How to make money on Facebook Reels: content monetization, Stars and brand deals

Meta’s creators site, read on 4 November 2026, lists Facebook Content Monetization, earning from brands, earning from affiliates, subscriptions, Facebook Stars and Creator Fast Track. Here is what each one asks, from Meta’s own pages:

• 10 sshortest reel that earns
• 500followers for Stars, 30 days in a row
• 70countries and territories
• 37languages

Every tool asks you to follow Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies as well as the Community Standards. What your own Page or profile can use is in your Creator Dashboard.

Rather than paying a share of ads placed in your videos, Facebook Content Monetization rewards the performance of your high-quality public reels, photos, stories and text posts. Meta says the amount is based on numerous factors, including qualified views and watch time, as solely determined by Meta, and that it may change over time.

In its newsroom post of 18 March 2026, Meta said Facebook paid content creators nearly US$3 billion in 2025 from its monetization programs, and that 60% of that went to reels. That is Meta’s total for all creators, not a figure for any one of them.

Meta lists content that may not earn even when you are in the program:

• Posts where an ownership claim was settled in favor of another copyright holder; while a claim is reviewed, some or all of your payout is withheld.
• Content in a language the program does not support, and reels in several languages, which may not be eligible.
• Content crossposted by a Page you do not own or manage. Content you crossposted from your own Instagram is not excluded.
• Boosted posts, permanently deleted posts and posts where you turned ads off.
• Content that collects or rewards inauthentic engagement, and existing posts reshared to stories.
• If you live in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland and subscribe to use Meta’s products without ads, Meta says your ability to monetize with ads is limited.

Not at a rate you can look up. Meta’s pages read on 4 November 2026 give no rate per view, per 1,000 views or per follower. Views matter because qualified views and watch time are among the factors Meta uses to decide what content monetization pays, and a post watched for less than 5 seconds does not count.

Stars are paid per Star, not per view: 1 cent for each Star a fan sends. Brand deals pay what you agree with the brand.

Facebook Content Monetization is invite-only. Invitations come from an official Facebook or Meta channel: the Facebook app, email, Meta Business Suite and the Professional dashboard, where a genuine one also shows in the monetization tools. As part of Creator Fast Track, one can also come from an approved agency partner. Meta warns against suspicious links from anywhere else, Messenger included.

Without an invitation, you can fill in the interest form: in your dashboard, open the Monetization tab, then Content Monetization. Meta says it is not an application and does not guarantee an invitation. Its creators page adds that Meta is sending invitations to millions of creators this year and plans to offer open enrollment in the near future, with no date.

Meta’s help pages now say the Professional dashboard has changed: you will see Creator Dashboard or Business Dashboard. Once invited:

1. 1

   Open the invitation

   Tap the notification, or go to your dashboard, then Monetize, then Content monetization. On a profile, turn on professional mode first.

2. 2

   Get started

   Tap Get started next to Content monetization. On a computer, go to Meta Business Suite, then Monetization, then Content monetization, and click Sign up.

3. 3

   Accept the terms

   Review and accept the Terms and Conditions.

4. 4

   Add payout details

   Fill in your payout details and tap Complete setup. Your eligible reels, photos, text posts and stories can then earn.

At least 10 seconds. Meta’s content monetization page says reels must be a minimum of 10 seconds and stories a minimum of 5 seconds, and content with less than 5 seconds of watch time does not qualify.

There is no upper limit: since Meta’s change of 17 June 2025, Facebook Reels have no length or format restrictions, so a reel can be a 30-second vertical clip or a horizontal episode of 20 minutes or more. Meta now calls short- and long-form videos Reels.

Before 2025 a Facebook creator could earn from separate programs: in-stream ads inside longer videos, Ads on Reels and the Performance bonus. Meta says all three ended on 31 August 2025, and that eligible creators are invited to Facebook Content Monetization instead.

None of Meta’s monetization pages read on 4 November 2026 lists a Reels Play bonus. A tutorial that tells you to turn on Ads on Reels, in-stream ads or a Reels bonus is describing a program that no longer exists.

1. 31 August 2025In-stream ads, Ads on Reels and the Performance Bonus Program end: the last day creators could earn from them.
2. 15 June 2026In-stream ads for Live end. Creators who earned from Live ads keep earning through content monetization.

Fans buy Stars and send them on your reels, lives, videos, photos and text posts. For every Star you receive, Meta pays you 1 cent (US$0.01). Meta’s creators page calls Stars on Reels a new way to earn: onboard to Stars, post a reel, and check in the reel’s three-dot menu that Stars is turned on.

To earn from Stars you must meet the Community Standards, follow the Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies, have 500 followers for at least 30 consecutive days, live in a country eligible for Stars, agree to the Stars Terms and be at least 18. Accounts that mainly post content focused on children are not eligible.

To check: in Meta Business Suite, Monetization, then View Page eligibility under Status; or in your Creator Dashboard, Stars under Tools.

• Subscriptions: fans pay you monthly. They are open to Pages in 37 countries, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Portugal and Spain among them, and invite-only elsewhere. Your Page needs 10,000 followers or more than 250 Return Viewers, plus 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 watch minutes in the last 60 days.
• Branded content: you manage a Page or use pro mode, follow Meta’s Branded Content Policies and Partner Monetization Policies, and mark each paid post with the Paid Partnership label.
• Partnership ads: the brand runs your branded content as an ad that reaches beyond your combined followers, and Meta tells creators they can negotiate higher pay for the extra usage rights. Meta’s Creator Marketplace is where brands find creators.
• Affiliate links: with a Page or pro mode, at 18 or older and registered with a participating affiliate partner, you tag products in your posts and earn commissions on sales. Which partners exist depends on your market; you connect them in the Monetization tab of your dashboard.

Meta pays nothing per follower, and its content monetization pages name no follower count: it is by invitation. The tools that do name one:

Public reels earn from content monetization when they are published in the countries and languages on Meta’s list. On 4 November 2026 it had 70 countries and territories: 10 in the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Morocco among them), 7 in sub-Saharan Africa, 13 in Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil among them), Canada and the United States, 23 in Europe (Spain and Portugal among them) and 15 in Asia and the Pacific.

It names 37 languages, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and English among them. Keep each reel to one language: Meta says reels in multiple languages may not be eligible. The full list by country is in our Facebook monetization guide.

On 13 March 2026 Meta set out what it treats as original: content filmed or produced by the creator. Reels that use other people’s material can still be original when the focus is the creator on screen presenting something genuinely new, such as fresh information, analysis or substantial improvements to a storyline.

Watching along, reacting with facial expressions, stitching clips together or narrating what is already on screen without adding anything meaningful is not. Neither is a duplicate or a low-value edit of another creator’s post, such as re-uploading it or adding borders, captions or a speed change.

Creators who keep posting mainly unoriginal content can see their account made non-recommendable and demonetized. Creators can appeal originality decisions.

Creator Fast Track, announced on 18 March 2026, is for creators with an audience elsewhere: US$1,000 a month with at least 100,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, or US$3,000 a month with more than a million on one of them, for three months of sharing eligible reels, with more reach and immediate access to content monetization. Meta’s Creator Fast Track page says it is not available in every country: read from Germany on 4 November 2026, it said it was not available there yet.

The Breakthrough bonus program is US-only. Creators based in the US, 18 or older and on another social app can apply on mobile; if accepted, they are invited to content monetization and can qualify for up to US$5,000 in bonuses in their first 90 days. Applications from creators with at least 20,000 followers on another app are reviewed first.