TikTok is revamping its system for paid creators. With its new Creativity Program, which incentivizes users to create videos longer than one minute, the platform estimates that creators can earn more than 20 times what they previously earned on TikTok. This is great news for the most talkative TikTokers, but for other creators, TikTok payments have never been more useful to get started.
Starting December 16, creators in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany will move to TikTok’s Creativity Program, instead of its existing Creator Pool. Despite the confusingly similar names, the two programs are distinct. Under the former $1 billion Creator Fund, eligible creators would receive payments proportional to the number of views their videos got. But the platform quickly surpassed the $1 billion threshold, meaning creators could post a video that got millions of views but get paid enough money to buy a coffee. While $1 billion seems like an unfathomable sum, YouTube, which shares advertising revenue, pays creators. $30 billion in three years.
Given how insignificant the Creator Fund payments are, TikTok pivoted to a new idea: the Creativity Program. The biggest difference between the two strategies is that the Creativity Program only allows users to monetize content longer than one minute.
“It has had a positive impact on my wallet as a neat person,” Amanda Golka, the creator behind Great entertainment, he told TechCrunch. Golka’s main platform is YouTube, where he posts long commentary videos about media and culture. But he has noticed that on TikTok, some creators who gravitate toward short clips have been trying to make their videos longer with mixed results.
“I’m noticing this is creating more filler in stories,” he said, referring to story-style TikToks where people share stories from their lives. He reminds her of a similar phenomenon that took place on YouTube a few years ago: creators realized that YouTube’s algorithm prioritized longer content and, of course, started making longer videos. While some of us will happily watch an hour-long video about “Glee’s most unhinged” moments, not all creators can make the transition to longer videos without sacrificing the ability to keep viewers entertained.
Lindsey Lee Lurgin, CEO of Glassdoor for Influencers FYPM, surveyed their Instagram followers about their reactions to TikTok’s monetization changes. She told TechCrunch that according to her survey, some creators with longer videos reported making ten times more money in the Creativity Program than in the Creator Fund. Others felt jaded about even trying the new program, as they had long ago given up on making money directly on TikTok. Some felt the requirements to join the program were too high: To be eligible, a TikToker must be at least 18 years old and have at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the last 30 days.
Another key point of the Creativity Program is that creators can only monetize videos with royalty-free music. TikTok trends often revolve around copyrighted music, from Olivia Rodrigo’s new album to Kate Bush throwbacks. So this could be limiting for some creators, but TikTok likely does this because the platform makes more money from videos that don’t include licensed music.
“We developed the Creativity Program based on learnings and feedback from the Creator Fund, and we will continue to listen and learn from our community as we explore new features and improve existing ones to further enrich the TikTok experience,” said TikTok spokesperson, Maria Jung. in an email to TechCrunch.
As more creators join the Creativity Program, it will become clearer whether TikTok’s own claims about its opportunities to make more money for creators are true. For better or worse, creators probably won’t see massive negative changes in their TikTok income… but unfortunately, that’s because they haven’t been earning much from the platform as it is.
