than 1,3 million followers on their video content page on the social network.

Another case, although older, is also interesting in terms of platform effectiveness. The author earned over $50 000 in 5 months. He has 35 pages with videos that accumulated 95 million minutes of viewing during this period.

It's interesting to note that the RPM is fixed at around $0,52 which contradicts the myth of earning only 2-3 cents per 1000 views often found in materials about Facebook monetization. While these figures might seem modest to some, videos occasionally get recommended and can accumulate even more than 100k views.

The last case is even more intriguing as the RPM is $2,63. In 28 days, the author earned $605 with 229 000 views. This example can be motivating for newcomers looking to earn on the platform.

All the examples with earnings statistics belong to authors with an English-speaking audience, but it doesn't mean that you cannot create videos without spoken English. There are many neural networks that can generate relatively natural voices. Additionally, videos with only subtitles are often found in recommendations.

Monetizing videos on Facebook is a great opportunity to gain valuable experience. The author will need to regularly create videos, experiment with thumbnails, and improve content to enhance monetization effectiveness. Of course, he’ll be able to generate income in the long term.