Sylvia Duruson
Meta Platforms, the tech giant behind social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, is set to introduce new features that will allow content creators in Nigeria to monetize their content through advertisements and other avenues. This move aims to retain the country’s top content creators on Meta’s platforms and provide them with additional revenue streams.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, announced that these monetization options and features are expected to be ready before June 2024. Content creators in the United States, Australia, Canada, and South Korea were the first to benefit from the “Ads on Reels” program in 2023, a performance-based system that pays creators based on the number of views their Reels receive.
During a week-long visit to South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, which are among Meta’s important African markets, Clegg hosted some of Nigeria’s top creators in their Lagos office on Friday. “Nigerian creators have global reach,” Clegg stated, emphasizing that creators will soon have “the ability to run ads in-stream and use other tools such as Instagram stars and gifts that are available to creators elsewhere in the world.”
In addition to the monetization features, Clegg discussed Meta’s 45,000km subsea cables, which landed in Lagos and Uyo in February 2024. This conversation was timely, as it took place one week after damages to subsea cables across Africa slowed down internet service and disrupted banking in at least two countries. Clegg assured that Meta’s cables are “sunk by 50% more under the seabed, so it will be less susceptible to that disruption, which I think will enhance connectivity.”
However, connectivity and resilience are not the only issues facing the Nigerian market. Funke Opeke, the CEO of MainOne, a fiber operator acquired by Equinix, had previously stated in 2018 that the broadband capacity of most fiber providers was underutilized. Clegg acknowledged this problem, stating that he had met with Funke Opeke during the week and also spoken about underutilization with the government.
“I learned from my meetings with the President and the minister in Abuja yesterday that they are very focused on this and trying to fund different ways of leveraging external expertise and capital to increase internal connectivity. That will happen over time,” Clegg shared, indicating Meta’s awareness of the challenges and the government’s efforts to address them.
