TikTok announced an ad revenue-sharing programme with the social media platform’s most prominent creators on Wednesday, bringing it closer to a model already used by competitors.
The short-video format app has grown in popularity in recent years, with over a billion active users worldwide, but it has been chastised for not allowing content creators to effectively monetize their work.
Companies can place ads next to user content in specific categories, such as health, fashion, cooking, gaming, and others, under the new TikTok Pulse programme, and creators will receive a cut.
“We will begin exploring our first advertising revenue share program with creators, public figures and media publishers,” the company, a subsidiary of Chinese tech firm ByteDance, said in a statement.
“We’re focused on developing monetization solutions in available markets so that creators feel valued and rewarded on TikTok.”
Only accounts with at least 100,000 subscribers will be eligible for the first phase of the program, TikTok said.
The firm’s North America General Manager Sandie Hawkins told tech website The Verge that Pulse will roll out in the United States in June, and that approved creators will get a 50 percent cut of ad revenue.
In 2021, TikTok generated an estimated 4.6 billion dollars in revenue, according to industry publication Business of Apps.
That figure is more than double the previous year’s revenue, but remains roughly on par with competitor Snapchat, which has about 300 million daily users, according to Snapchat’s data.
Other major social networks that focus on video, such as YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, have already implemented revenue-sharing systems.