Ad Breaks are a new way for you to earn money from your Facebook Live broadcasts. This feature allows you to take short breaks during your live video to run advertisements that are up to 15 seconds long.

This guide will explain how ad breaks work, how to set them up, how to activate an ad break, and how to receive payments.

How It Works

To set up ad breaks, you’ll need to have at least 2,000 followers. Once you’re set up, you can take ad breaks during any live broadcast that has more than 300 people watching at the same time, after you’ve been live for at least 4 minutes. You can take additional ad breaks every 5 minutes after your first break.

When you are ready to take an ad break, you can let your viewers know that you will be right back. Your camera will turn off, and a 10 or 15-second advertisement will play. Viewers will see a counter in the corner of their screen that notifies them when you will be coming back. After the ad is over, your viewers will return to your live broadcast, and you may resume as usual.

Getting Set Up With Ad Breaks

After you have gone live with a video that has met the requirements for ad breaks, Facebook will send you a notification to let you know that you’re now eligible to set up ad breaks. It will appear in your Notifications tab and look like this:

If you miss your first notification, you will receive a notification during your next Live broadcast. You’ll also see the new dollar-sign icon ($) that you’ll tap to take ad breaks, which will appear white until you click it to get set up:

Tapping on either of these messages will take you to our Getting Started screen:

To get started, you will need to review and agree with the Terms.

Setting Up A Payment Account

If you already have a payment account on file, you’ll get a notification screen that you are ready to take ad breaks after accepting the Terms & Conditions. If you do not have a payment account on file you will be taken through a step-by-step flow to get set up. The set up process requires that you begin on mobile, however there is a part of the process that will require you to download and send a file from your desktop.

Setting up a payment method lets Facebook pay you for your share of ad revenue you earn from ad breaks. To set up your payment account, please follow this process:

1. Fill out your information for all of the fields after clicking on the Add Payment Account
2. Choose either PayPal or a bank account (where you’d like to receive your earnings)
3. After you have added a payment account, there is one final step you’ll need to complete before you’re ready to take ad breaks. Because the income you earn from ad breaks may be considered taxable, we will ask for some additional information for tax purposes.

Facebook will send a notification to your account with a link to verify your tax information. You will need to log into your account from a computer (not a mobile device) in order to complete this step.

After completing the above steps, you are ready to get started with ad breaks!

Going Live With Ad Breaks

After you’ve been Live for 4 minutes, the ad break dollar icon will turn on to let you know that you can take an ad break when you’re ready.

Note: Since this is a new feature on Facebook, your viewers might not expect to see an ad in your broadcast. Take a few moments to let them know you will be breaking for a short ad, and that you will be back afterward.

Once you begin the ad break, your camera will then turn off, and a short ad will play. Ad breaks are 20 seconds long, and a timer will let you know when to resume your broadcast. During this time, your viewers will be watching the ad and will not be able to see you. They will see a 10 or 15-second ad which contains a countdown timer to notify them when the ad break will be over. At the conclusion of the ad break, your viewers will see your broadcast resume.

FAQs

Q: How often can I take an ad break?

A: You may take your first ad break after you have been Live for 4 minutes. After taking your first ad break, you are able to take one again every 5 minutes.

Q: I am interested in ad breaks, but do not know much about going live on Facebook. Are there any guidelines available to me to ensure a successful live broadcast?

A: Learn more about Facebook Live here, including tips and tricks on how to create exciting and effective live videos.

Q: I can see the Ad Breaks button when I’m Live, but it never activates and allows me to take an ad break. What’s wrong?

A: There may be several reasons why you see the $ button, but cannot go to ad break:

• Your broadcast may not have 300 or more simultaneous viewers. Only broadcasts with 300 or more people watching at the same time are eligible for ad breaks.
• You may not have reached the 4 minute mark in your Live broadcast. You can only take ad breaks after the first 4 minutes of a Live stream. After you take your first break, you must wait an additional 5 minutes to take your next break. During this time, the $ button will not be tappable.
• Live broadcasters who have received Copyright or Community Standards warnings or violation notices are not currently eligible to use the Ad Breaks feature. If you have been flagged for copyright reasons or for violating our community standards, you will receive a notification via email. Learn more about our Copyright policies here. Learn more about our Community Standards policies here.

Q: Do I have to take an ad break every time I broadcast?

A: No.

You can choose to go to ad break, or not to go to ad break, in any given broadcast. Your broadcast will proceed as it normally does if you don’t take ad breaks, without interruption.

(Note that skipping an ad break does not mean you can run two the next time it is available. You will only be able to run one ad break at a time.)

Q: Will viewers be able to skip ad breaks?

A: No. Viewers will not be able to skip or close the ad in your ad break.

Q: Will I be able to choose the ad that shows when I take a Live ad break?

A: You will be able to exclude specific advertisers from showing up in your ad break, but you will not be able to choose the specific ads that will show with your video.

Q: If I do not sign up for ad breaks before I broadcast, but my broadcast qualifies, will I have the opportunity to enable it during my broadcast?

A: If you are currently broadcasting a Live video, you will get a notification that your video has 300 or more viewers and that you can unlock ad breaks after the video ends, so you can start earning money with your next video. If you do not sign up after your Live broadcast is complete, you will get another prompt to set up ad breaks the next time that you go Live.

Q: Are there any restrictions on the type of content I can broadcast?

A: Facebook encourages you to be creative and authentic in your Live broadcasts, and to have fun with the format. However, we do restrict certain types of content in Live video. These include copyright violations, as well as videos and posts which violate Facebook’s Terms.

Q: How will I get paid?

A: You will receive your first payment when you have earned more than $100 from ad breaks. After that, you’ll continue to receive payments each month your earnings reach $100. At this point, you will receive your first payment.

After that, Facebook will pay you each month for all earnings accrued during that period. This includes earnings from live videos during the pay period, as well as earnings accrued from ad impressions generated on views of your previous live broadcasts during the pay period.

Facebook will pay you through Paypal, and payments will be sent to the account you used to sign up for Ad Breaks.

Q: How are my payment methods managed?

A: Upon signing up for ad breaks, you will be required to enter in a payment account. After you agree to the Terms, you will be taken through the process of setting up your payment account before you can go Live and take ad breaks.

Q: How can I view what I have earned for my ad breaks?

A: To see what you are earning for the ad breaks you took, please follow these steps on desktop to make sure you have Monetization Insights turned on:

• Go to your Facebook page and click on Settings
• On the left hand side, click on Monetization Insights located at the bottom and toggle the “On” button in the Access column (note that the toggle is per page admin)

Next, go back to your page and click on Insights, then Videos on the left hand side to see your revenue.

To see detailed earnings per video, follow these steps:

• Go to your Facebook page and click on Insights, then Videos
• You will see a “Top Videos” panel – in the Video column, click on the name of the video to bring up a “Video detail” box.
• Click on “Estimated Earnings” to see more detailed info about where the earnings came from.

Please note that enabling Monetization Insights is only available on desktop at this time.

More: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2176888065869976