How much money TikTokers make, according to top creators

Dan WhateleyJan 4, 2024, 03:39 IST

Business Insider

Symphony Clarke

TikTok has created a new generation of digital stars who have built massive audiences on the app.
But many creators are still figuring out how to use TikTok to make money.

TikTok ushered in a new wave 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 that shares a percentage of ad revenue for longer videos with qualifying creators, TikTok has only recently begun experimenting with splitting ad dollars with some influencers.

Outside of ad-revenue sharing, TikTok has several built-in monetization tools like virtual "gifts," as well as a Creativity Program fund that rewards creators for posting longer content. It also launched a $6 million fund for augmented-reality effect creators in the middle of 2023.

Read more about how much seven TikTok influencers earned from the Creativity Program

It previously operated a Creator Fund for users that met certain follower and view count criteria, but sunsetted the program in December.

Despite its early tests in ad-revenue sharing and a slew of different payment programs, many TikTok creators still rely on brand deals for the bulk of their earnings.

Alex Ojeda, a waterpark creator who has around 8.4 million followers on TikTok, told Business Insider in 2022 that his rate for a single sponsored video on the app was $20,000.

Read more about how Ojeda is using TikTok to make money and build a career in the waterpark industry

How much TikTokers make from its ad-revenue sharing program, Pulse

TikTok shares some ad revenue with creators through a contextual-advertising program called Pulse.

In May 2022, the company announced brands could buy ads alongside "the top 4%" of content in different categories like cooking, beauty, and fashion. It said it would split 50% of the revenue with the creator whose video appeared before the in-feed ad. Only creators with at least 100,000 followers qualify for the program.

Early payments from TikTok Pulse were disappointing, creators told BI in 2022.

Eight influencers who shared their monthly payouts, view counts, and revenue for every 1,000 video views (RPM) from Pulse earned between a few pennies and $17 in their first two monthly payments. The creators had between a few hundred thousand and a few million followers; Several make content around gaming, while others film lifestyle videos.

Read more about how much TikTokers are earning from Pulse as the app starts to share ad revenue

TikTok is testing new funds to pay longer-form and AR creators

In 2023, the company introduced two other fund-based programs designed to encourage specific types of content creation.

The first, its Creativity Program meant to reward creators that post videos longer than one minute, is restricted to users that have at least 10,000 followers and have achieved 100,000 video views in the past 30 days.

Unlike the sunsetted Creator Fund or Pulse, early participants in the Creativity Program have scored huge paydays since its rollout, with some garnering five-figure earnings in a single month.

"The money we've been earning has been life-changing, and we just really hope it continues," said lifestyle creator Hunter Cordle.

Read more about how the Creativity Program is helping some creators earn tens of thousands of dollars

TikTok's Effect Creator Rewards program, announced in May, offers augmented-reality creators payment for effects that appear in at least 500,000 videos. At launch, the $6 million fund was only available to users who were at least 18 years old and based in the US, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. The company later expanded the program in October to make it available in more regions and to a wider group of creators by lower the threshold for payment to effects that appear in at least 200,000 videos.

The TikTok Shop affiliate program

As part of its e-commerce platform, Shop, TikTok offers an affiliate program where creators can earn a commission for sales they help drive by tagging products in videos or livestreams. Influencers can also package products from various sellers into a dedicated catalog on their profiles for their followers to browse.

Creators told BI that TikTok Shop commissions have meaningfully contributed to their earnings.

Jeneen Sahtout, who posts beauty and shopping videos to around 751,000 TikTok fans, earned a little under $6,000 in commissions in April 2023 after driving around $40,000 in product sales, according to her talent manager Shawn Jacobson. BI viewed documentation to verify her earnings.

Read more about how much creators are making from TikTok Shop's affiliate program

Other built-in TikTok monetization features

Some TikTokers also make money by receiving virtual "gifts" during livestreams or in other parts of the app, which can be converted into cash. ASMR content creator Lucy Davis told BI she earns between $20 and $300 each time she goes live, for example.

Jakey Boehm, an Australian creator who livestreams on TikTok while he sleeps, earned $34,000 from TikTok Live in a single month.

"It's seriously life-changing money," he told BI. "The first week I made about $5,000 dollars, and that's where I thought 'This is big, I can do something really crazy here.'"

Read more about how creators are making money from TikTok's built-in monetization features:

How TikTok creators make money from brand sponsorships

Because built-in TikTok monetization features don't always cover a creator's bills, many influencers turn to brand deals to earn money from their TikTok content. Rates for a sponsored post can vary widely depending on a creator's follower count and content niche.

Colin Rocker, a TikToker who posts videos offering career advice, told BI in 2023 that he charges between $400 and $600 per sponsored post.

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.

Here's how much creators are earning from brand deals:

How TikTok creators make money from song promotions

Another popular way 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 around 12.8 million followers on the app, told BI in 2021 they charge $750 to promote a song in a single video, $1,400 for two videos, and $2,000 for three videos.

Read more about how much TikTok creators get paid to promote songs on the app

Music producers can also make money on TikTok by creating sped-up, slowed-down, or remixed versions of tracks for artists and record labels.

Read more about how much creators get paid to promote new tracks on TikTok:

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