• by Colin Kirkland , February 13, 2023

To further incentivize creators and expand their influence, TikTok is developing several new features including a creator-focused paywall and a revamped creator fund, according to a new report by The Information.

The paywall feature will supposedly allow creators to set a price on exclusive content, inviting them to choose a specific fee that fans can pay to watch videos. The update can be likened to an Instagram feature that invites creators to share subscriber-only posts, Reels, and stories unavailable to general followers.

The report also included news about a revamped creator fund that may begin rolling out in the US as soon as next month. The original fund, launched in 2020, consists of $1 billion allocated to creators for popular videos.

The previous creator fund received widespread criticism when content creators voiced how little money they were making off of viral videos, some earning no more than a few dollars per video.

According to The Information, TikTok plans to give more money to creators, but may limit the number of creators who can participate based on a higher number of followers to qualify.

The new creator fund model is already live in France and Brazil.

TikTok made various changes to its platform that aim to incentivize and expand its pool of content creators, including the launch of TikTok Pulse, which invites advertisers to insert brands into the platform's top 4% of videos and share revenue with featured creators with over 100,000 followers.

Still, creators have complained that the payouts have been meager.

With over 100,000 professional content creators on TikTok, the social media company continues to rival YouTube, home to around one million pro-creators, Instagram, home to 500,000 pros (and million of amateurs), and Twitch with about 300,000.