How much social media influencers earn is a point of fascination for many of us on the other side of the screen, and now one bloke has shed some light on how much he was paid after garnering a million views on TikTok.
The YouTuber, who goes by Howfinity on the platform, is known for his technology-focused videos, tutorials and tips for his 975,000+ subscribers.
In one of his helpful tutorials, he explained exactly how the TikTok Creator Fund works, and how he managed to make money off his social media content.
So, how easy is it to get TikTok famous?
Well, he explained he wanted to show people how much he was paid as part of the fund, as people may not be ‘familiar with this’.
For those who don’t know, the TikTok Creator Fund is what pays creators for their content on the platform, as there are certain amounts of earnings you can get based on how many views you manage to get.
How do you qualify for the TikTok Creator Fund?
All you need is to be over the age of 18, have at least 10,000 followers or 100,000 views in the last 30 days, and consistently post your own content that doesn’t violate community guidelines.
Piece of cake, then.
After getting approved, you can start making money off your videos, and track your analytics on both the app and the website.
Crunching the numbers: how much did he earn on TkTok?
He revealed he had garnered 3.9 million views in the week or so that he had made the account.
Unfortunately, about 2.7 million of the views were gained before he was accepted into the programme, though he explained he had a formula for ‘going viral‘ that he replicated to get over a million views after being accepted by the creator fund.
He counted that 1.2 million of his views were monetised, and revealed that over five days of getting paid, the account earned him $36.64 (£30) from his million-or-so views.
On the first day, he got $6.09, going up to $23.14, a day where one of his videos went viral, before dropping back down to $3.50, $2.80, and then $1.11 for the rest of the week.
Maybe it isn’t worth the effort to get TikTok famous. Dreams crushed.
Howfinity did explain how to make the most of TikTok though, due to ‘the ability to go viral, get a lot of viewers and then get people to other platforms or products or services.’
Users were shocked at how little he made, as one commented: “It seems like TikTok is great for promoting your brand, but not the best for actually making money, unless you’re one of the big boys.”
Another said: “So, I see that they pay very little, so I better not quit my day job.”
A third joked: “Better off working fast food and working the fryer and everything else at the same time, glad i helped y’all.”
It’s not just TikTok, but YouTube Shorts also pays less than expected to its creators.