Editor's Review

Meta announced on Tuesday, February 22, that it's expanding the availability of Facebook Reels for iOS and Android to more than 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

Meta announced on Tuesday, February 22, that it's expanding the availability of Facebook Reels for iOS and Android to more than 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

Meta is also introducing better ways to help creators to earn money, new creation tools, and more places to watch and create Facebook Reels.

Prior to this launch Reels was available on Facebook in India, Mexico, Canada, the U.S, and is now available across sub-Saharan Africa in: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Swaziland, South Africa, Seychelles, Senegal, Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Mali, Malawi, Lesotho, Kenya, Guinea, Ghana, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Burkina Faso.

Commenting on the launch Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director for sub-Saharan Africa at Meta says, “We’ve seen that video now accounts for almost all of the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram, and Reels is our fastest growing content format by far. This is why we’re focused on making Reels the best way for creators to get discovered, connect with their audience and earn money. We also want to make it fun and easy for people to find and share relevant and entertaining content.”


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The Reels Play bonus program, part of Meta’s $1 billion creator investment, pays eligible creators up to $35,000 a month based on the views of their qualifying reels.

In the coming months, the bonus program will be extended to more countries, so more creators can get rewarded for creating reels that their communities love.

As part of the launch Meta is also launching brand suitability controls, including Publisher Lists, Blocklists, Inventory Filters and Delivery Reports for Banner and Sticker Ads in Facebook Reels in every region they are available, giving advertisers more control over how their ads appear in places they don't consider suitable for their brand or campaign.

Additionally, Meta has been testing full-screen and immersive ads in between Facebook Reels since October of last year, and will roll them out to more places around the world over the coming months. Just like with organic content on Facebook, people can comment, like, view, save, share and skip them.