One of the reasons for TikTok’s popularity is the array of content creators on the app. On your ‘For you’ page, you will find creators of all ages and various professions posting content. Making videos on TikTok can be a source of income for creators. In this article, we break down the ways to make money on TikTok.
Anyone that has been on the app for a long time will know TikTok has a history of rewarding creators not so much for their popularity or content but for how long they stay on the app. The kind of content rewarded are long videos that explain a process, method or tutorial, or content that directly links the viewer to a purchasing page.
All creators, new or old, need a plan to earn money. Here we will tell you the plans TikTok has in place, the rules creators’ need to follow to be rewarded, how to land deals, and the kind of earnings you can expect.
Universal Baseline Rules
TikTok’s monetization features generously provide opportunities for creators to earn revenue. However, there are rules that must be followed regardless of follower count.
Age
Creators must be at least 18 years old (19 years old in South Korea).
Account Health
Creators must not have any recent or repeated violations of the Community Guidelines.
Account Type
For features that allow TikTok to reward creators based on view counts, such as the Creator Rewards program and Video Gifts, the account type must be a Personal (Creator) Account.
Follower Tiers and Monetization
Monetization Features
0 Followers
User-generated content, external affiliate links, digital product sales
Link-in-bio and user-generated content require a business account until 1,000 followers, and a strong video content portfolio.
1,000 Followers
TikTok Shop Affiliate (starter)
TikTok LIVE
Account age and verification for TikTok Shop
5,000 Followers
Brand Deals
Full TikTok Shop Affiliate
10,000 Followers
Video Gifts
TikTok Series
Subscriptions
TikTok One (Brand Marketplace)
Creator Rewards
100,000 authentic views in the last 30 days
100,000 Followers
TikTok Pulse (Premium Ad Revenue Share)
To see your current eligibility status, click the Profile tab, then select the three lines, then TikTok Studio. Next, select the Monetization tab. Here you will see available programs and next steps on how to apply.
TikTok Creator Rewards
The TikTok Creator Fund is no longer available. If you read a recent article directing you to the fund, the article is outdated. The fund was replaced by the Creator Rewards Program (previously the Creativity Program Beta). The rewards program is better, but the fund is still ad revenue sharing. Keep in mind, the program is ruled heavily in TikTok’s favor, and your payout will vary.
Additional Requirements
If you wish to join the Creator Rewards Program, you must meet the following requirements:
You are at least 18 years of age.
You reside in a qualifying country and region (see above).
You have at least 10,000 real followers.
You have at least 100,000 valid views in the last 30 days.
You post videos from a personal account.
The Program and “Qualified Views”
In order to meet the requirements to participate in the program, you must post a minimum of 1 video. Not all videos published will be eligible for monetization, and not all views will be considered program views. The reason for this is TikTok is selective in rewarding payouts.
First, to monetize your videos, they need to be at least 60 seconds long, and you can’t monetize clips from longer videos. Duets, Stitches, photo carousels, lip-sync videos, and videos without original content will not be monetized.
Second, TikTok only pays you for certain views called “Qualified Views.” Videos have to be viewed by a user who found it on the “For You” page, and the user must view the video for at least 5 seconds. Other views, such as from paid promotions or from bots, will not earn you money. Additionally, a video will not earn money unless it has at least 1,000 qualified views. Generally, only 40-60% of a video’s total views will be considered qualified views.
Calculating Your Revenue
Revenue for TikTok is calculated in several ways. For monetized videos, the payout rate for TikTok is measured in RPM (Revenue Per Mille) which is how much a user earns for every 1,000 qualified views. Previously, the Creator Fund paid users in pennies. Now, the average expected RPM is between $0.40 and $1.20. Some niches, like tech and business, earn between $1.50 and $2.20.
TikTok has four main pillars for each user’s video RPM. These are Originality and Quality, Reach and Resonance, and Impact and Innovation. Automated or reproduced media will cause your RPM to drop or remove you from the program.
Play Duration:
According to TikTok, the kind of views that count are the ones where the audience finished watching your video (completion rate) as well as the total video watching time. A shorter video can earn higher RPM than a longer video, even if most viewers scrolled away from the shorter video. For instance, a 90-second video that has 45% completion rate will earn more than a 61-second video where viewers scrolled away at the 6-second mark.
Search Value:
TikTok is a visual search engine, and the best content creators thrive using this aspect of the platform. Creating content and answering the most popular searches, and including those search terms in your content, leads to an increase in RPM.
Audience Engagement & Geography:
The location of your audience also plays a large role. Audience content engagement in the form of comments, shares, or saves shows quality content, and audience location in the US, UK, or Australia, also increases RPM. Areas with a less developed marketing economy can lead to lower RPM.
How to Land High-Paying Brand Deals on TikTok
While Brand Partnerships is better for long term, sustainable income, brand deals (sponsored content) are better for achieving long term financial security and peace of mind. Brand deals out outperform creator rewards by far and are better for achieving long term financial stability.
How Much Do Brands Pay Creators?
It’s a common misconception that creating content and partnering with brands to do sponsored content is only for large or mega creators. Marketers and brands prefer to work with small to midrange influencers because their followers trust their endorsements more than celebrities.
The pricing structure for sponsored TikTok videos looks like this.
Nano Creators (1,000-10,000 followers): $100-400
Micro Creators (10,000-50,000 followers): $400-1,200
Mid Tier Creators (50,000-250,000 followers): $1,200-3,500
Macro Creators (250,000-1,000,000 followers): $3,500-10,000+
There is also a pricing rule that states sponsors will pay the average CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of your TikTok videos. The average is calculated over the last 30 days. Let’s say your videos average 50,000 views. Even if you only have 15,000 followers, you could potentially charge $1,000 to $1,500.
Inbound vs Outbound
You can apply to the TikTok Creator Marketplace when you reach 10,000 followers. This allows TikTok Brand Partners to invite you to collaborate through the app.
While waiting for Collaborations to come your way, put a work email in your bio, and write ‘business inquiries only’ to attract brand managers.
Direct Pitch Brands:
Locate businesses similar to your own that are thriving and relatively smaller in size. Send an email with 3 sentences to the marketing or pr director. The email should state the name of your channel, propose a video idea that clearly solves a customer problem and showcase your channel’s analytics to give an idea of your audience.
Hidden Fees Every Creator Should Know About
There are standard fees for various forms of sponsorship, but companies try to slip in extra charges by calling them different things. For example, a company may offer $500 for a sponsorship and a video, meaning they are paying for your time and effort to create the video and the company sponsorship post. However, the company may expect other things as well. Here are a few things you should also charge for.
Spark Ads (+30% to +50% per month):
Companies may want to do paid advertising (Spark Ads on TikTok) with your video, in which case they should pay you for the extra advertising rights.
Exclusivity (+20% to +50%):
If a company doesn’t want you to work with a competitor for a specific time frame, you are losing income for that time, and they should pay for that.
Link in Bio (+10% to +15%):
For a 7 day time frame, you should also charge for the company to have your bio link.
No Follower UGC
A simple way to get around the follower barrier for sponsorship, is to be a UGC (User-Generated Content) Creator. Basically, companies can compensate you for sponsored content if you have a following, but for UGC you don’t really need a following. You can tag the company when you post the video, and they can also repost it. You can also do a giveaway and have the company send the prize to the winner.
Currently, UGC (user-generated content) has you hired as a freelance videographer, where you create videos to submit to a company, and sometimes act as on-camera talent. Submissions may include product reviews, demonstrations, and/or unboxing videos. However, the videos are submitted to the company as an unreleased file. Company-sponsored content is then posted to the company’s account, or used in advertisements. Because follower count is not considered important in this process, beginners (mostly ages 13-20) charge 150-350 per video, film a few product videos in their home, post the videos online, and reach out to businesses to pitch sponsored content.
See more Monetization Strategies:
As the saying goes, if you have just one stream of income, it’s like having no streams of income. The views for your videos can drastically reduce overnight because of changes to the algorithm. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, so you should use these monetization strategies in addition to videos.
1. TikTok Shop Affiliate Program
For users between the ages of 13-20, the TikTok Shop program may be the most profitable program on the app, especially for users with less than 50,000 followers. Once you have 1,000 followers (5,000 for some regions) you may be given access to the TikTok Shop, where you may select products to promote as an affiliate. You must be 18 to participate.
When someone clicks your affiliate link and buys the product, you make a commission between 5-25%. Now let’s say you make a video showcasing a product where you would earn a 15% commission, which is around $9 per sale. Let’s say your video gets 40,000 views and has a 0.5% conversion rate. That means 200 people bought the product. Since you made 1 video, you would earn $1,800 from that one video, even if you are not in the Creator Reward program.
2. TikTok LIVE Gifts and Subscriptions
TikTok gives you access to LIVE features when you reach 1,000 followers. Hosting a live event allows your viewers to send you virtual gifts. Using your account settings, you can cash out your virtual gifts and choose between PayPal or Bank transfer. Keep in mind, TikTok keeps 50% of your total earnings.
You can make between $50-300 for every 2 hour show if you entertain your audience with music or games, and using your charisma and/or knowledge to answer viewer’s questions. If you gain 10,000 followers, you are given the ability to sell subscriptions for your live events for between $2.99-4.99 a month.
3. TikTok Series (Paywalled Content)
If you are able to break down a skill into steps and teach it, TikTok Series gives you the opportunity to earn commissions for selling online courses. You can create up to 80 videos, each 20 minutes long, and offer it as a bundle. You get to control the price and TikTok takes 1-20% of the price you set, based on your location. You can post your videos for free, and include a link to your paid course in your bio, allowing you to instantly have a platform to sell your online courses.
4. Digital Products & Off-Platform Funnels
You won’t get very far with TikTok monetization. If you’re fortunate enough to gain TikTok’s approval for a Creator Fund payment, they keep 20%. If you steer viewers to your bio to purchase a $19 eBook, Notion template or budgeting template, or if you sell a spot on your coaching call, you get to keep 90-97% of the sale, and you get the viewer’s email address.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much does TikTok pay for 1,000 views?
TikTok’s Creator Fund pays between $0.40 and $1.20 for every 1,000 “qualified” views on your content. Some educational or high ticket niches like finance or software can earn between $2.00 and more. Qualified views are from videos 60 seconds or longer and 5 seconds or more in duration.
Can you make money on TikTok with less than 10,000 followers?
Of course! You can make money with 1,000 followers or less on TikTok through their affiliate program (TikTok Shop) or LIVE Gifts. You can also make money with no followers through user generated content. You can also drive traffic to affiliate links or other digital products.
Do videos under 1 minute get paid on TikTok?
According to TikTok’s terms, you won’t receive any money from ads that get placed on videos that are 59 seconds or less. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make money from short videos. You can receive sponsorships or make commissions from products purchased through your video if it contains a TikTok shop link.
What kind of account should I use to make money? Business or Personal?
You should use a Personal account to make money. The reason being, you won’t be able to make money or receive video rewards and you won’t be able to use popular songs in your videos if you have a Business account.
How and when does TikTok pay?
To receive rewards, users must be 16 years or older and have a minimum of 1000 followers, a successful video in the reward program, and a linked account to cash out. When rewarded, users have the option to cash out through PayPal or Rewards Dollar to shop at a partnered store.
Creator Rewards payments are processed at the end of each month. Payments are made on November 15th for earnings in October, for example. Payment requests are processed only if the minimum balance is reached (typically between $10 – $50). Funds are sent via PayPal or direct deposit to your bank account.
Conclusion
Although people used to think the best way to make money on TikTok was to post a viral video, the TikTok algorithm has evolved. Now, creators need to post content that engages an audience beyond 1 video. The best way to do this is to post content that is relevant to your audience and to create video that are long enough to provide sufficient information. Although the Creator Rewards program may incentivize you to reach 10,000 followers, this isn’t a bad long-term goal. In the meantime, it’s in your best interest to practice creating videos to reach your first 1,000 followers. Don’t forget to maintain your audience’s attention with your first video. After you reach your first big goal of 1,000 followers, feel free to set a new goal and consider using other forms of monetization like TikTok Shop.