Meta has launched Facebook Reels globally with plenty of ads

To do their best to keep up with the social media juggernaut of TikTok, Meta has announced the global launch of Facebook Reels, making the feature available in over 150 countries. 

Alongside letting more iOS and Android users enjoy Facebook’s TikTok clone, Meta has also announced that they’re expanding tests for overlay ads in order to help creators earn money from Facebook Reels.

These new overlay ads will appear in two different forms, banner ads, which are a “semi-transparent overlay at the bottom of a Facebook Reel,” and sticker ads, which are a “static image ad that can be placed by a creator anywhere within their reel.” According to Facebook, these ads will allow creators to earn a “portion” of the ad revenue while being “non-interruptive” to users.

As if that wasn’t enough of an incentive from Meta to start making content, the social media giant also announced “Stars” which can be purchased by users in order to directly support their favourite creators while giving Facebook that all-important revenue-generating cut. 

Thankfully, the rollout of Reels isn’t all about flooding the platform with ads, as Meta also announced new editing features for creators around the world to utilize. These new features will allow creators to make reels up to 60 seconds long, while also clipping the content they make before saving it as a draft. 

Meta is also debuting a new “Remix” feature, which, just like TikTok’s Duet feature, allows creators to make a reel alongside an existing publicly-shared reel on Facebook, opening the floodgates for a tidal wave of reaction content.