With the launch of YouTube’s monetised short form content programme, TikTok in comparison is receiving complaints from creators that its creator fund and other monetization programs haven’t earned them as much as other platforms.
On March 7, TikTok announced a new program called Series that allows creators to charge followers to watch longer videos that can be up to 20 minutes long. Creators can house collections of up to 80 videos behind these new paywalls — and keep all the revenue they generate after fees.
The feature isn’t available to all TikTokers yet. The company is test-driving it with select creators, and said applications to join will open up in the next few months.
“I anticipate many creators, across niches, will experiment with the new Series feature,” said Ryan Detert, CEO of the influencer-marketing company Influential. “Some creators with a highly engaged audience will monetize significantly, the long-tail micro creators will probably not see anything significant that supplements their income.”
What’s arguably most interesting for creators is that TikTok has said that creators will be able to keep all of the revenue they make from Series, after processing and app store fees.
TikTokers can also choose their own rates for the exclusive content. The company said prices can range from $1 to $190 per series. This is similar to Patreon and OnlyFans models.
There are certain pieces of content that creators would only reserve for top fans, for example such as dating life information or behind the scenes content. Series could also be used to create long-form tutorials or in-depth guides about creators making designs, editing videos, producing songs etc.
Fabio Pena, who has 20,400 followers on TikTok, said he likes that people can view and engage with his content regardless of their income, and that adding paywalled content would greatly impact that. “Charging followers would just hurt my brand equity,” he said. Despite this concern, creators including Pena said this update could still revolutionise creators’ earnings and content offerings.
