On the Chinese version of the TikTok app, Douyin, content creators with more than 100,000 subscribers can charge their subscribers for watching long videos.
What if TikTok videos become paid one day? Currently, all content on the social network owned by the Chinese group ByteDance is free. But in the future, a question could be raised. Indeed, the group also owns the social network Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, which has almost 800 million users. On this site, influencers who are followed by at least 100,000 people can recently offer paid videos.
According to information from several Chinese media, the respective content creators determine the price of their videos themselves, without the intervention of ByteDance. So some influencers started charging 12 yuan (equivalent to 1.6 dollars) for 44-minute videos, reports the Chinese media Jiupai News. ByteDance is entitled to a 30% refund of the influencer’s profit from monetizing their video.
The group has already integrated new options for monetizing the content published on the platform. For example, Reuters points out, users can also be asked to pay to watch shows created by professionals. Influencers also have the opportunity to receive monetary donations from their subscribers when they go live.
Douyin and TikTok, two sister platforms
It’s not uncommon for features intended to be monetized to be tested on Douyin first before being integrated into TikTok. Indeed, both platforms were developed at the end of 2016 and present a similar interface with a series of consecutive videos broadcast in full screen. If TikTok is aimed at a Western audience and therefore less controlled than Douyin, most of its options remain similar.
For example, just like Douyin, TikTok allows its American influencers to promote products that are sold in the “Shop” tab, directly on their account. The feature has been tested since September in the United States with the launch of this new card. TikTok aims to establish itself as an essential e-commerce platform in the West and is gradually expanding the possibilities of buying and selling on the platform.
A role that Douyin already has in China. ByteDance revealed last May that the total revenue generated from Douyin’s e-commerce activities increased by 80% in 2022 compared to the previous year. According to the information, Chinese consumers spent 1.41 trillion yuan on Douyin, or $208 billion.