TikTok’s New Monetization Feature Mixes Brand Deals With Gambling – Many Creators Won’t Get Paid For Their Work

TikTok has created yet another feature that presents its creators with a chance to make money. The new feature gives creators on the app the opportunity to work with advertisers and generate income while at it.

TikTok’s Creators To Benefit from Another Monetization Tool

Less than 3 months after TikTok launched a rebrand of its creators’ fund, the company is back with a similar feature named “TikTok Creative Challenge”. This feature is, however, mainly centered around brands and advertisers who set up a pool of funds and creators submit content for a chance to get the money.

TikTok expects high-quality, well-edited, original content for a video to be considered. Therefore, creators will be able to receive alerts if their videos require revisions. To get the reward, the brand judges creators’ videos based on performance.

The video-sharing company explained:

“Once submitted and approved, creators can see the status of their submissions, view performance and check monthly earnings. Rewards are influenced by many factors, including qualified video views, clicks, and conversions.”

Unlike the other monetization tools, videos submitted to this feature will not be displayed on the creator’s profile. Instead, once reviewed and approved, the videos will run as ads on the For You Feed.

To be eligible to join the Creative Challenge, creators must be at least 18 years old and have a US-based account. They must also have a minimum of 50,000 followers. Aside from the rewards, creators who join the program will also have access to an exclusive Creator Community group and Mentor Program to connect with other creators.

Additionally, creators can browse through the list of challenges, and view the reward pool as well as additional details and requirements before choosing which ones to participate in. Creators are allowed to make submissions to as many challenges as they want as long as there are openings.

On the other hand, brands will be able to select up to 30 ad creatives from each challenge. The revenue from the campaigns will then be shared with the chosen creators.

TikTok announces ‘Creative Challenge’ program, allowing creators to submit sponsored ad content to brands. However, creators must create and submit content before being approved and paid by the brand. Payouts based on video performance. Critics argue it’s a bad deal for creators. pic.twitter.com/Onqlk4oafO

— AndroidGreek (@AndroidGreek) June 29, 2023

Risk vs. Reward For Creators

The dream of every creator on every platform is usually to eventually work with brands that guarantee a more consistent form of income. This is especially true on TikTok, where creators are paid a small fraction per view of what other platforms like YouTube pay.

This feature provides that possibility to creators and reduces the time they would spend contacting brands. Unfortunately, creators have to gamble their time for it.

The Creative Challenge does not guarantee a financial reward despite the submission of a video. This means that a creator will put in time, effort, and even money to create content that may not be chosen in the end.

Moreover, in a normal content creation partnership, influencers usually set their own rates and bargain with the firms they collaborate with. For instance, influencers have their own flat fee for one TikTok video or Instagram story based on how they want to value their work.

In the program, creators do not get this chance. Instead, the amount they receive will depend on how well the video does and what other content is submitted for that particular ad campaign.

The feature has attracted mixed sentiments from the internet with some users terming it a bad idea. According to Luke, a host on LinusTechTips and CEO of Floatplane, a streaming platform tied to Linus TechTips, the Creative Challenge is “probably the worst thing in the creator space I have potentially ever heard of.” He said that no creator should take part in the program which he equated to gambling.

The program could present a reasonable opportunity for small influencers who are still trying to grow their brands. However, it is not worth the investment for an established creator who could spend the resources on a guaranteed.

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