Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Social media commentator Street Hustler has argued that monetisation by major global technology companies alone will not be enough to help Zimbabwean digital content creators earn a sustainable income.
His comments follow remarks by the Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Tatenda Mavetera, who said the government is in talks with global technology firms, including Google and Meta, to explore ways for local creators to monetise their content.
Speaking to ZBC on Tuesday, Mavetera said discussions with the platforms were still ongoing.
However, Street Hustler said Zimbabwean creators on Facebook often face additional hurdles.
He said they should consider leaving the country temporarily for their pages to be verified or rely on trusted relatives or friends abroad to manage their accounts and posts until monetisation is approved. He wrote:
“Getting monetisation is one thing, making actual money is another!
“The Google Adsense (which pays bloggers & YouTubers), works by CPM. In a very summarised explanation, they pay according to viewers location. Why? They segregate markets according to the potential for spending.
“A viewer in the USA, UK, Germany, Australia, or Canada is more likely to complete a purchase from Ads than a viewer in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Congo, or Niger.
“A creator with an American audience can get upto $7 per thousand views, whilst one with a Zimbabwean audience gets 30cents on a thousand views.
“The Zimbabwean market is classified as dead. On a national scale, Zimbabweans don’t buy online.
“Your market is informal and cash run, so no global advertiser wants to ‘waste’ their ad budget showing you their ads.
“The end result directly impacts your creators. It’s not fixed; a lot of factors I left out apply, but that’s generally how the Google AdSense algorithm operates.
“Meta algorithm is similar too, but Meta completely removed Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabwean content creators on Facebook either have to leave the country for some time until their pages are verified or they engage a trusted loved one abroad to manage their account and their posts until it’s monetised.
“The idea is to make the Meta algorithm think you are operating from Europe.”
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