With social distancing mandates still in place, many businesses and creators are bringing their events and services online to connect with existing customers and reach new ones. People are also relying on live video and interactive experiences more when they can’t come together physically. In June, we saw live broadcasts from Pages double compared to the same time last year, largely attributed to broadcasts since March.
By combining marketing, payment and live video, paid online events meet the end-to-end needs of businesses. Pages can host events on Facebook Live to reach broad audiences, and we’re testing paid events with Messenger Rooms for more personal and interactive gatherings.
In testing, we’ve seen businesses use Facebook to host expert talks, trivia events, podcast recordings, boxing matches, cooking classes, intimate meet-and-greets, fitness classes and more.
Now, Pages in 20 countries around the world that meet our partner monetization policies can start charging for online events, making it easier for millions of people and small businesses to make money on Facebook. Check here to see if you qualify and get access.
Waiving Fees on Paid Online Events to Support Businesses and Creators
In our most recent State of Small Business Report with OECD and World Bank, we found that access to cash continues to be the most common ongoing challenge for SMBs. Only 19% of surveyed businesses were getting any financial help (down from earlier in pandemic). Many businesses are struggling and every cent matters. Shifting in-person events to online is costly enough that businesses shouldn’t have to worry about fees charged by platforms.
To support small businesses and creators, Facebook will not collect any fees from paid online events for at least the next year. For transactions on the web, and on Android in countries where we have rolled out Facebook Pay, small businesses will keep 100% of the revenue they generate from paid online events.
We asked Apple to reduce its 30% App Store tax or allow us to offer Facebook Pay so we could absorb all costs for businesses struggling during COVID-19. Unfortunately, they dismissed both our requests and SMBs will only be paid 70% of their hard-earned revenue. While Facebook is waiving fees for paid online events we will make other fees clear in the product. (Updated on August 14, 2020 at 1:07 PM PT to clarify where we will explain the fees.) Here’s how this will look on Android and iOS, which we submitted to Apple today for approval.
