VKontakte introduced new monetization tools, community design and other updates

The VKontakte company held a Content Day. She introduced new opportunities for content creators on the social network, including an account with advanced statistics for video authors. In addition, updated monetization tools are presented, and a new community design is also demonstrated. This is the next stage of the global update of the mobile application, as stated in the social network.

In particular, VKontakte and VK Video introduced a new advanced analytics tool for video bloggers, as well as professional content creators and copyright holders. This is the author’s office. So, in the VK Video community, the acceptance of applications for participation in public testing of the beta version of the cabinet has begun.

Now the team plans to expand the capabilities of the tool based on feedback and the results of open testing. This innovation will allow novice video makers and experienced video studios to better understand the needs as well as the tastes of their audience. They will be able to analyze the reaction of viewers to video content. All this is necessary in order to increase the involvement and activity of subscribers.

This tool will allow you to view statistics on all downloaded video content and individual videos. In particular, you can view data on the number of views, view duration, unique viewers, audience structure, retention and engagement, as well as information on monetization.

As for the latter aspect, in the first eight months of this year, the total earnings of authors using VKontakte monetization tools have already amounted to more than 3 billion rubles. Compared to 2021, revenue grew by 78% in the affiliate program, and by another 214% in VK Donut and by 55% in the market platform.

Also, over a year since the launch of the video monetization program, more than 12 thousand communities have connected to it. And as part of the Content Day event, Alexander Volodin, director of marketing and development of new initiatives on VKontakte and VK Video, presented updates on the main ways of earning money for content creators.

Together with the VK Donut paid subscription function, users have the opportunity to send one-time donations. This is necessary in order to thank for the content or support the project without a regular subscription. The user will be able to send a donation directly in the comments to the publication.

Also, an update of the affiliate program has been announced. So, the authors who will publish stories and clips more often will have the opportunity to increase their earnings. Prior to this, VKontakte had already tested the connection of these formats to the calculation of payments. According to the results of the experiment, the average earnings of authors in August 2022 increased by 9%, including for novice content creators. VKontakte also announced the start of experiments to expand the limits for direct and native advertising in communities.

Also in August, VKontakte announced one of the largest mobile app updates in the history of the social network. This is a new design of the feed as well as a personal profile. In addition, there will be a new community design. The update will be available to users within a few weeks. It will be the foundation for the progressive development of the platform – in particular, the launch of experimental features related to NFT and Web 3.0.

Communities have become digital hubs for creativity, discussion, and content sharing. Each author will be able to fully express their individuality and personalize the appearance of the public. At the same time, navigation will be clear and simple for visitors when moving from one community to another. The focus will be “content showcase”. Now the most recent and relevant content will be shown in the most visible place, and the rest of the media content in the nearest tabs, which can be opened with one touch. A concise info section will be located at the top. It will adapt to the needs of the user. Subscribers, on the other hand, will be able to quickly navigate to the content, and the new audience will see a compact description to familiarize themselves with the community and subscribe to it.

In addition, new features will appear in stories. There will be the possibility of a personal selection for each viewer. The algorithm will automatically select stories based on the interests of the user and his friends. In addition, it will help authors to expand the audience. There will also be the ability to attach external links and set privacy for individual stories.

As for VK Clips, they announced the launch of mobile broadcasts. They will improve the editor of vertical videos and the ability to publish clips in the web version of VKontakte. Thanks to this, professional creators will be able to download materials in high resolution Full HD and with support for 60 FPS.

As the CEO of VKontakte, VK Video and VK Clipov Marina Krasnova said, together with the content authors, the company created “a completely unique phenomenon – publics.” At the moment, tens of millions of people discuss the life of their cities in them, and they also share their creativity, learn news from publics, find interesting music and memes, “dating and useful life hacks.”

“Publics have also become an effective tool to start a business or monetize content,” added Marina Krasnova.

CTO VKontakte, VK Video and VK Clipov Alexander Tobol spoke about the evolution of recommendations. According to him, the social network is developing ML content recommendations in such a way that they are effective assistants for authors in terms of audience engagement. He spoke about the trend towards a high speed of information consumption. Alexander Tobol added that “our technology team is preparing a new concept of recommendations – it includes ML-adaptation of content, taking into account” clip thinking “.

“Already now, VKontakte’s neural networks are generating different covers for videos for viewers with different interests and behavior patterns,” Tobol said. According to him, in the future, algorithms will help to engage users in long content using short formats. All design changes are also aimed at “increasing the power of end-to-end recommendations and ultimately bring happiness to users by anticipating their needs and responding to how they rate this or that content.”