TikTok has launched a new program in the United States called the Creativity Program to help content creators increase their earning potential and gain access to more real-world opportunities. The new initiative, which builds on earlier efforts such as the Creator Fund, aims to provide users with additional revenue streams and more transparency in the payment process. TikTok stated in a blog post that it incorporated feedback from previous programs when designing the Creativity Program.
Although specifics on the Creativity Program are limited at present, the program will begin as invite-only, with access opening to all qualified creators in the United States in the upcoming months. Eligible creators must be at least 18 years old, have a certain minimum number of followers and video views, and have a profile that meets the platform’s guidelines. While the number of followers required to participate has yet to be disclosed, a previous report suggested that the threshold is 100,000 followers, a significant increase from the 10,000 required for the Creator Fund.
To earn through the Creativity Program, creators must post high-quality, original content that is longer than one minute. TikTok has updated the dashboard to track video eligibility, and creators will be able to view their estimated revenue alongside their video performance data.
TikTok has been criticized by some creators, who claim to have received a paltry payout despite receiving millions of views. In 2020, the company launched the Creator Fund, which had an initial budget of $200 million. Later, it pledged to support hundreds of thousands of creators with over $2 billion in funding over the next three years. Although TikTok has not confirmed how much it intends to pay out via the Creativity Program, it has confirmed that it will provide a “higher average gross revenue for qualified video views” under a new formula.
After testing the Creativity Program in France and Brazil over the past few months, TikTok is now rolling out the program in the US. According to reports, the company has additional monetization plans in the works, such as a paywall feature for videos. YouTube, on the other hand, recently began sharing ad revenue with Shorts creators, and TikTok’s Creativity Program comes as a response to the growing demand for monetization solutions for creators on social media platforms.
