Right now, it seems like a rule of thumb that platforms that display ads should be giving their creators a cut of the pie. However, TikTok was paying its creators another way. Rather than sharing ad revenue, the company was paying creators using a large creator fund.
But, TikTok could give its creators a piece of the ad revenue
Right now, this is just speculation, as the company didn’t say outright that it was giving people ad revenue. The company merely said that it’s “exploring” it. So, board members are having meetings and votes about the whole matter right now. For all we know, creators might not see a dime of ad revenue. Just like with YouTube, you’ll need to reach a certain level of followers on the platform in order to receive money for your videos. In the initial stage, you’ll be eligible for ad revenue if you have at least 100,000 followers. Not quite an easy feat, but not too bad. If TikTok does start giving its creators ad revenue, then it will split the profits 50/50. That sounds fair, but saying it another way puts it into perspective: TikTok will take 50% off of your ad revenue for itself. In any case, that’s not too different from platforms like YouTube and Instagram; they both take a similar cut. This means that people who are already making it big on TikTok will have yet another avenue to earn cash. Right now, we don’t know when the first TikToker will see the first cent from ad revenue, but if this happens, we can expect creators to start pumping out more content. Whether that’s a good thing or a disaster, it’s going to happen.
