by By: Jaleh Wooten
With the introduction of TikTok in 2016, there was a debate on how it would stand against YouTube as both companies are video hosting services. YouTube boasts 2 billion active monthly users while TikTok only has 1.05 billion which isn’t bad for a company that was created only seven years ago. Within these platforms, creators or influencers are able to monetize their content so they can make money from the videos they create and post online. However, when it comes to making a profit online, which platform offers the best opportunity to make money?
In order to make money on YouTube, creators need to be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. This means you must reside in a country that YouTube is available in, have more than 1,000 subscribers, and your videos must have more than 4,000 hours of public watch time in a year. One of the most common ways to earn money is when YouTube places ads in your videos that your audience must watch. This is advertising via Google AdSense and 51% of the ad revenue generated on the videos will go back to the creators. The average channel receives around $18 for every 1,000 ad views. Another way to make money is through channel memberships. When a channel reaches 1,000 subscribers, creators have the option to invite subscribers to pay a monthly recurring fee for members-only perks such as exclusive content. Finally, in 2021 YouTube created the YouTube Shorts Fund which pledged $100 million to reward their creators for short-form content; payments with this fund can range from $100 to over $10,000.
Moving on to look at TikTok, creators can make money through the Creator Fund which was created in 2021. Within this fund, TikTok has pledged $1 billion to its top creators over the course of three years. However, this fund is only available in the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Italy, France, and Spain creators must reside in one of these countries, have more than 10,000 followers, and over 10,000 authentic views in the last 30 days. Hootsuite has noted that TikTok pays its creators two to four cents for every 1,000 views. Therefore, if creators get 1 million views that is $20 to $40 per those millions of views.
Now looking at both of these platforms, which one should creators chose to make money. By being a YouTube creator, when you get more views and subscribers, your profits will increase as more viewers watch the ads in your videos. However, with TikTok’s creator fund the pool of money is static, meaning that creators will make less as more creators get invited into the Creator Fund. Therefore, as the platform continues to grow in popularity, there becomes increased competition for a limited amount of money. So, YouTube is the best platform if you plan on making money from that platform alone. Of course creators can earn money in other ways such as brand deals, paid product placements, sponsorships, and endorsements. But, if you’re not looking to get into sponsorships and endorsements, YouTube will allow you to properly monetize your videos and shorts.
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Hi Jaleh,
I enjoyed your take on Tik Tok vs Youtube. I feel as if no one uses Youtube anymore or is as influenced as we once were. Now, most people our age go to Tik Tok to be influenced. Which is why I was surprised to find out there is still more money in Youtube than Tik Tok. I wonder if that will cause Tik Tok to die down eventually because more creators want to make more money via Youtube.