What TikTok’s $200 million [Update: $2B] Creator Fund Can Learn from YouTube
[Update - July 30]: TikTok announces that it will give creators more than $2 billion over the next three years with more than $1 billion going to U.S. creators. Creators in the U.S. will be able to apply in August. If approved, TikTok will pay creators regularly for posting on its platform. Source: CBS & TikTok
ICYMI: TikTok announced the TikTok Creator Fund—$200 million aimed to help U.S. creators supplement their earnings and bring out the brightest stars.
The TikTok Creator Fund joins the Creative Learning Fund, LIVE Streams, and the TikTok Creator Marketplace in the mission to jumpstart and support the app’s growing creator base.
In the midst of controversy with several U.S lawmakers, it seems TikTok is introducing programs and solutions to heed those concerns. The U.S market is one of TikTok’s biggest in downloads with more than 165 million. And it’s the second largest market in terms of revenue with the U.S. spending $86.5 million on the app. Not only does TikTok itself see success, but it has also funneled more and more creators into mainstream brand deals, talent representation, and careers. Charli D’Amelio and Tabitha Brown are just two examples of TikTok’s fast-rising stars.
So, what can we expect from this announcement? TikTok will increase the $200 million over time. We can assume that more details about the specific usage of the fund will be revealed later.
We can also expect (or advise) that TikTok doesn’t make the same mistakes as YouTube did in 2012. At the time, YouTube announced a similar fund: YouTube Original Channel Initiative. The $100 million program was funded by Google to bring more original content in response to programming television. By 2013, the initiative ceased to exist. Many considered it to be a failure, but it was an important learning lesson for YouTube. And now—for TikTok as well.
In YouTube’s Original Channel Initiative, it failed to fund and boost the small, yet impactful creators. It went after big media companies or established brands like the WWE, RedBull, SBNation, and the Bleacher Report. YouTube missed an entire segment of its platform: the creators who drive views and engagement. The creators who understand their audiences and build dedicated following are wildly more successful than traditional media stars.
TikTok—take notes. The bigger guys might have an established following, but you can’t grow without putting funding and support behind the homegrown stars that made you great.
