The Economics of a TikTok Creator

As Jack’s followers grew, largely due to the popularity of his NPC series, his opportunities expanded, including an invitation by TikTok to participate in the TikTok Creator Fund, which pays out on a per-view basis on his videos. As Jack’s viewership has grown, this has become a steady source of income, but can fluctuate greatly due to the uncertai... See more

Jack began offering a hat which was a reference to his NPC series that he is dropshipping from a hat supplier. He is selling the hats via an Etsy store-front (linked to via Snipfeed), which earns a small margin per hat. (1% of income)

One monetization opportunity that felt authentic for Jack was helping launch a TikTok page and series for a media company. The company reached out cold and offered Jack an attractive economic package to create and post a video based on high-level guidelines from the company, with incentives for viewership over certain thresholds. (16% of income)

So how does Jack make money? With multiple revenue streams that have co-evolved with his growth in followers. Below is Jack’s monetization chronology with the rough percentage breakdown of income generated:

Jack’s most lucrative channel for monetization has been through a digital marketing consultancy with a focus on TikTok creator brand deals that reached out to Jack cold. The main issue with this form of monetization is that as a creator you have to disclose when a video is an ad, which precludes the video from making it onto the ‘For You’ Page, Tik... See more