Facebook is becoming a friendlier platform for content creators. The company's latest program is an attempt to attract live streamers and smoke the competition.
Facebook's Gaming Creator Pilot program is now official, and, the essential goal is to convince popular gaming creators to migrate from YouTube, Twitch, and Mixer. By dangling the promise of monetization, the social media firm is hoping that a good number of video gameplay streamers will make the switch.
"We're excited to officially kick off our gaming creator pilot program, and welcome even more gaming creators to the platform," the company said in an official blog post.
The plan, according to Facebook, is to further sustain the remarkable gains that its Facebook Live feature has already achieved. The company pointed to content producer StoneMountain64 as a glaring example of what this new program has to offer.
Showing The Money
Facebook knows that content creators will readily head to where the promise of big money is. Monetization potential appears to be the reason StoneMountain64, whose live broadcasts of his PUBG and Fortnite exploits so far generated over a million followers, chose Facebook as his streaming platform. With the launch of its pilot program, Facebook hopes that more creators will follow StoneMountain64's lead.
For streamers to successfully monetize on the program, the required "fundamental architecture" will be provided and, as a start, live streamers can broadcast in 1080p at 60 frames per second. This will serve as the company's strongest commitment to gameplay creators who deliver quality content.
This is in line with one of the program's numerous goals, specifically, to support "gaming creators with the types of tools they need to make a living streaming games on Facebook ... (and) building a platform where creators at every level have the opportunity to thrive."
In addition, the program is designed to build a community that is more meaningful and more engaged, with greater reach, courtesy of the Instagram and Oculus verticals, and therefore a higher possibility of realizing earnings, Facebook said.
On the latter, Facebook will allow fan tipping as it acknowledged that most creators heavily depend on viewers' contributions to sustain their operations. To this end, the company is looking for ways that gaming creators can receive payments, reportedly starting at $3, during Facebook Live sessions.
"We'll expand our fan support monetization initiatives to more gaming creators, including participants in our initial pilot program," Facebook said.
As expected, there will be a revenue-sharing scheme, but the exact setup remains unclear. The usual cut imposed by YouTube and Twitch on content creators run between 30 and 45 percent, which indicates Facebook's system would likely be in the same range.
