What is the TikTok creativity program beta?

If you’ve noticed TikTok videos getting longer recently, there’s a reason.

The platform has announced it’ll be removing its $2bn (£1.6bn) creator fund from 16 December.

It’s being replaced by the creativity program beta, which the app’s bosses say will make more chances to earn income, but only for uploads that are over one minute long.

Some popular TikTokers say the new system is confusing and have complained that the amounts paid vary massively.

TikTok’s creator fund was set up in 2020 and promised to pay users for uploads, but lots of creators said they didn’t make much from it.

The new creativity program is open to users from selected countries who have at least 10,000 followers and at least 100,000 views within 30 days.

TikTok claims the new system can pay out up to 20 times more than the old creator fund.

This a change for the app, which became popular thanks to its shortform videos, but the platform’s recently made moves towards longer uploads and more livestreaming.

Longer videos means more engagement, boosting the amount of time people spend on TikTok.

You might have seen lots of videos from creators discussing RPM, or Revenue Per Mille, since TikTok started testing out the new system earlier this year.

It’s an amount paid for every 1,000 “qualified” views – people have to watch for a certain amount of time for it to count.

So if your RPM was £0.20, and you got 100,000 views, you’d make £20.

The reason some creators have been complaining about this is because the amount seems to vary quite randomly.

Dylan Page, also known as the News Daddy, has 9.9m TikTok followers, with videos that regularly attract millions of views.

But he complained that his RPM was just £0.05 – much lower than others with tiny followings compared to his.

He also accused the platform of supressing his videos from feeds – something TikTok denies.

TikTok says a variety of factors, including engagement, authenticity, the region where videos are viewed and adherence to community guidelines influence RPMs.

It also says that views and followers aren’t affected at all, and everyone is subject to the same “recommendation strategies” as all other videos on TikTok.

One TikToker who says the creativity program is a “positive change” is Zayn Farooqui, also known as Zaynqf.

His football-related content has 1.5m followers, and he says his main source of income used to come from deals with brands.

Getting there took a lot of work, he says, and he thinks that making it easier to get paid, even though most people will only make fairly small amounts, is a “huge incentive” to make content.

And Zayn admits that the new system means he’s having to make longer videos to comply with the new system, changing his approach to his channel.

“If my videos are a minute long, and they don’t have good views, I will take that as ‘okay, my audiences isn’t enjoying this, let me try something else’,” he says.

“I really think it’s in your own hands.”

A spokesperson for TikTok told BBC Newsbeat it welcomed feedback from users on the changes.

“The creativity program was developed based on the learnings and feedback we’ve gained from the previous creator fund,” they said.

“As we continue developing new ways to reward creators and enrich the TikTok experience, we value the feedback and direct insights from our community to help inform our decisions.”  – bbc.com