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TikTok has released a variety of tools to help creators monetize their brands and followers.
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The company pays users directly through Creator Fund, Creativity Program, and TikTok Pulse.
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Payments and ad revenue shares from the fund range from a few cents to about $8 per 1,000 views.
TikTok can be a powerful platform for creators looking to build an audience. But can its users actually make money?
This question was a top concern for many influencers who started the app. Some people turn to brand trading as a means of making a living. Some are looking outside of TikTok and joining platforms like YouTube and Twitch, which have more mature in-app monetization programs.
TikTok has introduced several features in recent years to try to help creators earn money, such as paying creators out of their own pocket through programs like Creator Fund.
Vi Luong, a TikToker with about 1 million followers on the platform, previously told Insider that one of the app's built-in monetization features is the Creator Fund, which allows users to earn money based on how often and how they post their content. He said he earns between $150 and $300 a month. Well it does.
From brand deals to creator funds, read more about how much TikTokers make a month
Still, TikTok's overall payouts so far pale in comparison to the ad revenue share for long-form videos from competitors like YouTube.
Many of TikTok's features that help creators earn money place the responsibility of paying on external parties, such as marketers and fans.
For example, TikTok rolled out a matching platform for brands and creators in 2019, and tools to streamline influencer marketing in 2021. It also introduces features such as tips, subscriptions, and gifts, allowing users to pay creators with virtual currency that can later be converted into dollars.
Read how much one TikToker made from viewers through livestream gifting features
Social platforms across the industry are experimenting with the best ways to reward short video creators as the short video format booms.
1. Creator Fund and Creativity Program
In 2020, TikTok launched the Creator Fund, pledging to pay out a total of $1 billion to users over three years. The company has not disclosed how much has been paid so far since the initial promise.
The fund is essentially a large sum of money that TikTok will use to pay out some creators with at least 10,000 followers who have racked up 100,000 video views in the past 30 days. TikTok told Insider that it considers factors such as video views, video engagement, and where the video was viewed when determining Creator Fund payouts.
See how much 6 creators made through Creator Fund
TikTok's $1 billion goal is small compared to what YouTube pays out to creators. YouTube's CEO wrote in 2021 that the company paid creators, artists, and media companies $30 billion over three years. Also in 2021, it established a $100 million fund that is expected to run through 2022 specifically for shorts, features like TikTok.
Other platforms like Snapchat pay influencers hundreds of millions of dollars to incentivize the creation of short videos. Instagram previously paid some creators based on the number of views their Reels generated, offering “bonuses” if they reached certain short video playback thresholds, but in early 2023 The initiative was temporarily suspended.
Influencers who have disclosed their Creator Fund payments publicly or through Insider over the past few years have reported earning just a few cents for every 1,000 views their videos receive.
For creators with millions of views on their videos, a lower RPM can still bring in more than $1,000 in total revenue.
Personal finance influencer Preston Seo, who currently has 2.4 million TikTok followers, earned a total of approximately $1,664 from Creator Fund from January 2021 to May 2021, according to documents shared with Insider. . On his TikTok account, he was earning $38 from an average of $9 per day.
Read more about how much Seo makes from affiliate income, sponsorships, and more
Other top creators such as MrBeast and Hank Green report low Creator Fund payouts despite generating huge viewership numbers.
“when [TikTok] Establishing the Creator Fund was a good step forward, but it remains on the weak side of platform monetization,” Eamon Brennan, vice president of creator partnerships at creator agency and management company Collabo, told Insider in 2022. And expanding the actual monetization system of the platform itself will help everyone. ”
Read more about why some influencers criticize TikTok's low pay
When asked about creators' concerns about being paid less, a TikTok spokesperson said in July 2022 that the company would “recognize creators' work and provide valuable feedback to better serve creators' needs.” “We understand how important it is to ask of the creator community.” ” They pointed out other monetization features such as live subscriptions that are available to users.
In early 2023, TikTok began testing a new creator funding option called the Creativity Program. The new program is designed to pay creators a “higher average gross revenue” for videos longer than one minute. Similar to Creator Fund, to participate a user must have at least 10,000 followers and have had 100,000 video views in the past 30 days. A creator can only participate in one of the two programs at a time.
Learn more about how much creators earn through Creator Fund.
2.TikTok Pulse
In May 2022, TikTok announced it would be launching a new contextual advertising product that would allow brands to buy ads alongside the “top 4%” of content in various categories such as fashion, food, and beauty. The company has agreed to split half of the revenue with creators whose videos appear before in-feed ads. Only creators with more than 100,000 followers are eligible to participate in the program.
Read more about how TikTok Pulse compares to other creator ad revenue sharing programs
In May 2023, the company announced that it was also testing a version of the Pulse program for traditional media publishers called Pulse Premiere.
Similar to the Creator Fund, creators told Insider that the initial payments from TikTok Pulse will be significantly smaller.
The eight creators who shared their monthly payments, views, and earnings per 1,000 video plays (RPM) from the 2022 program earned incomes ranging from a few pennies to $17. Each creator has hundreds of thousands of followers. Some created gaming-related content, while others created lifestyle videos.
See how much gaming and lifestyle creators earn with early payouts from the Pulse advertising program
Most creators who shared their payment data with Insider felt that Pulse RPM was in the $7-$8 range, but one creator reported that RPM was closer to $3. Although TikTok Pulse's Creator RPM was competitive compared to other ad revenue solutions such as YouTube's Partner Program for long-form videos, the number of revenue-generating views is relatively low, resulting in fewer than 1,000 views. It was also common.
Betts Waller, a game creator whose TikTok account Forrest Dump has about 380,000 followers, told Insider, “I was so excited to be a part of it, and today I'm six cents richer.”
Despite posting videos that received tens, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of views, Mr. Waller received no Pulse earnings during the pay period from September 30, 2022 to October 30, 2022. The target video views were only 8 times.
Other creators have seen a similar pattern, with their monetized views on Pulse significantly lower than their total video views during the payment period.
A company spokesperson told Insider that even if a user's video is viewed millions of times, a Pulse ad will not appear after each video playback. Due to the nature of TikTok's algorithm, some videos contribute more ad impressions than others.
“We continue to work on improving Pulse to better support creators and advertisers, and we look forward to expanding monetization opportunities,” they said.
YouTube launched a similar ad revenue sharing program for its short video feature in early 2023. Her six creators, who shared their February 2023 payments with Insider, reported that they made hundreds of dollars on videos that received millions of views. This equates to approximately 4 to 5 effective RPMs. cent.
Read more about how YouTube Shorts ad revenue share compares to TikTok Pulse
Learn more about how much creators make from TikTok Pulse.
Read the original article on Business Insider
