Instagram offers creators $10k to post Reels in new problematic promo

Instagram app (Image credit: Instagram)

What you need to know

Instagram is offering creators up to $10,000 for posting Reels.
Creators are worried about a lack of transparency regarding the offer.
Server problems have already hindered creators from trying to make money.

Photo and video-sharing service Instagram is offering creators up to $10,000 when they post Reels, but the offer is already proving problematic.

As reported by TechCrunch, the Monthly Reels Play bonus program gives creators a payout based on how many people watch their reels. But it isn't all plain sailing with a lack of transparency surrounding the whole thing causing some people to be confused.

But creators are confused about what factors determine how big a bonus they're eligible for from Instagram, and the platform isn't helping clear up their concerns. Instagram told TechCrunch that the program is experimental and still in its early stages. But the lack of transparency can be troubling for creators who use these platforms to make a living. The bonus program even experienced a glitch this week, causing eligible creators to be told that they were actually ineligible for the payout. Instagram told TechCrunch that this glitch has been fixed.

That lack of transparency also means that some creators are being offered different deals, with one Instagrammer — Maddy Corbin — with 52,000 followers being offered up to $1,000 for her Reels in a month. But they say that others who have more followers are actually being offered even less — around $600.

A creator with about 24,000 Instagram followers — less than half as many as Corbin — told TechCrunch that last month, they were offered a bonus of up to $800 if they got 1.7 million views on all reels posted that month. The bonus isn't all-or-nothing — the creator intentionally posted one reel per day during the bonus period and managed to get 1.49 million plays on their reels, earning a $689.90 payout.

Instagram is perhaps the best iPhone app for sharing photos, but Meta wants it to be the best place to share videos, too. Faced with stiff competition from TikTok, that's going to be a hard win for the company.

Creators keen to learn more about the bonus program can do so over on the Instagram Help Center.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

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