TikTok is experimenting with yet another way to help monetize its creators. This time, TikTok’s trying out a direct subscription model for an upcoming comedy series in the app. According to the Hollywood Reporter, TikTok will be launching a new eight-part comedy series with creator Jericho Mencke, which users will be able to subscribe to for $4.99.
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Do note that these won’t be short videos at all – each episode will run for about 30 minutes, which could help get more people consuming longer-form content in the app, which is way easier to monetize. Monetizing short-form has become a key impediment to TikTok’s progress. While TikTok and short-form content have become hugely popular, the platform has faced various challenges in building an equitable monetization process, with many of its top stars conflicting with the current state of its Creator Fund and comparing to what they could possibly earn on other apps.
Cutting to the chase, one creator recently noted that over the last six months of being in the Creator Program, he’s only made $662, despite having generated millions of views. @cornydirtydan’s videos generate around 30k views each, with a posting frequency of about nine videos per week. Some of his clips even reach millions of views, with his all-time best reaching over 50 million views in the app. If you would compare this bare-bones to if he had instead allotted this time to YouTube, he would have been making $60k under YouTube’s Partner program.
Again, this wouldn’t be a fair and direct comparison, since it takes way more time and effort to create long-form content on YouTube, but the difference in earnings potential is massive, which is also the biggest risk to TikTok’s ongoing growth – if creators could make more on other apps, they’ll likely leave TikTok for better opportunities elsewhere.
On top of other initiatives they’ve already launched, TikTok’s also expanding the maximum length of its uploads to 10 minutes with a view of broadening its content options, while also looking to add in-stream ads, in addition to shifting user consumption behaviors. Ideally, if TikTok can get more people to spend more time with creators and clips in the app, generating ad exposure opportunities, enabling it to build a more competitive revenue pathway to lessen the concerns of creator abandonment. While it still has a way to go, subscription programming could be another way to build relationships with its top talent.
Meanwhile, it’s also making its playlist feature available to more users. Like with any other playlist, this allows users to essentially categorize their TikToks into defined groups, which can help users binge clips that are based on their interests. Up until now, this feature has been in testing with only business and creator accounts, but now TikTok seems to be expanding the option’s availability.
The Wrap
These new developments could sit in well with your TikTok strategy and might be a good way to boost viewer engagement and activity while allowing brands to better build their audience within the app. Again, creator monetization remains to be a key problem with the app and until its top creators say otherwise, TikTok must keep looking for new ways to bring in more value for those that keep it afloat.
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