Menlo park:
Facebook is launching its Reels short video feature to more than 150 countries, owner Meta Platforms said Tuesday, in a bid to expand its fastest-growing content format.
The social media giant, which recently lost a third of its market value following a dismal earnings report, has listed Reels as a top priority.
Meta launched Reels in 2020 on Instagram and in 2021 on Facebook in response to the explosively popular short video app TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
“Reels is already by far our fastest growing content format and today we are making it available to everyone on Facebook worldwide,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
The company, which says video now accounts for half the time people spend on Facebook, also announced new ways creators can earn money through the Reels feature.
It said it was expanding its program to pay creator bonuses to more countries and tested overlay ads with banners and stickers for creators to earn ad revenue. It should be rolling out full screen ads between Reels soon.
Meta said during its last earnings that it had been hit by Apple Inc’s privacy changes to its operating system, making it more difficult for brands to target and measure their ads on Facebook and Instagram. It also cited macroeconomic issues such as supply chain disruptions.
The 18-year-old tech giant also warned last month that it expects a slowdown in revenue growth in the coming quarter due to increased competition for users’ time and a shift in engagement to features like Reels, which generate less revenue.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Meta also said it would roll out updates to allow users to create and see Facebook Reels in new places, such as in the Stories feature, the Watch tab, and at the top of the News Feed. In some countries, users will also see suggested roles in their feed.