TikTok creators who whip up popular effects will soon be rewarded as the platform has set up a new fund for them. Through the Effect Creator Rewards fund, the platform will pay those who create widely-used augmented reality effects using TikTok's Effect House tool.
At the outset, the fund will only be available in a few countries. TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch that the eligible territories are the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Payouts from the $6 million fund are based on engagement, but at the outset effects will need to meet quite a high threshold before creators are eligible to make money from them. For the time being, creators will earn $700 for each effect that's used in 500,000 unique videos within 90 days of being published. For every 100,000 videos posted with the effect within the same period, the creator will earn $140. That's a high bar to meet for a relatively small payment.
Although TikTok has other programs designed to reward creators, such as the $1 billion creator fund, those who are making content for the platform have complained about low payouts. Early last year, Hank Green estimated that he was making around 2.5 cents for every 1,000 views on TikTok. Other prominent creators, including YouTube megastar Mr. Beast, posted evidence of their paltry TikTok earnings.
Seemingly to address those complaints, TikTok recently overhauled the creator fund with an initiative called the Creativity Program. The aim, TikTok said, is to offer creators "higher average gross revenue for qualified video views." The program is available in the US, France and Brazil for now.