TikTok continues to explore more monetization pathways with the addition of its newest ‘LIVE Subscriptions’, which will launch later this week and will include a select batch of creators to act as pilot testers. TikTok’s LIVE subscription offering will allow live-streamers to generate recurring revenue from their efforts by sharing exclusive streams with their paying audience.
As TikTok explains:
“LIVE Subscription is an extension of our efforts to build diversified creator monetization opportunities that suit a range of creator needs. LIVE Subscription gives creators the opportunity to increase their earnings while continuing to grow their community and also provides engaged communities an opportunity to thank their favorite creators on a regular basis.”
Living It Out
As most subscriptions work, those who would be willing to pay a monthly fee get access to a range of exclusive features, including:
- Subscriber Badges: Subscribers receive badges that are displayed next to their name on their profile and upgraded over time.
- Custom Emotes: Subscribers get access to exclusive emotes custom-designed by the creators to use during LIVE sessions to bring the community together and make your sessions more spirited.
- Subscriber-Only Chat: When the subscriber-only chat is turned on, creators and their subscribers have exclusive access to one another, enhancing an even more personal connection between creator and viewer.
If you’re familiar with the subscription offers on other platforms, like YouTube’s ‘SuperChat’ or Facebook’s ‘Stars’ program, then you’ll know what to likely expect with TikTok’s LIVE subscriptions – more specific, custom tools to enhance the connection between creators and their biggest supporters, via a unique, buyable ‘pass’ of sorts that will highlight interactions and comments during a stream. On a good note, such has already proven highly successful and lucrative in other markets.
In the West, Twitch is perhaps the best example. Presently, around 27k Twitch streamers make money from their in-app streams. Twitch had gaming-focused streaming origins but has gradually shifted into a more diverse mix of topics over time, eventually becoming a central hub for various topics and interests for a range of viewers. However, when we talk of live-stream subscriptions, the Asian nations are where it’s at.
In China, live streaming has ascended into a $30 billion industry and has become so influential that Chinese regulators now seek to implement caps on how much viewers can donate to streamers at a time. Authorities grow wary about the rising popularity of streaming as a career option, as well as how the same can potentially be used to propagate various forms of sexualized content. These ‘caps’ are meant to act as bottlenecks to somewhat control this rapid growth.
Some Western nations have also begun seeing steady growth in streaming interest, with a couple of creators now making big money through TikTok’s shopping streams. Of course, TikTok continues to look for more monetization opportunities to keep its top talent from switching over to YouTube or Instagram, since these two currently have superior monetization models. LIVE subscriptions are, at least, another key step in this direction.
The Wrap
While it may only be available to a select number of creators during these initial stages, TikTok says that it plans to make it available to all users ‘over the coming months’.
“To access the LIVE Subscription feature, creators must be 18 years of age and have a minimum of 1,000 followers. Users must be over 18 to purchase a subscription and to send or receive Coins and Gifts. All users must follow our Community Guidelines and not solicit gifts or offer incentives for gifting.”
It could be a significant step for TikTok towards attaining better monetization and keeping its best creators feeling content. Also interesting is that some creators can apparently enable viewers to control their cameras, which does add a whole lot of extra engagement, but can’t help open a can of worms too. Let’s wait and see how things go.
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