How TikTok will add direct-to-creator payments to its highly successful business model is a bit of a head-scratcher. The app’s major advantage over competitors is its uncanny algorithm that surfaces content to users’ For You pages. It’s a way for creators to reach users and ideally turn them into subscribers. But if creators are holding their best content for subscribers, that content is probably not available to fuel the algorithm, which in turn could reduce engagement, since, in theory, it’s not being surfaced to non-subscribers.
This is not a problem unique to TikTok, of course; all digital platforms trying to help content creators and influencers monetize their content are trying to balance engagement vs. letting creators monetize directly. And the creators themselves have to be able to predict what content subscribers will be willing to pay for, and what content will help them best promote their own work.
TikTok’s test of paid subscribers follows Instagram’s announcement that it, too, is launching a test of paid subscriptions with a small number of creators and influencers. Subscribers will pay a monthly fee to access exclusive content from creators they follow, including Stories and Live videos.
