TikTok announced the first wave of recipients for its new Creators Fund, a $ 200 million venture that will pay popular personalities for its content.
There are a total of 19 creators, including David Dobrik, Brittany Tomlinson, Cheyenne Jaz Wise, Justice Alexander, Michael Le, Marissa Ren, and Ross Smith. While many of the recipients already came from full-time entertainment backgrounds – including Dobrik and Smith, who are popular YouTube creators – many of the selected TikTokers came from non-media backgrounds, but were able to build substantial pursuits on the app .
Dr. Fayez (@lifeofadoctor), an emergency medicine physician, has amassed more than 500,000 followers on the app since TikTok began in 2019 and is known for ‘myth-breaking common misconceptions in health care, like giving his audience a glimpse into his daily life as a doctor, ”according to a new TikTok blog post. Matt Gresia (@mattgresia) is an entrepreneur who uses TikTok to teach business skills to his more than 13 million subscribers.
TikTok announced the $ 200 million fund at the end of last year, and a spokesman described the initiative as a way to support ambitious makers who are “looking for opportunities to advance a living” on the app. It remains unclear exactly how often creators will be paid or how much each payment will cost, but a spokesman said The edge at the moment it is a continuous payment system.
To be considered creators for the fund, they must be “18 years or older, meet a baseline of 10K followers, have added at least 10K video views in the last 30 days, and post original content” that does not matter the social guidelines of the company, according to the blog post. By comparison, YouTube’s Creator Program, which allows people to monetize their content through ads, requires creators to have more than 1,000 subscribers and more than 4,000 hours to watch in the last 12 months.
“Creating engaging and meaningful content takes time and dedication, and our creators are just as passionate about sharing and connecting with their audiences as we are about serving them and our wider community of users,” wrote Vanessa Pappas, general manager of TikTok US, in the blog post.
The company’s goal is to increase the fund from $ 200 million to $ 1 billion over the next three years. At present, the fund only applies to makers in the United States, but the company hopes to make more funds globally later. Applications for creators will open later this month, according to the blog post.
The fund comes at an important strategic time for TikTok. Paying creators in the US can support the company’s image in its ongoing collaboration with the US government, which is looking for a US company (reported Microsoft) to buy TikTok. Otherwise, the app comes for a ban under an executive order from President Trump. TikTok has spent months building itself a more American company, with a campus in Los Angeles, a U.S. CEO, and plans to hire 10,000 people in the United States. If TikTok can become a viable, economical platform for Americans, that’s another positive for the company’s presence in the United States.
More information about the Creators Fund and the first wave of recipients is available on the TikTok blog.
