Adam Mosseri says paying video creators loses Instagram money: “ROI negative”
On the Colin and Samir Show, Instagram's boss said paid creators don't post much more and that Instagram is "late to the party" on long-form.
The tea in 3
- Adam Mosseri called Instagram's payments to video creators "ROI negative" on the Colin and Samir Show, reported Oct 28.
- He said creators "don't produce a lot more when we pay" and that Instagram is "late to the party" on long-form video.
- Meta says it's too early to share a long-term monetization model for Features, the new 90-minute video test.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri says paying video creators loses the company money. In an interview on the Colin and Samir Show, reported by NetInfluencer on Oct 28, he called the program small and “ROI negative” for video.
The comments land two days after Instagram announced a test of Features, horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long. That test comes with no promised payout, and Mosseri’s comments point to one reason.
What Mosseri said about pay
Mosseri told the hosts that Instagram has found creators “don’t produce a lot more when we pay.” In other words, the money doesn’t buy much extra video.
We spend more money than we make back by a long shot.— Adam Mosseri, on the Colin and Samir Show, per NetInfluencer
He said scaling the program up “doesn’t really make sense” because Instagram would be “burning capital.” He also said “breaking even is totally fine,” but that he can’t justify losing money on payments, per NetInfluencer.
“Late to the party”
On long-form video, Mosseri was blunt about where Instagram stands. “We’re late to the party,” he said, and he warned the effort will fail if Instagram doesn’t solve the underlying problem, according to NetInfluencer.
That’s a change of tone. Tubefilter quotes him saying that “for a long time, I have been against doing long-form video on Instagram.” He now says Clips as Reels, which lets creators cut segments from a Feature and post them as Reels linking back to the full video, can make short and long video “symbiotic.”
Where that leaves creators
Tubefilter’s James Hale writes that for now, it seems creators won’t earn extra money from uploading Features. He says it would stand to reason that Meta will run ads against long-form uploads, but Meta hasn’t said so.
A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch, as quoted by Tubefilter, “It’s too early to share a long-term monetization model.” The spokesperson said Meta is exploring ways for creators to earn from brands, fans and Instagram, “including performance-based incentives.”
YouTube pays creators a share of ad revenue on long videos. Instagram’s own boss is now saying that paying for video hasn’t been worth it, so creators weighing a 90-minute upload should expect to lean on sponsors and reach.
The other things he covered
Mosseri also talked about AI. NetInfluencer reports that Instagram is starting to require AI-generated characters to label themselves. He said automatic labeling risks false positives, and mentioned that one of his own carousels was classified as AI content.
He called stolen stand-up material delivered by AI characters a top complaint in his direct messages. Originality, he said, is “the principled answer,” meaning copied bits could be treated as unoriginal content.
What happens next
Tubefilter reports Instagram plans to expand the Features test to tens of thousands of US creators in the coming months. Tubefilter also reports that Mosseri said getting these formats right on the TV app “is going to take some time.” Meta hasn’t set a payment model yet.
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