TikTokers are scoring huge paydays from its new ‘creativity program’ that rewards longer videos. 7 creators reveal what they’re making per month.

• TikTok’s new Creativity Program Beta is helping some creators earn tens of thousands of dollars.
• Not everyone making money has millions of followers; those with smaller followings are earning, too.
• The extra money is helping a few TikTokers rely less on brand deals and re-prioritize the app.

Kay and Tay Dudley were stunned when thousands of dollars appeared in their bank account through TikTok’s new Creativity Program Beta in early July.

“We were completely taken aback. “Our first real month wasn’t even over yet,” said Kay, who, along with her husband, posts humorous content for their 3.5 million TikTok followers based on their relationship and life as parents.

Through the program, the couple earned nearly $24,000 in the month of June. Their earnings increased to slightly more than $87,000 in July. Insider confirmed these figures using documentation provided by the creators.

TikTok’s creativity program, which is still in beta, is the latest in the social-media platform’s efforts to allow creators to earn money directly from the app. It rewards creators for producing longer content, specifically videos lasting more than 60 seconds. Aside from this initiative, the company has a Creator Fund for videos of any length, an ad-revenue-sharing program, livestream gifts, an e-commerce affiliate feature, and a $6 million fund for augmented-related creators.

The company announced the creativity program as an invite-only program in February and expanded its parameters in May to include all US-based creators with at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 “authentic” views on their TikTok videos in the previous 30 days. Participants must also be at least 18 years old and have accounts in “good standing,” according to TikTok.

Payments are currently calculated and distributed based on qualified video views.

According to Insider’s interviews with seven creators whose income we verified by viewing their earnings dashboards on the app, influencers have been earning much larger payouts from the creativity program than some of TikTok’s earlier monetization efforts. According to a TikTok spokesperson, creators can earn up to 20 times more from the creativity program than from its creator fund, for example, because it pays out more money each time a video is viewed.

Arlene Resendiz, who posts math and other educational content to her 1.5 million followers, was initially skeptical of the creativity program because it required her to leave the creator fund — users cannot be in both.

“Once you choose the beta, you can’t go back,” Resendiz explained. However, she earned slightly more than $5,000 from the creativity program in June.

“I’m definitely happy that I just went for it, and yeah, it’s been working out,” she says.

Not only are creators with millions of followers reaping the benefits. Zachary Newman, a TikTok food creator with 480,000 followers, earned $155 in his first month on the program in June. He earned $1,300 the following month.

“I think this program has a lot of potential, especially for food creators, because most of our videos will be educational, so they’ll be longer,” he says. “People are now much more interested in why we’re making something and what they can learn from it rather than just watching us do it.”

Increased earnings have allowed one TikTok couple to rely less on brand deals

Devin and Hunter Cordle first applied to TikTok’s creator fund in 2020, after their videos went viral. They, like some other creators, found its minimal payments frustrating, so they didn’t have high expectations when they joined the creativity program a few months ago.

“The creator fund paid nothing, so we didn’t think this would be any different,” said Hunter Cordle. “It’s a complete 180, though, with what we’re earning.”

They earned slightly more than $6,000 through the program in June, and nearly $23,000 the following month.

The couple hopes that these types of payouts continue in the future because it will allow them to rely less on brand deals for income.

“We’re not feeling pressured right now to take an extra brand deal or two because we need the money, which has been really great for our work-life balance,” he explained. “Because brand deals can feel a little inauthentic to our audience at times, this extra income from the program simply allows us to take on less.”

Some creators are shifting their content to cash in on incentives for long-form videos

Victoria Paris amassed one million TikTok followers in six months after beginning to make videos in New York during the height of the pandemic.

Paris claims that since becoming a TikTok influencer, she has earned a sizable salary from brand deals. However, the creativity program has increased her earnings significantly.

Paris’ monthly earnings from the creativity program ranged from $9,000 to $13,000 today, with nearly 2 million followers. The payments, according to Paris, should amount to “a nice, clean $100,000-plus a year,” a significant increase over what she earned from the creator fund.

The program is so successful that she has changed the format of her content to make longer videos. Paris has even attempted to record voiceovers, a technique she had never considered before.

“My videos have never been this long before,” Paris remarked. “I’m now making them three minutes long.” I’ve never done anything like that before, and it’s working out great.”

The program has helped some creators re-prioritize making TikTok videos instead of posting on other platforms

As they switch between TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Threads, and other social-media apps, many creators experience cross-platform fatigue. Several TikTokers recently told Insider that they had shifted their focus to YouTube after the company added short-form videos to its monetization program, the YouTube Partner Program.

The Cordles were planning to do the same until they discovered how much money they could make through TikTok’s creativity program.

“Honestly, it made us think about how TikTok should be our primary focus and to maybe not get distracted by what we could be posting on other apps, even though it’s really important to diversify,” Hunter Cordle explained. “The money we’ve been earning has been life-changing, and we just really hope it continues.”