TikTok to share 50% of its ad revenue with creators, but there is a catch

The growing popularity of short-form video content has arguably benefited TikTok the most, so much so that it beat Google to become the most popular website in 2021. And according to recent statistics, TikTok's ad revenue for 2022 will be more than Snapchat and Twitter combined. The video-focused social networking service will now share a 50 percent cut of its ad revenue with top creators on the platform.

In a blog post, the ByteDance-owned company has talked in detail about a new program called TikTok Pulse, which allows ads to run alongside “the top 4% of all videos on TikTok.” This effectively means that not every TikTok creator can benefit from the company's new revenue-sharing model. As per the blog post, creators with 100,000 followers are eligible to get a cut from the company's ad revenue when ads get displayed in their videos.

TikTok's new ad revenue-sharing model is very similar to that of YouTube's Partner Program, under which the revenue is split between YouTube and the creator in a ratio of 45:55. So technically speaking, YouTube is still a more attractive platform for creators when it comes to making money. But TikTok is slowly becoming a real threat to YouTube. The video-focused social media platform recently allowed creators to post longer-form content with up to 10-minute videos.

Before the launch of TikTok Pulse, the only way creators got paid by the company was by what's known as the “Creator Fund.” The payouts would depend on the popularity of the content.

Source: TikTok; via The Verge