Creators are finally getting their time in the limelight as leading social media platforms have recognized their potential and the profits they can bring to the platforms. This has pushed them to roll out tools and incentives to attract and retain creators on their platforms.
These include Instagram’s creator subscriptions (so that creators can get support from their audience, partner with brands, and earn from advertising or bonuses directly from Instagram and Facebook) and Twitter’s Super Follows.
Another platform that saw the rise of a wave of creators is ByteDance-owned TikTok, which was a fast hit since its inception in 2016. Now, it is scaling up its competition with rival platforms such as YouTube and twitch by rolling out TikTok LIVE subscriptions this week. These subscriptions, which are akin to Twitch’s subscription feature, will let creators earn a steady living through their work as viewers have to pay to subscribe to the streamers and view their content.
Launching in beta on May 26 (which is just around the corner), TikTok LIVE subscriptions grant subscribers access to exclusive features such as creator-specific emotes, a subscriber-only chat, and custom badges that are exclusively for subscribers. As for the creators, this will let them generate recurring revenue instead of depending solely on bonuses or virtual tips.
If this is not enough, subscribers will also be able to control the camera angles on creators’ live-streams, and the badges will update the longer a viewer is subscribed to give long-term subscribers more visibility. Creators can also personalize their LIVE rooms.
At the moment, only a select number of creators have been invited to participate in the beta. “LIVE Subscription is an extension of our efforts to build diversified creator monetization opportunities that suit a range of creator needs,” TikTok said in a blog post.
This feature comes nearly three weeks after the Chinese short-form video hosting service had announced its plans to let top creators get a share of revenue when their videos ran alongside certain advertisements. Called TikTok Pulse, this will include creators and publishers with at least 100,000 followers on the platform.
To be eligible for TikTok LIVE subscriptions, creators need to be at least 18 years (or older) and have at least 1000 followers if they want to offer a paid subscription, and a user needs to be over 18 years of age to purchase the same. At the moment, the program is invite-only.
