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By: Sophia LaVigna
It’s no secret that TikTok influencers make money. But not many people realize how much money is circulating through these brand deals. An article by Insider explored how much money influencers are making through the actual app itself. But it got me thinking about how much money companies are willing to spend on these short videos that double as brand ads.
I started scrolling on TikTok and realized that ¾ of the videos I was watching were ads that I wasn’t aware of. What I thought were recommendations from some of my favorite influencers were actually brand partnerships. The only recognition of the brand was a small comment at the end of the caption with a partnership hashtag.
Most influencers are making about $10 per 1,000 views. But the more interaction influencers have, the more brands pay them. A takeover of a popular account could cost a brand up to $100,000. TikTok now has a creator fund that is an ad revenue sharing program funding creators through their performance. The funds are determined by the number of views, authenticity of those views and the level of engagement. There is no limit to the amount of videos a creator could make in a day. TikTok has committed to contributing over $231 million to go to the creator fund over the next 3 years.
Outside of the creator funds, influencers are making money through promoting products on their platforms. Alix Earl is a social media influencer who has taken off over the past year. On average she is making anywhere from $30k to $70k per band deal video. Because she has a higher status right now and is being widely accepted by the TikTok community, she is able to charge large amounts of money, even for videos as short as 20 seconds.
I predict that this level of influencer marketing is going to continue rising over the next several years. Social media is allowing companies to show customers how their products fit into the lives of their favorite celebrities around the world. “What Alix Earl buys, I’ll buy” is in the comment section of almost every post I see of hers. Companies that get their products on the right pages are practically ensuring that they will have the next “it” product. The space of influencer marketing may just be the new wall street if you ask me.
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It’s mind blowing how much money is circulating through TikTok brand deals. I think it really goes to show how powerful influencer culture has become in the consumer market. Rather than paying for a team of professionals to create a complex advertisement, companies are willing to pay for the good word of a single individual online. And its working!
Hi Sophia!
It’s unbelievable how much top influencers can make on TikTok. As you said, in just 20 seconds, influencers can earn 30-70K! It would be interesting to know how much the brand makes from the influencer promoting it.
Hi Sophia!
Thank you for sharing this informative post. While influencer marketing is clearly working, I wonder if consumers will question the authenticity of a product review given what we know now about influencer marketing deals. Will influencers begin to lose credibility for marketing bad products? Regardless, I need to get into the influencing game.
Sophia, I think that your blog post is super interesting! I am baffled by the amount of fame and money that influencers are making because of social media. I think that the information you gave in this post is all super interesting. I have always wondered how much money goes into all of the brand deals that I see on TikTok. I really enjoyed reading this! Good job!
Hi Sophia!
I found this article so interesting because I have a friend in the influencer realm and I remember the first brand deal he got so vividly. It was with Dorritos and I was with him when he opened up the email. I remember them paying him 10k to use a 30-second sound clip in his videos and we were both in shock. Since then his deals have just gone up and now he is used to it but when we first saw these numbers we couldn’t believe what we were seeing and it is crazy that some people have no idea how much influencers are making just by mentioning the name of a brand. It’s mind-blowing.
Hi Sophia, I enjoyed reading your passage. It was crazy to me how much people are making just by posting these videos. I for sure agree that this market will only continue to expand and get bigger as these social apps expand.
Hi Sophia, I enjoyed reading your passage. It’s crazy how much people could make within just one video. Creating content has become such a huge thing in the social media industry, it’s hard to tell what goes on behind the scenes. I’m no stranger to seeing ads on Tiktok everyday, especially with popular influencers but you can never know how much they’re making and also, if they actually tried to product or if they’re just promoting it for the money.
I think it is so interesting how each social media platform has changed and provided so much income for creators over the years. Looking at these numbers it can be so hard to imagine but there really is so much available through the platform!