The rise of TikTok in Western countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and much of Western Europe has been nothing short of astounding -some might even call it a miracle. It took YouTube more than a decade to build its enormous user base – TikTok has managed it in just a couple of years. How is this possible?
According to TikTok, it’s all about their top-secret algorithm – spend just a couple of hours browsing the site and it will work out your likes, dislikes, interests, and all the other factors necessary to determine which videos to show you, and which you wouldn’t have any interest in. A survey conducted by a major British newspaper revealed that this is almost certainly true – even the writer of the piece admitted that it took almost no time at all for the site to work out which videos he would like to watch.
Making Money on TikTok
It should be noted that TikTok already operated a “Creator Fund”. Members who are at least 18 years old with 10,000 followers, over 100,000 views per month, and a minimum posting rate of at least three videos per month are eligible for the program, but creators who are only just meeting those requirements cannot expect to earn any kind of reasonable wage.
TikTok is a very different platform to YouTube – videos are limited to a maximum length of one minute, and creators will often use free stock video as a backdrop whilst talking, singing, dancing, or simply doing strange things that many of us struggle to understand. If you have millions of followers and tens of millions of views, you might have a chance of earning decent money, but building that sort of support base is extremely difficult, and there remains just a handful of top-tier creators on the platform who are pocketing 99% of the money from the Creator Fund.
Alternative Methods
TikTok recommends that creators work with musicians to promote their songs, use their Ads Manager tool to promote merchandise, or even become a consultant and help other creators to build an audience… This sounds like a strange suggestion for people who are still trying to amass their own following, but alas, these are TikTok’s own suggestions.
Until now, the main way for creators to make any kind of serious money from TikTok has been to offer virtual gifts and tips. This is a strategy that is hugely popular in Asia, but it is relatively new over here in the West. There are more than a few moral questions to be asked when talking about offering to do certain things in return for money, especially when we are talking about female creators, so it really is high time that TikTok began to offer a better way for these hard-working individuals to share in TikTok’s success. This is what the new revenue sharing arrangement is all about.
How Will the New Revenue Sharing Deal Work?
TikTok has published a lengthy document explaining the mechanics of this new setup, and the truth is, things don’t look good for creators – the company is doing this to lure advertisers to the platform by enabling them to get their products shown by the top 4% of TikTok creators. In this way, the new system isn’t much different to the old one – the most popular people will benefit the most, and this could potentially even have a negative effect on those who are still struggling to establish themselves on the platform.
There are positive aspects to the arrangement too, of course – whilst it is only the top 4% who will be promoting products directly, every creator with a fanbase of 100,000 subscribers or more will be eligible for a share of advertising revenue for the first time. In effect, any creator who has been earning $150 each month could see this rise by as much as 50-100%. The revenue split has been set at 50/50, which is much more generous than any other platform I can think of, and that is something which the company absolutely deserves to be commended for.
How will the Revenue Sharing Deal Change TikTok?
After the program has launched, creators are likely to begin sharing information regarding their earnings received from the revenue sharing deal. If the amount of money turns out to be significant, this could potentially lead to a massive influx of new users joining the platform. It doesn’t take long to make three one-minute videos each month, after all, and if it can earn you a few hundred dollars then who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
There is a danger that the platform will become saturated with low quality content posted for no reason other than collecting advertising revenue, however this is unlikely to become a problem for TikTok – the staff at this company are amazingly adept at rooting out bad content, banning shovelware creators, and generally ensuring that TikTok remains the place to be for those who want to know this week’s dankest memes!
