Mumbai: Meta has announced the availability of Facebook Reels for iOS and Android to more than 150 countries across the globe. The company is also introducing better ways to help creators to earn money, new creative tools and more places to watch and create Facebook Reels. 

“Watching video is half of time spent on Facebook and Instagram, and Reels is our fastest growing content format by far. We’re focused on making Reels the best way for creators to get discovered, connect with their audience and earn money. We also want to make it fun and easy for people to find and share relevant and entertaining content,” said Meta in a statement.

Facebook Reels will be available in Feed, Groups and Watch. When viewing a reel, users can follow the creator directly from the video, like and comment on it or share it with friends. Meta is exploring ways to make it easier for creators to share Reels to both their Facebook and Instagram audiences, such as crossposting. 

With this move, the company is creating a variety of opportunities for creators to earn money for their reels. The Reels Play bonus program, part of its $ one billion creator investment, pays eligible creators up to $35,000 a month based on the views of their qualifying reels. These bonuses have helped creators fund their reels creation and better understand what types of content works on Facebook. In the coming months, the bonus program will be extended to more countries.

Building on deep experience in helping creators earn meaningful income from its monetisation products like in-stream ads and Stars, Meta is also building direct monetisation options for Facebook Reels through ad revenue share and fan support.

“We’re expanding tests of Facebook Reels Overlay Ads to all creators in the US, Canada and Mexico, and to more countries in the coming weeks. We’re starting with two formats: banner ads that appear as a semi-transparent overlay at the bottom of a Facebook Reel, and sticker ads: a static image ad that can be placed by a creator anywhere within their reel. These non-interruptive ads enable creators to earn a portion of the ad revenue,” said the statement.

Any creator in the US, Canada and Mexico who is part of the in-stream ads program is automatically eligible to monetise their publicly-shared reels with ads. By mid-March, these tests will expand to creators in nearly all countries where in-stream ads are available.

Meta will also begin testing Stars on Facebook Reels in the coming weeks, so that people can buy and send them while watching reels to support creators. Both overlay ads and Stars are designed so that as more people view and engage with Reels on Facebook, creator payouts can grow.

Brand suitability controls, including Publisher Lists, Blocklists, Inventory Filters and Delivery Reports for Banner and Sticker Ads in Facebook will be launched shortly. Reels in every region they are available, give advertisers more control over how their ads appear in places they don’t consider suitable for their brand or campaign. The company has been testing full-screen and immersive ads in between Facebook Reels since last October, and will roll them out to more places around the world over the coming months. Just like with organic content on Facebook, people can comment, like, view, save, share and skip them.

In addition to the features announced last year, creators around the world will be able to access: 

·Remix: Create their own reel alongside an existing, publicly-shared reel on Facebook.

·60-second Reels: Make reels up to 60 seconds long.

·Drafts: Create a reel and choose to “Save As Draft” below the Save button. 

·Video Clipping: In the coming months, video clipping tools that will make it easier for creators who publish live or long-form, recorded videos to test different formats will be rolled out. 

Over the coming weeks, following updates will be introduced to make it easier to create and discover reels in new places:

·Reels in Stories: Share public reels to Stories on Facebook, making it easy to share favourite reels with friends and giving creators more visibility and reach. Creators will also be able to create reels from existing public stories.

·Reels in Watch: Watch reels directly within the Watch tab. Tools to help create reels in the Watch tab are in the offing 

·Top of Feed: New Reels label at the top of feed to easily create and watch reels in just a few clicks.  

·Suggested Reels in Feed: Available in select countries, it will suggest reels that users may like in their Feed from people they do not already follow.

Since launching in the US last September, Facebook Reels has seen creators like Kurt Tocci (and his cat, Zeus) share original comedic skits, author and Bulletin writer Andrea Gibson offer a reading of their published poetry, Nigerian-American couple Ling and Lamb try new foods, and dancer and creator Niana Guerrero do trending dances, like the #ZooChallenge.