How Much Does TikTok Pay Influencers in 2023?

If you're one of the many individuals who have taken your videos to TikTok to showcase your creativity, then you may wonder how to make money on TikTok. After all, why not monetize your talents?

And there's no shame in that! After all, you're working hard to create great content, so you deserve a monetary reward. In this article, I’ll answer the question, “how much does TikTok pay influencers”, as well as offer ways to monetize your TikTok account, and how you can improve your chances of making money on the platform.

How Much Can You Get Paid on TikTok?

TikTok videos can earn you between two to four cents per 1,000 views, which is significantly less than other platforms such as YouTube. That means if your TikTok video goes viral, you can expect to be paid $20 – $40 for a million views.

Don’t expect to make a lot of money per view at first, as that’s mostly reserved for the most famous TikTokers.

CaptainCrankShaft, a YouTuber with almost 400K subscribers, tested out the platform and earned only $17 dollars from a TikTok video that had over 400,000 views.

Here’s another TikToker, that had a video that got over 40 million views, and received about $24 for it.

@devonandwillo Creator fund 🤑 #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Devon Noehring

It might seem strange that videos that get millions of views get paid such low amounts, but it’s important to understand how TikTok pays its creators.

To pay creators on TikTok, the company created the TikTok Creator Fund.  Although it appears similar to something like YouTube’s Partner Program, it functions differently at its core.

The TikTok Creator Fund uses a “static pool” — a fixed amount of money for its creators  — that is divided fairly among them according to the views their content garnered that month. 

The amount in this pool according to TikTok, equates to a $1 billion split over three years (2020 – 2023). It’s important to note that this was exclusively for creators in the USA. 

That is about as much as users know, because TikTok has never publicly disclosed an exact amount. 

The issue with using this “static pool” system is that as the platform grows with more and more creators joining in, the pool of money assigned to them remains the same. More creators now sharing the fund means less money goes to each of them.

Hank Green of the vlogbrothers explains the pros and cons of such a system, and why it needs to be addressed in this in-depth YouTube video.

How to Join TikTok’s Creator Fund

To be eligible to join the Creator Fund, you must meet TikTok’s criteria. 

• Live in an eligible country. Currently, there are only a handful of eligible countries: Italy, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and the USA
• Be 18 years or older
• Have at least 10,000 followers
• Have at least 100,000 views on your videos in the last 30 days
• Meet TikTok’s content creation guidelines and ensure all content is original work

5 Ways You Can Make Money on TikTok

While two cents per 1,000 views might not sound entirely worth it, it’s essential to keep in mind that there are ways you can monetize your content on TikTok.

Here are five ways you can monetize your TikTok content:

1. Leverage the TikTok Creator Fund

The simplest way to make money on TikTok is through the Creator Fund. If you are eligible, joining the fund is fairly simple. Most users who become eligible will almost immediately receive a notification from TikTok like this.

From there simply hit “Apply” and select your country and local currency.

Joining the TikTok Creator Fund is the only way you can monetize your TikTok videos on the platform itself. Once you have joined, you will receive payment for any videos you post there.

2. Use TikTok’s Live Streaming Feature to Receive Gifts

TikTok has a live streaming feature that allows creators to actively engage with their followers on the platform. The best part is that in eligible countries, followers watching the live stream can in fact “gift” creators during the stream.

3. Use Affiliate Programs

Another excellent way to monetize your content and follower base is affiliate marketing. Many organizations offer affiliate programs that you can sign up for. Once approved, you’ll get an affiliate link that you can include in your content for your followers to click.

Most affiliate programs offer a certain amount per click, sign-up, or sale. Make sure you choose programs your target audience will be interested in, as the money you’ll make depends highly on your followers clicking the link.

4. Partner With Brands to Create Branded Content

Don’t be misled into thinking branded content is affiliate marketing. Although there might be similarities, branded content tends to pay more but requires a lot more work from both parties. 

Branded content is when a brand representative and content creator/influencer work together to create content that indirectly promotes the brand or straight up advertises it. This could be as simple as a makeup tutorial using a brand’s cosmetics, all the way to creating an actual ad placement inside your video for the aforementioned brand.

Unlike an affiliate program, branded content usually comes with a fixed, agreed-upon price between the creator and the brand.

5. Create and Sell Branded Merchandise

Plenty of influencers and brands create customized merchandise to sell to followers. These items fully depend on your audience profile.

Beauty influencers could, for example, create their makeup line or collaborate with a brand to create a line of related products. Creators whose content is all about fashion can create a branded clothing line. 

One example is Smosh, a popular channel on TikTok and YouTube, that also has a website dedicated to selling merchandise. The products they sell get promoted across their channels and social media platforms.

What makes their merchandise unique is most of them come from fan-favorite sketches such as the infamous “you’re my favorite pizza place” sketch.

For more examples and an in-depth guide on how you can monetize TikTok, you can read my full guide How to Earn Money from TikTok as an Influencer.

Who Makes The Most Money on TikTok?

There's no doubt that TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms out there. And with that popularity comes many public figures and agencies that earn a lot of money. Some of the biggest names on TikTok are making serious banks from the platform.

Here are the top-earning TikTokers currently on the platform.

TikToker	Earnings in 2022	Follower Count
1. Charli D’ Amelio	$17.5 Million	133M Followers
2. Dixie D’ Amelio	$10 Million	57M Followers
3. Addison Rae	$8.5 Million	86M Followers
4. Bella Poarch	$5 Million	87M Followers
5. Josh Richards	$5 Million	26M Followers
6. Kris Collins	$4.75 Million	42M Followers
7. Charli D’ Amelio	$4.75 Million	39M Followers
8. Riyaz Ali	$2 Million	45.4M Followers
9. Arishfa Khan	$1 Million	28.7M Followers
10. Nisha Guragain	$1 Million	28.2M Followers

3 Tips to Improve Your Chances of Making Money on TikTok

Using the right channels to make money through TikTok is only one part of the equation. It’s also important to optimize your channel and content to ensure users and followers can find and engage in your content.

Here are three ways to improve your chances to make money on TikTok.

1. Optimize Your Creator Profile to Fit Your Niche

Brands are constantly looking for ways to promote their products or service, and influencer marketing is one channel they are now actively using. You must therefore set up your profile to represent a persona good enough to become a brand advocate.

Aside from your profile, you must also create content that attracts the right brands. TikTok has created a guide to setting up your profile on their “Creator Marketplace” to help aspiring creators.

2. Create Content That Engages Your Target Audience

Adding affiliate links and creating branded content won’t mean much if users aren’t interested in what you are selling. That means you should have a firm grasp of your audience profile and focus on creating content that interests them. 

You can learn more about your audience in your Creator Marketplace.

Creating content that engages your target audience is important if you want to have higher engagement rates, and eventually more views and a wider audience. The most famous TikToks all share this trait.

3. Be Transparent About Sponsored Content

When creating sponsored content, you need to be open about it to your audience. Let the audience know if your video content is brand-sponsored, or if the links you share are affiliate links.

It isn’t to promote the brand or content but to keep the trust between you and your audience. It could be that your sponsored videos or affiliate links you promote are from brands that some of your followers do not like. Not being transparent about the nature of your content and promotional links may cause them to lose confidence in you as an influencer.

FAQs

Ready to Make Money on TikTok?

Tiktok has over one billion active users; becoming a content creator on the platform and just tapping into a small fraction of that audience could potentially make you a ton of money from it.

Unleash your creative mind and be thoughtful about your content to gain follower and viewership momentum. Most TikTok stars today began their journey with just one random viral video.

Know that there are plenty of people out there who are willing to spend money on quality content, so you just need to make sure that yours is up to par. Now that I’ve answered the question of how much TikTok pays, are you ready to start earning money on TikTok?