How many TikTok followers you need to start making money

TikTok creators can make money by using the app's built-in monetization features or working with brands and music marke...

Dan Whateley

Jul 21, 2022, 00:42 IST

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How many TikTok followers you need to start making money

Dan Whateley

Jul 21, 2022, 00:42 IST

TikTok creators can make money by using the app's built-in monetization features or working with brands and music marke...

TikTok has exploded in popularity and some users are looking for ways to cash in.
Creators turn to TikTok's built-in monetization tools, brand deals, and song promos to make money.

TikTok has grown dramatically over the past few years, crossing one billion monthly active users in 2021.

Along the way, it's created a new generation of digital stars like Charli D'Amelio and Addison Rae Easterling who converted their TikTok fame into lucrative business empires.

But you don't need to have millions of fans to start making money on TikTok. There are myriad ways that users of the app can get paid, from using built-in monetization features to joining promotional campaigns for brands and music marketers.

For example, TikToker Lucy Davis, who has around 578,000 followers, told Insider she earns between $20 and $300 each time she livestreams on the app. (Read more about how much Davis earns.)

Making money directly from TikTok

TikTok offers built-in monetization tools for influencers, including a creator fund, a tipping feature, a subscription feature for streamers, and a virtual "gifts" product that allows users to send gifts to a creator which can then be converted into a real-world currency.

TikTok requires that creators have a certain number of followers and views to access these features:

To join TikTok's creator fund: a creator must be 18 years or older, have at least 10,000 followers, and have achieved at least 100,000 video views in a 30-day period.
To receive virtual "gifts" during a livestream: a creator must be 18 years or older and have at least 1,000 followers.
To receive "gifts" on other videos: a creator must be at least 18 years old and have at least 100,000 followers.
To receive "tips": a creator must be at least 18 years old and have at least 100,000 followers.

The amount that an influencer can earn from each feature is unpredictable.

For payments from TikTok's creator fund, the company takes into account a variety of factors, such as video views, video engagement, the location in which a video was seen, and total participants in its program.

Some creators who have disclosed their TikTok creator fund earnings, including Hank Green, said they were paid a few cents for every one thousand views they generated on the app.

"When I saw such a low amount of money generated, it really made me feel less about myself," TikTok creator Kevin Yatsushiro told Insider. "It was a huge blow to my mental health ... it made me not want to create content anymore."

When asked about creators' concerns around low fund payouts, a TikTok spokesperson said the company understood "how important it is that our creators are appreciated for their work and look to our creator community for valuable feedback to better serve their needs." They pointed to other monetization features like live subscriptions that are available to users.

Making money by working with brands, marketers, and tech platforms

TikTok creators with just a few thousand followers can also make money by working directly with brands.

Jalyn Baiden, an Instagram and TikTok influencer with around 19,000 followers on TikTok, told Insider that she's earned over $26,000 from sponsorships, commissioned content for brands, and affiliate marketing.

Making money through sponsored song challenges

Other TikTok influencers can earn money by participating in sponsored challenges, an advertising strategy that's been particularly popular among music marketers. Challenges allow record labels, artists, or brands to post contests on platforms like Pearpop, Preffy, and TikTok itself that ask users to make a video featuring a product or using a particular song.

Preffy and Pearpop pay users on a sliding scale based on the number of views and "likes" they drive to a video featuring a song or brand, rather than offering an upfront flat fee to a single influencer. TikTok has been testing its own version of challenges that it's dubbed "Branded Missions." The company told Insider it's experimenting with different payment models and that "boosted traffic" will also be considered a form of compensation.

"The initial way influencer marketing would work would be you would go and pay a few people with big followings, but it would be like throwing a few big logs onto a non-existent fire," Pearpop's cofounder Cole Mason told Insider. "With challenges, there's a way to actually start the fire."

Read more about how TikTok creators make money from song promotions: