TikTok, the popular social media platform, has announced the discontinuation of its $1 billion creator fund, effective December 16, 2023. This development is an evolving landscape in TikTok’s approach to monetization and will have implications for content creators, particularly those in the US, UK, Germany, and France who have been part of the original fund. Creators who were part of the original fund in the US, UK, Germany, and France will have the option to transition to the Creativity Program, allowing them to continue monetizing their content on TikTok, albeit through different means.
The End of $1 Billion Creator Fund
Since its launch in 2020, TikTok’s $1 billion creator fund has intended to reward individuals creating viral content on the platform over a three-year period. However, content creators within this program, especially in the US, UK, Germany, and France, have voiced persistent dissatisfaction with the fund’s payouts. Despite accumulating millions of views, many found their earnings to be disappointingly low. TikTok has officially announced that this creator fund will cease to exist after December 16th, 2023, leaving content creators in these regions without this revenue source.
Transitioning to the Creativity Program
While the discontinuation of the creator fund may surprise some, TikTok introduced an alternative monetization method earlier this year called the Creativity Program. This program promised higher payouts to content creators but required them to produce longer-form content, deviating from TikTok’s signature short videos. Unlike the original fund, which distributed money from a pool, the Creativity Program relies on views and other forms of engagement, similar to platforms like YouTube.
TikTok has been actively encouraging new content creators to adopt the Creativity Program, where they claim to have the potential to earn significantly more than through the original fund. The shift towards this new program aligns with TikTok’s efforts to provide content creators with improved earning opportunities, addressing some of the shortcomings of the previous fund.
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