TikTok announces and launches the “Creativity Program”

TikTok continues to explore more ways to share revenue with creators, this time through a new ‘Creativity Program’, which will launch in beta with select creators to start. While all other eligible creators must wait.  

It was announced on February 20 and the company says the program is designed to generate more revenue and unlock more opportunities for creators. 

Creators Fund 

This new program has been developed based on feedback from creators about their current earning opportunities, including its Creators Fund. At this time with the fund, which rewards creators for popular videos, it launched in 2020 with a commitment of $1 billion over three years. 

Its model has been criticized by creators who have complained about low payouts, now TikTok is acknowledging these concerns with the launch of the new program. According to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson TikTok has reworked its formula to offer a higher average gross revenue for qualified video views with the new program. 

Creativity Program 

Since the program is still in the preliminary stages, TikTok declined to disclose details about the amount of money it has allocated for the program.  The company also did not give specifics on how many followers or views creators need to qualify for the program. TikTok, however, noted that users must be over the age of 18 and have an account in good standing to be eligible for the program.  

The metrics 

Although TikTok did not state the metrics needed to participate, an earlier report from The Information indicated that the minimum requirement is 100,000 followers. If this is the actual criteria, this is a significant jump from the current Creator Fund’s 10,000 follower requirement. 

Unlike the current Creators Fund, the TikTok Creativity Program aims to reward creators for posting longer videos, and therefore only content longer than one minute will be eligible for funding.  

For context, TikTok’s current Creator Fund does not require videos to be longer than one minute to qualify for a payout. But last year, the app extended the maximum length of videos from three to ten minutes. TikTok’s bid for longer content is not surprising, given that the company has been moving further and further into YouTube territory. 

What does it offer creators? 

The program also presents creators with access to an updated dashboard with more information on estimated revenue, video performance metrics, and video analytics and eligibility requirements. 

On the other hand, those creators who are already enrolled in the Creator Fund can switch to the Creativity Program, and those who are not can apply for enrollment in the new program once it becomes available. Once enrolled in the new program, creators will not be able to return to the Creator Fund. 

The new program expands TikTok’s existing revenue opportunities for creators, as its main competitors are also ramping up their offerings. For example, last month, YouTube began sharing advertising revenue with short film creators. Prior to this, no short video platform had found a way to share ad revenue. 

Ideas for retaining talent 

With the new program, TikTok is showing that it is focused on retaining the talent of its creators, as the company says it is committed to finding new ways to reward creators. 

On the other hand, TikTok is still working on other ways to appease creators. The Information reported that since the beginning of February the app has been developing a paid video feature that would allow creators to charge users $1, or another amount of their choosing, to access a video. The idea of exclusive content for paid users is not a new concept, as Instagram allows creators to share subscriber-only content. If launched, the feature would allow TikTok to better reward creators, who are the driving factor behind the app, as their viral videos have been vital to the app’s growth and popularity.