TikTok ushered in a new generation of digital stars. But for many creators, it can be difficult to make money from TikTok alone.
Unlike YouTube, which has a well-established ads program where it shares a percentage of ad revenue with qualifying users, TikTok has only recently begun experimenting with splitting dollars with some of its influencers.
The company has several built-in monetisation tools like virtual "gifts," as well as a Creator Fund to pay users with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in a 30-day period for their videos. The company has also recently begun trialing a subscriber program for some of its live streamers.
How much TikTokers make from the Creator Fund and other in-app monetisation features
While Creator Fund payments aren't calculated based on just views, the effective payouts for videos have amounted to a few pennies for every one thousand video plays, some TikTokers told Insider. Top TikTok creators like Hank Green and MrBeast have spoken out about the low payouts, with Green revealing in a January YouTube video that he was paid what amounted to between $0.02 (37 cents) and $0.03 (55 cents) for every one thousand views on TikTok.
Personal finance influencer Preston Seo, who now has 2.3 million TikTok followers, earned a total of about $1,664 (R30,553) from the Creator Fund between January 2021 to May 2021, according to documentation he shared with Insider. His TikTok account earns between $9 (R165) to $38 (R698) a day on average. Other creators who shared their fund earnings with Insider reported similar daily payouts.
The Creator Fund isn't the only in-app monetisation tool for TikTok creators.
Some TikTokers also make money by receiving virtual "gifts" during livestreams, which can be converted into cash. ASMR content creator Lucy Davis told Insider she earns between $20 (R367)and $300 (R5,508) each time she goes live, for example. (The company recently began testing its gifts feature in other parts of the app.)
Jakey Boehm, an Australian creator who live streams on TikTok while he sleeps, earned $34,000 (R624,290) from TikTok Live in a single month.
"It's seriously life-changing money," he told Insider. "The first week I made about $5,000 (R91,807) dollars, and that's where I thought 'This is big, I can do something really crazy here.'"
How TikTok creators make money from brand sponsorships
Because Creator Fund payments don't pay the bills on their own, many influencers turn to brand deals to earn money from TikTok. Rates for a sponsored post can vary widely depending on a creator's follower count and content niche.
Seo, for example, said he charged about $600 (R11,017) per sponsored post on TikTok.
Symphony Clarke, an Atlanta-based TikTok creator with about 200,000 fans, told Insider that she charged between $350 (R6,426)) and $600 (R11,017) for a sponsored post.
Alex Ojeda, who has around 8 million TikTok followers, has a starting rate of $20,000 (R367,229) for a sponsored video on the app.
Other TikTok influencers earn money by making content for companies to use on a brand's own TikTok account. Fitness creator Salha Aziz, for instance, charges hundreds of dollars to create UGC content for brands to use in marketing campaigns.
How TikTok creators make money from song promotions
One of the most popular ways to earn money as a TikToker is by promoting songs in videos. Music marketers and record labels regularly pay TikTok users to post on the app in an attempt to make a new track go viral.
TikTok creator trio Nicole, Natalie, and Nika Taylor, who have over 11 million followers on the app, told Insider they charge $750 to promote a song in a single video, $1,400 (R25,706) for two videos, and $2,000 (R36,723) for three videos.
For micro influencers with fewer followers, rates are more variable, but can fall anywhere from $20 (R367) to $150 (R2,754), said Austin Georgas, a former senior account manager focused on music marketing at the Gen-Z media company Flighthouse.
