In June 2020, we opened up fan subscriptions, now called Subscriptions, to more creators and today we’re sharing a number of exciting updates that will help creators make more money, earn a sustainable living and have more control over the businesses they build on Facebook.
Here’s what you need to know.
What are Subscriptions?
With Subscriptions, your audience can support you in a more consistent way with recurring monthly payments. This enables you to recognize your biggest supporters, and give them a special experience when they interact with your Page. You can also choose to provide additional benefits like subscriber-only Lives, special discounts or a subscriber-only Group.
Earn money from Facebook for every new subscriber
To help creators grow their subscription businesses, Facebook will pay creators a bonus of $5 - $20 for every new subscriber they get from now until the end of 2021. This new bonus program is part of the company’s commitment to invest over $1 billion in creators through 2022.
Creators can earn a bonus of up to $10,000 over the course of the program. It’s invite-only in all 27 markets where the Subscriptions feature is available to creators. We hope to expand this bonus program and others in the coming months to help more creators build sustainable subscription businesses on Facebook. Creators who are interested in future bonus opportunities should sign up to learn more here.
Subscriptions Bonus Program
Keep what you earn
Earlier this year, as part of our commitment to supporting creators, we shared that Facebook would not collect any fees from creators on Subscriptions purchases until 2023, at the earliest. Creators, however, must still forfeit 15-30% of their earnings to companies like Apple whenever people purchase Subscriptions within the Facebook app on mobile devices. For recurring payments like subscriptions, this adds up quickly since that fee is paid every single month.
Starting today, we’re offering creators the ability to direct people to a website to complete their Subscriptions purchase using Facebook Pay. When people purchase Subscriptions from this website on web or mobile, creators will be able to keep 100% of the money they earn, excluding taxes. Creators can find their personalized promotional link in Creator Studio, which they can share with their audiences, including over email or text.
Promotional Link in Creator Studio
We’ll also make it easier for creators to understand their Subscriptions payouts and the fees they pay. We plan to launch an estimated earnings breakdown that will show creators where their purchases come from, estimated taxes and how much they pay to Apple and others in fees. These metrics are already available for paid online events.
Estimated Earnings
Own the relationship with your subscribers
In addition to helping creators keep more of their earnings and understand where their earnings come from, we also want to give them more control over their business. We’re launching the ability for creators to download the email addresses of their subscribers starting in December, so they can maintain a relationship off of Facebook. This will apply to new subscribers; people who already subscribe to a creator can opt into sharing their email address in the supporter hub settings section of the creator’s Page.
Email Download for Subscriptions
Recognizing your biggest supporters
Today, subscribers get a badge when they subscribe to a creator so that they stand out during a live video or when they leave a comment. We heard from both creators and subscribers how important it is for creators to be able to recognize and thank subscribers, so we’re launching two new exciting features:
In livestreams, subscriber badges will be differentiated based on how long a person has been a subscriber. This will make it even easier for creators to give their most dedicated supporters attention.
On the anniversaries of their Subscriptions, subscribers' comments will get highlighted with special colors and animation so they stand out from the crowd.
New Subscriber Badge
Subscriber Anniversary Celebration
We look forward to rolling out a number of additional updates over the coming months to help more creators earn a sustainable income on Facebook. Learn more about Subscriptions here.
