TikTok addresses low-pay complaints with creator fund

TikTok has launched a creator pay program, acknowledging concerns about low payouts from the platform’s Creator Fund.

Announced in a Monday blog post, TikTok is beta-testing the Creativity Program in the U.S., France and Brazil with plans to hit other regions soon. Creators at least 18 years old with undisclosed minimum follower and viewership requirements can participate in the invite-only program, which TikTok said will open up to all eligible U.S. creators in the coming months.

The Information reported that the minimum follower count is 100,000, which would be a sizable increase from the Creator Fund’s 10,000-follower requirement.

“We developed the Creativity Program based on learnings and feedback from our creators on our creator solutions, including the TikTok Creator Fund,” the company wrote in its post, adding that the program will “generate higher revenue potential.”

Creators have often criticized low payouts, which sometimes run as low as three figures for tens of millions of views.

TikTok launched the Creator Fund, which is a pool of $1 billion to be paid out over three years, in 2020. The social platform didn’t provide details about how creator pay will improve through the Creativity Program and didn’t say if it will replace the Creator Fund.

Company spokesperson Zachary Kizer told The Verge that the Creativity Program doesn’t rely on ad revenue sharing and it will calculate payments based on RPM, which is the estimated amount creators earn per 1,000 views.

TikTok has been quiet with information about how creator funds are calculated, stating that payouts depend on factors including views, engagement and alignment with the platform’s community guidelines. 

Those already enrolled in the Creator Fund can switch to the Creativity Program, TikTok wrote in its blog post. There, they’ll “have access to an updated dashboard to view video eligibility, estimated revenue and video performance metrics and analytics.”

The Creativity Program sits alongside ad-revenue sharing program TikTok Pulse, which offers a 50/50 split to creators at least 18 years of age or older with a minimum of 100,000 followers who have posted at least five videos within the last 30 days. YouTube launched its own ad-revenue sharing program on February 1, which pools and splits 45% of creators’ monthly Shorts revenues across the group. Meanwhile, Meta promised to spend $1 billion on creators by the end of 2022.

Despite leading short-form video content ahead of YouTube and Meta, TikTok is reserving the Creativity Program for creators who make videos at least one minute long. It’s made previous investments in long videos as well. One year ago, TikTok expanded its maximum video length to 10 minutes. In December, it experimented with full-screen video to attract creators more familiar with YouTube’s longform style.

Last week, The Information also reported that TikTok is developing a paywall that creators can use to charge users for viewing their content.