🧃 TikTok's Secret UGC Program Pays Creators Thousands

⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

• TikTok is running an invite-only UGC program that pairs creators and brands

• VidCon Anaheim released its 2023 schedule of events

• Creators are driving 75% of US Gen Z shoppers' online purchases

• “Community initiatives are not a passive income stream” -TikTokers and app founders @TazandAlessia

💻 ROADMAP

📲 TikTok Updates:

TikTok’s running a secret UGC (user-generated content) program that pays creators thousands of dollars every month to create ads for brands.

According to one TikToker who's part of the Creative Challenge beta program, creators are making up to $34,000 a month by producing UGC for brands like Uber Eats, Zynga, Alibaba and TikTok. In fact, "creators are buying houses with the amount of money they're making from UGC," the TikToker told me.

I reached out to TikTok to confirm details of the program but haven’t heard back yet.

So, how does the Creative Challenge program work? Creators in the program can review and respond to brand briefs hosted within a private section of TikTok. They upload videos that meet the brief guidelines directly within TikTok's Creative Challenge section, rather than to their own channels.

Creators can allegedly participate in up to 30 UGC ads a week, and payment is based on the ad spend for up to six months. Creators also receive bonuses from TikTok for hitting performance milestones. Monthly earnings range from $22K to $34K and bonuses ranged from $200 to $6K, according to screenshots I saw.

The program sounds like a more exclusive — and potentially lucrative — version of TikTok’s Creator Marketplace. Or a variation of TikTok’s Creativity Program Beta, which was announced in February. That invite-only program was meant to address some of the criticism about the low payouts of TikTok’s Creator Fund.

(Update: Thanks to Insider’s Dan Whateley and Mavrck’s Lindsey Gamble for pointing out the similarities to TikTok’s “Branded Missions” program and “Creative Exchange” program, respectively.)

According to my source, the current program has just over 400 creators participating in the challenges and redeeming their rewards in a Discord server.

At the moment, there's virtually no information about the Creative Challenge program online beyond this skeptical YouTube Short and an advertiser terms of service page governing participation in the program.

The program’s payment structure does require a leap of faith since there’s no guaranteed payment upfront. Payment terms are described as "determined according to a revenue share/earnings schedule on each creative challenge."

But if TikTok can scale the program, playing agency matchmaker between eligible brands and talented creators, it could create a sustainable revenue model for creators. It also puts an interesting emphasis on creators looking to monetize their skills versus access to their audience.

“I like that this is performance based and I don’t have to post on my own page,” shared the TikToker. “I don’t even have to put myself in the ad, which is nice.”

-Deloitte 2023 Digital media trends report: Immersed and connected

📲 YouTube Updates:

• YouTube just announced Product Drops, a feature that allows creators to set the date and time when they want to release a new product or offer versus having to release in Shopify first before announcing during a live drop.

• The company has also reiterated its support of bringing shopping features to Shorts during an earnings call this week.

• Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai revealed the majority of new channel subscribers are coming from Shorts posts — and channels uploading to Shorts daily grew over 80%.

• Podcasts are now officially available on YouTube Music for US listeners.

📲 Instagram Updates:

• Reels could be in trouble. That’s my speculation based on comments made by CFO Susan Li during Meta's earnings call this week.

  Reels is cannibalizing revenue from Stories and feed-posts because of “structural differences” in the content type. “We don’t have line of sight to getting Reels to monetization parity with feed or Stories per time because of those structural differences,” said Li.

  If you’ve listened to Adam Mosseri lately, you know he’s dialed back the emphasis on video. At one point, it seemed to be directly linked to the Kardashian's "bring back the old Instagram" complaints but it's possible the move was actually related to the company's difficulties in monetizing Reels.

  And if Reels doesn’t meet revenue goals this year, it’s hard to see how they wouldn’t shuffle priorities — which is important to note if you’ve pivoted your content focus to short-form video.

• Instagram’s working on a text-based social network called Barcelona. It’s not in the app store yet (trust me, I checked) but some invites may have gone out already.

• Instagram is also running a test that would allow app users to download your Reels.