TikTok, in an effort to help creators monetize their followings and upload longer-form content, has launched a paywall feature that will allow creators to charge their fans for access to their videos.
Called Series, the feature allows creators to choose their own pricing — between 99 cents to $189.99 — for a collection of their premium content, grouped together in a collection that include a maximum of 80 videos that are a maximum of 20 minutes each. (TikTok videos typically have a maximum length of 10 minutes.)
The collections can be purchased via direct in-video links or on a creator’s profile. Creators will be able to keep 100 percent of their earnings, minus platform and processing fees, for a “limited time,” according to a company spokesperson, though it’s not clear when TikTok will take a cut of the revenue and what the revenue share split will be.
As of this week, the Series capabilities are only available to a select group of creators, though the social platform is planning on extending applications to more creators in the “coming months,” according to a blog post this week announcing the feature.
TikTok’s latest monetization feature comes as rival YouTube launched a revenue-sharing program for Shorts, its short-form TikTok competitor, in February. For the Shorts program, YouTube allocates 45 percent of ad revenue from Shorts videos for creators; of that 45 percent, users’ payouts are determined by their share of the total number of Shorts views every 30 days. For longer, traditional YouTube videos, the split is more straightforward: 55 percent of ad revenue goes to the creator, while the remaining 45 percent goes to YouTube.
Though TikTok is best known as a short-form platform, the Series feature appears to be giving more options for longer-form creators to use the platform and monetize directly from their followings.
