Some of the biggest names in the creator economy have a message for TikTok: it's time to share the wealth.
The app's surge in popularity has attracted many social media celebrities in recent years, attracting millions of fans and sometimes billions of views. But some of those creators argue that the way TikTok rewards them through the Creator Fund, a pool of money distributed based on creators' share of the platform's overall views, is outdated.
“Literally, the more successful TikTok is, the less successful TikTokers are,” Hank Green said in a YouTube video posted Thursday, which has been viewed nearly 500,000 times as of Tuesday.
Green, an early YouTube star and internet culture guru with 6.3 million followers on TikTok, said TikTok's current monetization tools favor TikTok's bottom line rather than serving creators' interests.
Green said he tracks his earnings on TikTok and has seen his revenue per view decline over the past year. He said he currently earns about 2.5 cents per 1,000 views.
The problem is that unlike YouTube's Partner Program, which gives creators a cut of the revenue, TikTok's Creator Fund comes from a finite pool of funds that the platform allocates to creators, Green said. As a result, as TikTok grew as a platform, fewer funds were available from the finite pool.
Greene did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
TikTok's Creator Fund was launched with $200 million and will “grow to more than $1 billion in the U.S. over the next three years, and more than double that globally,” TikTok wrote in a July 2020 blog about the fund. I mentioned it in the post. According to Reuters, TikTok's parent company ByteDance's revenue reached about $58 billion in 2021, up 70% from the previous year.
“Creator Fund is one of the many ways creators can earn money on TikTok. We continue to listen and seek feedback from our creator community and evolve our features to improve the experience for program participants. We will continue to do so,” a TikTok spokesperson said. Email NBC News.
After Green's videos started circulating, other creators took notice of the platform's income.
Safwan Ahmedmir, a British tech TikToker, tweeted that he earned just over $150 for 25 million views. Beast, a YouTube and TikTok star, responded to Ahmedmir, saying he earned just under $15,000 with an estimated 1 billion views.
Mae Karwowski, CEO and founder of influencer marketing agency Obviously, said TikTok's Creator Fund is more of a perk for creators than a way for creators to earn a living income on the platform. Stated.
“You definitely can't rely on the same amount of money coming in every month in some predictable way,” Karwowski said of the fund.
Karwowski said creators should have multiple sources of income, including brand deals, affiliate marketing and merchandise.
She said brand deals are typically the most lucrative form of revenue for creators and can be very highly paid.
“There are many ways to make money as a creator once you have an audience, but think of the Creator Fund as a nice perk rather than paying your rent…that's the way to think of it.”
TikTok's Creator Fund landing page says the fund is “a way to celebrate and support the dedication, ingenuity, and spirit of creators.”
Creators are eligible if they are 18 years or older, are legal residents of the United States, have 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the past 30 days, and post original content that meets our Community Guidelines.
The rules also state that followers and views must be “real.”
In addition to the US, Creator Fund is available in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.
The platform says creators' income is determined by several factors, including video views and video engagement. However, the platform does not specify how much one or more views are worth or what kind of engagement will be rewarded.
Brands are spending a lot of money on advertising on TikTok, and as the platform continues to grow in popularity, Karwowski said it would be wise for the app to pursue a YouTube-style monetization model in the future. .
“I think it's a really smart move to keep creators happy while also keeping them on the platform,” she said.
