Facebook announced it will allow some users to monetise their events hosted on its platform.
“Today we’re launching the ability for businesses, creators, educators and media publishers to earn money from online events on Facebook,” Facebook said.
Page owners can create an online event, set a price, promote the event, collect payment and host the event, all in one place. Facebook will support pages in 20 countries around the globe that meet its partner monetization policies.
By combining marketing, payment and live video, paid online events meet the end-to-end needs of businesses. With the social distancing mandates still in place, the online events will also offer interactive experiences to the audience at a time when they cannot come together physically, Facebook said.
The social media company is also testing paid events with Messenger Rooms for more personal and interactive gatherings.
Facebook came up with the latest move after it saw live broadcasts from Pages double compared to same time in 2019. Businesses and creators have relied on hosting online events to reach out to the broad audience after the pandemic forced a ban on organizing physical events. They have hosted expert talks, trivia events, podcast recordings, boxing matches, cooking classes, intimate meet-and-greets, fitness classes and more.
Facebook will provide this feature free of cost to its users until next year. For transactions on the web, and on Android in countries, where we have rolled out Facebook Pay, small businesses will keep 100% of the revenue they generate from paid online events, the company said.
However, businesses hosting events on iOS have to pay 30% of their revenue to Apple.
