Meta Moves to Attract Creators From TikTok, YouTube With ₦4.2m Deal

Meta has unveiled a new incentive programme offering payments of up to $3,000 (about ₦4.2 million) per month to creators on rival platforms, in a bid to boost content on Facebook.

The scheme, known as “Content Fast Track”, is targeted at creators with large followings on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, as the company seeks to regain ground in the competitive short-form video market.

“You’re always following audiences as a creator and so this doesn’t fix it,” said Jordan Schwarzenberger, manager of content creators the Sidemen. “I love Facebook and I love Meta and what they do, but this feels like a bit of a desperate move.”

To qualify for the full payment, creators must have at least one million followers on other platforms and post a minimum of 15 short-form videos, or reels, each month. This equates to roughly $200 per video. Smaller creators with fewer followers can earn up to $1,000 monthly under the initiative.

Meta said the programme, currently limited to the United States and Canada, will run for a maximum of three months and is aimed at encouraging established creators to either join or return to Facebook.

The move comes as the company intensifies efforts to compete with TikTok and YouTube, which continue to dominate the creator economy. Meta said it paid nearly $3 billion to creators in 2025 through its monetisation systems, highlighting its growing investment in digital content.

However, industry analysts remain sceptical about the programme’s effectiveness. Jordan Schwarzenberger, who manages the Sidemen content group, said the offer may not be attractive enough for top creators.

He noted that many influencers already earn significantly more through brand partnerships and platform-based revenue streams, adding that the payment offered by Facebook may not cover production costs for high-quality content.

“Facebook has not been a priority for the best part of a decade,” Schwarzenberger, chief executive and founder of management company Arcade, told BBC News.

“The reality is people go on the platforms before they go for the creators,” he said, which would mean attracting more creators to Facebook would not necessarily mean their fans follow them back to Facebook.

“They’ll probably also get that same content on TikTok, on Instagram, on the other platforms that they’re actually spending time on,” he added.