TikTok understands that successful, business-savvy creators are only going to stick on its platform if various monetisation options make it worth their while. As such, there are several paths budding TikTok influencers can take to start turning views and followers into pennies and pounds.
Whether you’re hoping to earn a living from paid user-generated content (UGC) or through selling your own products, here’s how to monetise your TikTok channel.
1. TikTok Creativity Program
TikTok’s original Creator Fund was criticised by creators for low payouts. The new Creator Rewards Program (originally the Creativity Program Beta) makes amends with a formula that TikTok says “offers a higher average gross revenue for qualified video views, giving creators the potential to collect higher rewards.”
How are TikTokers paid?
Like the YouTube Partner Program’s ad-revenue-sharing system, the Creativity Program pays out based on the number of views your content receives. Unlike that fixed model, only certain videos qualify and performance metrics create a different revenue per mille (RPM), or 1,000 views, for each one based on its performance.
What should TikTokers post?
In order to be paid, a creator’s content must be filmed, designed, and produced entirely by the creator, which means no Duets, Stitches, sponsored content, lip-syncs, or copyrighted music that plays for over one minute. Videos also must be at least one minute long and be uploaded after joining the Creator Rewards Program. Creators must have 1,000 or more qualified For You feed views (no paid, artificial, or promoted views, and none that watched for less than five seconds or left a dislike) and adhere to TikTok’s Community Guidelines, terms of service, and copyright policy.
Factors that impact each video’s RPM include watch times, finish rates, how much search traffic your content generates, likes, comments, shares, saves, and the location of the TikToker and their viewers. US and UK audiences reportedly generate five to 15 times higher payouts than those in developing markets, and creator reports show the same content yielding $1 (£0.76) RPMs from US viewers and $0.13 (£0.09) from those in Southeast Asia.
TikTok also advises creators to produce videos that are well crafted, engaging, and specialised to a certain theme or area of expertise.
How can you join?
Creators who want to earn money on TikTok must meet the following criteria:
- Be based in an eligible country, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, or Brazil
- Have no history of repeatedly or irresponsibly violating Community Guidelines or terms of service
- Have a personal account
- Use their real name and date of birth
- Be at least 18 years old (or 19 in South Korea)
- Have 10,000 or more followers
- Have at least 100,000 video views in the past 30 days
How much can you make?
E-commerce platform Fourthwall estimates that creators can earn between $4 (about £3) and $8 (about £6) per 1,000 views, making it a lucrative revenue stream for eligible creators.
Tom Birchy (546,000 followers) reported earning around £7,000 from 50 million total views in one month, while Mia McGrath (290,000 followers) made £155 from a single video with over 350,000 views.
2. TikTok Series
Post a group of premium videos that viewers can pay to access. You can post as many as 80 videos up to 20 minutes long and select a price ranging from $0.99 (£0.75) to $189.99 (about £144).
To be eligible, creators must have 10,000 or more followers, be 18 or over, have an account at least 30 days old, have a public personal account, have at least three public posts in the past 30 days, reach at least 1,000 views in the past 30 days, have no repeat violations of Community Guidelines, and provide a link to any premium content sold.
3. Subscriptions
Give followers who deeply engage with your content the option to pay for a subscription to your community in exchange for exclusive benefits, such as:
- Subscriber-only videos (excluding Duets, Stitches, sticker creations, or copyright sounds)
- Subscriber badges next to their comments
- Up to 35 personalised stickers to use in DMs and group chats
- Customisable perks, such as voting on upcoming topics or allowing fans to collaborate with you
The default price is set to $5.99 (£4.55), but options range from $2.99 (£2.27) to $99.99 (£76) per month. You’ll split revenue 50/50 with TikTok after the iOS or Google platform payment fee of 15% to 30%.
Creators with 10,000 or more followers and at least 1 million video views in the past month are eligible for a tasty 20% bonus on their monthly payout, bringing the profit share up to 70%.
4. TikTok Live gifts
Creators who are at least 18 years old (or 19 in South Korea) can go Live and start earning virtual gifts from fans who appreciate their content. TikTok’s digital currency is a little confusing, but here’s how it works:
- Fans use real money to buy Coins.
- Coins are used to buy a variety of whimsical digital gifts, such as Panda (five coins), Sunglasses (199 coins), or Airplane (6,000 coins).
- Creators get Diamonds when viewers send gifts on TikTok Live.
- Diamonds can be converted by creators into actual money.
One coin is worth half a diamond and is estimated to equal around 1p, but only the very cheapest gifts cost that. Here’s how Hannah from TikTok Live Agency HeyHoneyUK estimates the value of a few TikTok gifts:
- Universe: £200
- Leon the Kitty: £25
- Confetti: 50p
5. Sponsored posts
TikTok’s old Creator Marketplace was shut down to make way for the new TikTok One creative platform. This is where you can connect with brands interested in paying TikTok influencers for sponsored posts, collaborations, and producing UGC.
TikTok One offers matching tools to pair creators with brands, job postings from brands for current opportunities, simplified project management, resources to help creators expand their skills and keep up with trends, and flexible payment options, including flat-fee payments and revenue sharing.
Limelight Digital estimates that TikTok creators with 100,000 or more followers can charge between £100 and £750 per sponsored post, while Lana Kearney (226,000 followers) reports charging £10,000 for just one.
Interested creators must be at least 18, have no history of repeatedly or irresponsibly violating Community Guidelines or terms of service, have 10,000 or more followers, have at least 1,000 post views in the past 30 days, and have published three posts in the past 30 days.
All content promoting a brand, product, or service must have the content disclosure setting turned on to label it as promotional content.
6. TikTok Shop
There are two ways to make money on TikTok Shop: selling your own products or using affiliate links to promote other products and receive a commission.
Selling your own products
Set up a TikTok Shop to list your offerings, and then tag products that appear in your videos.
Anyone can use a print-on-demand company to produce merchandise such as T-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, stickers, or notebooks that vibe with your channel’s message or aesthetic. Some former brick-and-mortar shop owners have ditched their store entirely and moved to TikTok. Laura Mallows of Mallows Beauty, for example, told the BBC she closed her Cardiff store and now makes “more in an hour going live than a day spent in the shop.”
Affiliate links
Connect with interested sellers through TikTok’s Affiliate Centre or source affiliate deals yourself, promoting a company in your content with a link to its products. You’ll earn a commission on any sales made through the link. Lana Kearney, for example, says she made over £625 from 179 sales of a magnesium lotion for babies that she’d tested extensively in her own life. Roxanne Freeman told the BBC she takes in up to £5,000 per month through affiliate links for the plus-size clothing she posts herself reviewing. The key is promoting products that resonate with your audience.