One of the things that turned out to be a major thorn in TikTok’s side is creator monetization. While the app itself has managed to achieve universal recognition and fame, the current direct revenue-sharing program it has in place provides even its best creators with only a meager amount of income. If it means staying on top, then it has to better payout its best stars.

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Granted, short-form content is harder to monetize than long-form ones, simply because it lacks any prominent ad space. As such, TikTok had to come up with more creative opportunities to help its users make money. With live shopping falling short of the bar, unlike what its Chinese sister, Douyin, achieved, TikTok is now exploring other monetization routes, which is where its ‘Series’ comes in.

TikTok’s new Series option allows creators to bar certain content behind payments, effectively creating paywall exclusives, and boosting potential in-app revenue gain. As per TikTok:

“Developed with our community’s love of sharing authentic stories, expertise, and experiences in mind, Series enables eligible creators to post Collections of premium content behind a paywall which viewers can purchase for access. One Series can include up to 80 videos, each up to 20 minutes long, giving people a new, longer format to watch their favorite creators and content.”

It seems that TikTok is trying to go for a long-form monetization play here, within its short-form offer, but monetize through direct payments, as opposed to mainly relying on ads (ala YouTube’s Partner Program).

Series is set to significantly expand the canvas for TikTok stars, allowing them to post bigger, more exclusive content for their top fans and supporters. This could even have stars cross-post their longer-form content from YouTube as a means to expand their income streams, and may result in more of them spending more time to develop their audience on TikTok, depending on the revenue rate.

That itself will be the big question. YouTube allows its creators to focus on their content by simply monetizing their videos, as easy as ticking a few checkboxes. Series is a step in the same direction but requires a bit of extra work to package and promote clips. It may be worth it, but it all depends on how much your audience is willing to pay, how consistently they’ll convert, and the magnitude of effort required to maintain such a model.

It’ll likely be a viable option, but likely only for a small percentage of top creators that already have a following, that are willing to pay a little extra. That, or adult performers. On that front, TikTok mentions that all Series content needs to adhere to its Community Guidelines, which means no nudity and sexual content. Nevertheless, that has never stopped some of the app’s best rated personalities to skirt the rules and go a ‘lite onlyfans’ route.

The Wrap

TikTok gives creators the liberty to set how much their Series would cost, preferably a price point that would ‘reflect the value of their exclusive content’, with prices ranging anywhere between $1 – $190. Users can then purchase via direct, in-video links from the creator’s profile. It’s an interesting new option that’ll allow creators to experiment. It’ll be equally interesting to see how much users will pay and what they’ll pay for.

Sources

http://bit.ly/3ZxsCmW