TikTok has announced that it’s shutting down its original $1 billion Creator Fund and shifting the focus to its newer Creativity Program. Starting December 16, the Creator Fund will be discontinued in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Creators who are currently enrolled in the Creator Fund can switch to the Creativity Program.
The Creator Fund, which launched in 2020, has long been criticized by creators who have complained about low payouts, with some saying they earned a few dollars for videos that got millions of views.
In February, TikTok introduced the Creativity Program and said the fund would result in higher payouts for popular creators. TikTok has said the rewards formula for the Creativity Program has been formulated to offer a higher average gross revenue for qualified video views. Unlike the Creator Fund, which didn’t have a specific requirement on video length, the Creativity Program rewards creators who make videos longer than one minute.
To be eligible for the Creativity Program, creators must be at least 18 years of age and have at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 views in the last 30 days. Eligible creators who post high-quality, original content longer than one minute have the potential to earn up to 20 times the amount previously offered by the Creator Fund, according to TikTok.
“Our ultimate goal is to create the best experience possible on TikTok and provide a robust ecosystem of monetization offerings to creators,” TikTok spokesperson Maria Jung said in an email to TechCrunch. “Part of our efforts and ongoing commitment to provide requires us to evolve products and apply resources elsewhere to best support creators and explore new offerings. We developed the Creativity Program based on the learnings and feedback from the Creator Fund, and we’ll continue listening and learning from our community as we explore new features and enhance existing ones to further enrich the TikTok experience.”
The Creativity Program is part of TikTok’s suite of monetization tools, which includes LIVE subscriptions and TikTok Pulse. The company also has tips and gifts monetization features, along with a Series feature that allows eligible creators to post content behind a paywall.