Facebook Will Take A Cut Of Fan Subscriptions Starting Next Year

Facebook launched fan subscriptions early last year. Users can sign up for a monthly subscription payment to their favorite creators, kind of like Patreon, in exchange for exclusive content and a fan badge. Facebook wasn’t taking a cut of the $4.99 subscription through the test period but it was going to happen, inevitably. The company has confirmed that it will start taking a cut of fan subscriptions from next year.

Facebook confirmed at VidCon that it will take a cut of up to 30 percent on fan subscriptions from January 1st, 2020. The company didn’t take any cut during the initial testing period when the feature was first launched last year, with the exception of the fee collected by Apple and Google on in-app purchases.

Facebook’s Director of Media Monetization Kate Orseth told journalists that the company wants subscribers to keep 70 percent of their subscription revenue. So Facebook won’t take a cut when the mobile platforms take their 30 percent cut on first-year subscriptions. When platforms lower their cut to 15 percent in the second year, Facebook will then take the other 15 percent.

This applies to mobile only, obviously. Facebook can keep the full 30 percent on mobile since it doesn’t have to pay fees to Google and Apple for the platform. However, the majority of the subscriptions tend to come from mobile anyway since it makes no difference to the subscriber whether they sign up for the monthly payment through their mobile or desktop. Facebook will not be taking a cut before January 1st, 2020.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook