TikTok Launches its First Subscription Comedy Series, Opens Up ‘Playlists’ to More Users

TikTok’s attempting out one other new creator monetization course of, this time by way of direct subscription for an upcoming comedy sequence within the app.

As per Hollywood Reporter, TikTok is launching a brand new, eight-part comedy sequence with creator Jericho Mencke, which customers will be capable to subscribe to for $4.99 for the season.

Although they received’t be short-form movies – every episode might be half-hour lengthy, which might assist to get extra folks consuming longer-form – and extra simply monetizable – content material within the app.

Which has turn into a key obstacle for TikTok’s progress. Whereas the app, and short-form video in itself, has turn into massively in style, TikTok has confronted numerous challenges in constructing an equitable monetization course of, with lots of its prime stars reporting main points with its Creator Fund, and large variances between TikTok and what they will earn in different apps.

Working example – this creator lately famous that over his six months in TikTok’s Creator program, he has earned solely $622, regardless of producing tens of millions of views within the app.

The creator’s movies (@cornydirtydan) generate round 30k views every, and he’s posted round 9 movies per week this yr, with a few of his clips reaching tens of millions of views (his top-performing clip, as famous within the video, has eclipsed 50m views within the app).

At a fundamental comparability, not factoring the numerous variances and variations between TikTok posting and longer type content material on YouTube, if this creator had dedicated the time to YouTube as an alternative, and generated related view counts, he would have earned round $60k through the YouTube Associate Program.

Once more, this comparability just isn’t direct, and it will require extra effort and time to publish longer type movies to YouTube as an alternative. However the distinction in earnings potential is very large, which poses the largest danger to TikTok’s ongoing development – as a result of if creators can earn extra in different apps, they’ll doubtless, ultimately, abandon TikTok for greener pastures as an alternative.

That’s why TikTok’s including extra monetization choices, together with subscriptions, Reside Gifting, eCommerce integrations, facilitating branded content material partnerships and extra.

TikTok’s additionally expanded the utmost size of its uploads to 10 minutes, with a view to broadening its content material choices, and inside that, it’ll even be trying so as to add in-stream adverts, along with shifting person consumption behaviors.

Ideally, TikTok can get extra folks spending extra time with creators and clips within the app, producing advert publicity alternatives, which can then allow it to construct a extra aggressive income pathway to minimize considerations of creator abandonment. It nonetheless has a method to go but, however possibly, subscription programming may very well be one other method to construct higher relationships with its prime stars.

On one other entrance, TikTok can also be making its Playlist characteristic out there to extra customers.

Playlists allow you to categorize your TikTok movies into outlined teams, which may also help encourage viewers to maintain watching primarily based on their pursuits.

Up until now, Playlists have been in testing with enterprise and creator accounts, however now, TikTok is increasing availability of the choice, which might add one other consideration to your TikTok technique.

For creators, that may very well be one other method to enhance viewer engagement and exercise, whereas for manufacturers, it might additionally provide new methods to construct your viewers within the app.

However once more, creator monetization stays the important thing problem for TikTok, and it’ll proceed to discover new avenues for such because it seeks to solidify its market place.