TikTok is leaning more toward using its app like a search engine.
Creators who make money on the platform will be paid based in part on how well their content matches what other users are searching for. At TikTok, this metric is called “search value” and it is one of the four core elements that determine how creators are paid. TikTok announced this change as part of a new monetization program called Creator Rewards.
“Using these insights, creators can source content inspiration, tailor creative strategies to audience interests, and create content that people want to see more of,” the company said. said in a blog post.
The Insights tool essentially lays out video ideas that creators can create based on both personalized and general data. For example, on my account, TikTok flagged “Successor Outfits” as a recommended topic for content creation. Also featured are “Herman Miller Chair,'' “Fairy Grange Room Ideas,'' and “Strawberry Muffins.'' If you switch to the more general Trends tab and filter to the “Tourism” category, TikTok lists things like “Grand Oasis Cancun,” “Most Things to Do,” and “Backpacking Essentials.”
One way to read this is as a case of TikTok incentivizing creators to create videos that meet business needs. If you search for “best vacuum cleaner repair shop in New York” and there are no relevant videos the platform can provide, that’s a problem for TikTok. You'll probably quit the app and search on Google Maps or Yelp.
This explicit emphasis on content related to search queries shows that the platform is thinking more seriously about itself as a search engine. An Adobe report in January found that 2 in 5 people in the U.S. use TikTok for that purpose, and 1 in 10 Gen Z users are more likely to use TikTok than Google. found. Google executives have warned that search could lose out to TikTok.
In addition to search value, our improved creator monetization program uses originality, watch time, and audience engagement to determine how much creators earn. The program replaced his original $1 billion Creator Fund with a new focus on videos longer than a minute.
