TikTok finally lets creators cash in on their viral effects

Since 2020, TikTok creators have been able to monetize their content through the Creator Fund, providing a revenue stream for videos that get a lot of views. But for the first time, the short video app is providing a path to financial rewards for another key creative force in TikTok culture: effects creators.

Today (May 16) TikTok announced Effect Creator Rewards, a $6 million fund to "celebrate and reward effect creators on TikTok." In order to be eligible, creators must make their effects through Effect House, TikTok's in-house augmented reality platform. According to TikTok's announcement, the fund is only for creators based in U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Spain, the same countries eligible for the Creator Fund. The fund will pay creators based off of community engagement with their effects.

Effects are a crucial part of TikTok. The best effects can generate trends and discourse just as well as any viral sound, from the dangerous "bold glamour" filter to the tiny-faced bee effect that spawned hundreds and thousands of users sharing what no one can stop them from doing.

"For every effect that's used in 500K unique videos within 90 days of being published, a creator will collect $700 USD. For every 100K videos published thereafter within the same 90 days, creators will collect an additional $140," TikTok laid out in its statement.

To apply for the fund, creators must be 18 years or older and have at least 500K published TikTok videos using their effect.

In the press release, TikTok also announced the Creativity Program Beta, an improved version of its Creator Fund. "The Creativity Program Beta offers a new formula that provides a higher average gross revenue for qualified video views, giving creators the potential to earn higher rewards," reads TikTok's press release. "Additionally, the updated dashboard provides more insights, including estimated rewards, video performance metrics and analytics, and details on video eligibility." As of January, creators only made around $0.02 and $0.04 for every 1,000 views from the Creator Fund, according to Tubefilter. Vice and Wired also reported on how little the average creator makes from the Creator Fund, so a change to the formula is welcome.

To qualify for the Creativity Program Beta, creators must be based in Britain, France, or U.S. and have at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views over the past 30 days. Additionally, creators must post "high-quality, original content that is longer than one minute."

TikTok launched the $200 million Creator Fund in 2020 and since added more ways for creators to monetize their content outside of brand sponsorships. Most recently, the platform introduced "Series" a way for eligible creators to post "Collections" of up to 80 videos behind a paywall. But Effect House Rewards is its first investment in effect creators.

Now when you post a video using the latest viral effect, you could finally be putting money into the hands of its creator.