As VidCon makes its in-person return to the Anaheim Convention Center later this month, Instagram parent company Meta is planning to have a sizable presence at the conference with multiple lounges, parties and panel sessions that will promote its IG Reels and AR/VR product offerings to content creators.
At the conference, Meta is hosting five sessions — two of which will feature Dane Glasgow, Meta’s vp entertainment, and Jackie Pimentel, the head of creator product marketing, on subjects like the metaverse and creator monetization, respectively.
Throughout VidCon, which takes place from June 22 to June 25, Meta will be taking over the nearby Hyatt hotel and pool with interactive installations that will feature the Meta Quest 2 VR headsets and Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, as well as sets meant to serve as backdrops for creators making Reels content. At the convention center, Meta will also have an invite-only “Reels lounge” for creators.
Meta will host its first poolside happy hour during VidCon on June 23 with a DJ set by Sickick, followed the next day by another happy hour from Meta’s Black creator program, We The Culture, with DJs Angel + Dren. And on the evening of June 24, Instagram will host an off-site party with the “Big Energy” rapper Latto.
The company’s VidCon presence comes a year after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged to pay out $1 billion in creator incentives, while Instagram head Adam Mosseri has acknowledged the “stiff competition” coming from TikTok and YouTube that has compelled IG to turn its focus toward video.
Though TikTok will be the title sponsor at this year’s VidCon, replacing longtime sponsor YouTube, Meta’s director of creator partnerships, Justin Antony, hopes the company’s presence at VidCon will be enticing to those looking to expand into AR/VR content and serve as a show of commitment to creators.
“Nowadays, creators are less talking about the competition because [they’re] becoming much more platform agnostic,” Antony told The Hollywood Reporter. “They use TikTok, they use Instagram, they use YouTube. It’s no longer the days that creators are only on one platform — they’re very much using every platform to reach their audience. So I think all of the competition actually makes us, makes creators stronger because all of these platforms are supporting creators in a meaningful way.”
