The Economics of a TikTok Creator

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)

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:

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)

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’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