There are so many success stories online of content creators earning their livelihoods simply by creating engaging content on social media platforms. As such, the creator economy has boomed so much that it is estimated to be worth over $100 billion now.
Meanwhile, the creator economy market size is still expected to have doubled by 2027.
So, if you are a content creator or an aspiring one, this means there are a lot of opportunities for you in the coming months and years.
However, you need to be aware that each social media platform has a unique compensation structure and it’s important to know how you earn rewards on each platform before stepping in.
In this article, we examine how these platforms share ad revenue with creators so you can make informed decisions about where to focus your efforts.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
According to some estimates, Facebook pays content creators between $0.01 to $0.02 per video view. Yet again, this is not a fixed rate, and various factors are at play.
Such factors include audience location, engagement level, ad type, and so on.
On Instagram, ads are placed in various formats, including Reels and Live Badges. These ads appear during or alongside the creator’s content and allow them to earn a share of the revenue generated from the ads.
Typically, Instagram offers a revenue split where creators can receive up to 55% of the ad revenue, with earnings accumulated and paid out monthly.
The same share applies to Facebook’s in-stream ads, much like the YouTube Partner Program. Doing so comes with various requirements, though, such as having at least 10,000 Page followers.
On Instagram, creators can also earn money from ads in their profile feed. These are ads that appear in between content as a user scrolls a profile feed. Enabling these ads entitles the creator to a share of the revenue for those ads.
Exact figures vary, but creators can earn anywhere between a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month through ad revenue sharing.
YouTube
There are various estimates by different sources on how much YouTube pays per view, but the fact is that there is no definite information on that.
According to YouTube itself, “There are no guarantees under the YouTube partner agreement about how much or whether you’ll be paid. Earnings are generated based on a share of advertising revenue from viewers watching your video.”
What is clear, though, from this statement is that earnings are paid per ad view. It is commonly known that YouTube pays per view, but many people confuse video views for ad views.
The latter refers to the number of ads viewed on your video. So, if your video has 1 million views but no ads, you earn nothing.
More so, some other factors influence your actual earnings, such as watch-through rate, location, industry, competition, ad formats, etc.
In any case, most sources estimate that creators earn between $0.01 and $0.03 per ad view. Meanwhile, YouTube pays 55% of net revenues from ads on your public videos or 45% of allocated revenue from YouTube Shorts.
To get started with YouTube monetization, you need to join the YouTube Partner Program.
X (fka Twitter)
X started paying creators last year, following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform and subsequent introduction of paid subscriptions for verified checkmarks.
The idea behind ad revenue sharing on X is to let verified users earn a share of X’s revenue from the organic impressions of ads.
The share of ad revenue that goes to a user (you need to be verified to participate) comes from organic impressions on ads displayed in the replies to their posts on X.
Also, only organic impressions from other verified users count, since they are the only paying users of X.
To participate in the creator ads revenue sharing program, you must be subscribed to X Premium and must have completed identity verification.
You must also have at least 500 followers in addition to having had 5 million organic impressions on your cumulative posts in the previous 3 months. Ad payments are processed monthly and paid to each creator’s Stripe account.
It’s difficult to determine exactly how much each creator gets paid on average because payments vary quite widely. But X says creators get paid up to 97% of their ad revenue. The minimum share of revenue is $0.10
Besides ad revenue sharing, X also offers video monetization programs such as Amplify Pre-Role and Amplify Sponsorships.
TikTok
Formerly known as the TikTok Creativity Program and before then the TikTok Creator Fund, The TikTok Creator Rewards Program was launched in February 2023 with the aim of rewarding creators with high-quality content on the platform.
To be eligible, you must be at least 18 years old and must have more than 10,000 followers as well as 100,000 valid video views in the last 30 days.
TikTok pays creators in the program and potential earnings range from $4 to $8 per 1,000 views, significantly higher than what other platforms offer. However, videos must be longer than one minute to qualify.
Other factors that determine how rewards are calculated include the country of the video views’ origin, number of video views, video engagement, authenticity of video views, etc.
TikTok also has the sole discretion to determine if a video is high-quality or not, which, in turn, determines whether a video will be eligible for the rewards or not.
The major downside here is that the TikTok Creator Rewards Program is only available in a handful of countries, which automatically disqualifies creators from the rest of the world unless the program expands.
Snapchat
On Snapchat, creators get the chance to earn rewards for the content they post on their stories. Like other platforms, there are requirements to be met for this.
To qualify for Snapchat rewards, you must have at least 50,000 subscribers and must have had over 25 million views or 12,000 hours of view time on your public profile over the past 28 days.
More so, you must have been posting to your public story consistently for 10 days, each with at least 20 Snaps per day over the past 28 days.
Ads on Snapchat appear between Snaps in a public story, and creators of the program earn a share of the revenue generated.
In addition, up-and-coming creators can also earn monthly prizes through Spotlight rewards. These rewards have less stringent requirements than typical Stories rewards.
Learn More About Earning More
This article has focused on ad revenue-sharing arrangements while excluding several other ways you can make money on social media and other platforms.
To learn more about earning a livelihood as a budding entrepreneur, follow StartUp Growth Guide on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with the insights, trends, and ideas we share regularly.
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