Meta once paid selected creators monthly bonuses to post on Threads, then quietly stopped. If your team still has the Threads Creator Bonus Program in a planning doc as a tailwind, it needs a rewrite. The program is gone, the audience is not, and brands now face a strange window: a huge text platform with no creator payout system.
What the bonus program actually was (and what happened to it)
TechCrunch reported that Meta confirmed a limited-time, invite-only program that began testing in March 2024 and was limited to U.S. creators. Each invited creator had “individualized” requirements. Views and post counts drove payouts, and one eligibility rule required a post to reach at least 2,500 views.
Two rules matter most for brands. Posts with copyrighted material, no text, or boosted views did not qualify. Brand partnership posts did not qualify either.
That last point is the one most people missed. Meta never designed the bonus as a sponsorship subsidy. It was a platform growth tool aimed at organic posting.
Then it ended. Engadget confirmed in July 2025 that Meta was no longer paying creators to post on Threads. Creators in the program told the outlet payments stopped around the end of April. Meta had not officially explained why. The Instagram support page that once described the incentives no longer mentions Threads at all.
The Threads Creator Bonus Program is not a live opportunity. The real opportunity is the audience Meta built while it was paying people to show up.
Why would a brand care about a program that no longer exists?
Because the side effects are still visible. For about a year, Meta subsidized a group of prolific posters. Many of them built habits, voices and audiences on the app. Those people did not vanish when the checks stopped.
Scale also changed. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that Threads topped 400 million monthly active users, and the same report put the platform’s mobile daily active users at 115.1 million in June 2025 (per Similarweb), up 127.8% year over year. Mobile is where Threads is strong. The same data showed X far ahead on web visits, so plan for a phone-first audience.
Here is the sober read. Meta has audience momentum and no formal creator economy. That gap is what makes this an early-stage play for brands, and also what makes it risky.
The structural quirks that shape any Threads campaign
Engadget’s reporting flags three constraints that should change your brief.
- Weak outbound traffic. The platform sends hardly any traffic to external websites. Do not build a campaign whose KPI is link clicks to your landing page.
- An algorithm-led feed. The default timeline is mostly recommended content, so an unknown account can go viral more easily.
- Viral posts rarely convert to followers. Reach is easy to get, and audience is hard to keep. A creator’s follower count is therefore a weaker proxy for reach than on Instagram or X.
Put those together and you get a distinct buying logic. Follower count tells you little. Recent post-level performance tells you much more. Ask creators for screenshots of Threads insights across their last 20 posts, not their bio numbers.
Where the early brand opportunities sit
No payout program means no platform-set price. You negotiate directly, and that favors prepared buyers. A few places to look.
1. Conversation-led creators who already post daily. Writers, operators, founders and niche commentators tend to do well in a text feed. Their cost is often lower than on video-first platforms because few agencies have priced them yet. That pricing gap will not last.
2. Brand accounts that behave like creators. Meta is still courting brands and notable faces, per Engadget. A brand voice that posts opinions, replies and short observations can earn reach without paid media. Treat it as a small editorial desk, not a repost channel.
3. Cross-platform creators. Because Threads rides on Instagram’s graph, a creator strong on Instagram can seed text posts to an existing audience. Use Meta’s own tooling to find them. Our guide to the Meta Creator Marketing Hub covers a shortlisting method you can adapt.
4. Experimental add-ons to existing deals. The lowest-risk entry is a Threads deliverable bundled into an Instagram or YouTube contract at a modest uplift. Nobody needs a standalone Threads budget to learn something.
How to price and test without a rate card
You have no platform benchmark, so build your own. Start small and write down the logic.
- Set a learning budget. Cap it at a fixed share of your influencer spend that you can lose without a debate. Call it a test, because that is what it is.
- Pay for work, not for outcomes. With a viral-but-leaky feed, performance-only deals can misfire. Pay a flat fee per post or per thread series, then add a small bonus tied to a metric you can verify.
- Measure in-platform. Track views, replies, reposts and profile visits. Use a unique branded search term or code to catch downstream effect, since clicks will undercount.
- Run a fixed window. Four to six weeks, same creator set, same brief format. Then compare cost per thousand views and reply quality against your Instagram benchmarks.
For a framework on negotiating when payout terms are murky, see our negotiation checklist from the Reels side. The logic carries over: get deliverables, usage rights and reporting in writing, and do not price off a program that could disappear.
Compliance and risk, briefly
Disclosure rules do not pause because a platform is new. Paid posts need clear labeling, and Meta’s own partnership tools are the safest route where they are available. Text-only posts are easy to under-disclose, since there is no video watermark or caption area to hide a tag in. Put the disclosure at the start of the post.
There is also platform risk. Meta ended a creator program with no public explanation, so assume Threads policy can move quickly. Keep creator contracts flexible and avoid exclusivity. Do not move budget away from channels that have a working payout and measurement system.
Finally, keep the content angle honest. A text-first feed rewards opinion, specificity and speed. Repurposed ad copy will flop. If you want a model for adapting short, native formats, our B2B creator briefing guide shows how to brief for a format a platform’s audience actually reads.
Treat Threads as a low-cost reach experiment with flat-fee deals and strict measurement. Do not treat it as a proven channel.
How does Threads compare with the other bets on your plan?
Honestly, it ranks below commerce-ready channels for direct sales. If checkout and attribution matter most this quarter, our comparison of TikTok Shop and Meta Shops is the better place to spend your time. Threads fits upper-funnel goals: category conversation, thought leadership and early creator relationships before competitors price them up.
FAQs
Is the Threads Creator Bonus Program still running?
No. Engadget confirmed in July 2025 that Meta had stopped paying creators to post on Threads, with payments ending around the end of April that year. Meta has not publicly explained the decision.
How much did creators earn from the bonus program?
Creators who spoke with Engadget reported monthly bonuses ranging from $500 to $5,000 for hitting post count and view targets. Meta never published full details, so treat those figures as anecdotal.
Could brand partnership posts earn the bonus?
No. According to Meta’s guidelines reported by TechCrunch, brand partnership posts were not eligible. The program rewarded organic content, which is why it was never a sponsorship funding source.
How big is the Threads audience for brands?
Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that Threads has more than 400 million monthly active users. Similarweb data cited by TechCrunch showed strong mobile daily usage, though web traffic remained far smaller than X’s.
Should brands pay creators on Threads?
Yes, in a small and controlled way. Use flat-fee deals, measure in-platform engagement, and run a fixed test window. Avoid large commitments until Meta publishes a clear creator monetization roadmap.
What KPIs work best on Threads?
Views, replies, reposts and profile visits are the most reliable. Link clicks are weak because the platform sends little traffic to outside sites, so pair content with a branded search term or code.
Next step: pick three conversation-led creators this week, offer each a flat-fee four-week Threads test, and benchmark the results against your Instagram numbers before the next budget review.
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