For any content creator trying to carve out a career online, money is a pretty big deal. You’re likely building up your income streams from multiple platforms, and by securing brand sponsorships, selling digital products, and more. In short, you’re always on the lookout for new ways to grow your income. While YouTube has long been one of the most lucrative platforms for creators, TikTok has been catching up as it tries to close the gap. Its latest initiative to help creators earn money? An ad revenue-sharing program called TikTok Pulse.
Ahead, we break down what TikTok Pulse is, who’s eligible for the program, and whether it’s really worth it.
How to Make Money on TikTok
Your pocket guide to making TikTok work for you.
What is TikTok Pulse?
TikTok Pulse is a revenue-sharing model from TikTok that does two things: brands get to place their content next to top-performing TikToks, and TikTok creators get a new way to make money on the app.
On the brand side, advertisers can now put their sponsored posts among the top 4% of all TikTok videos. That means more exposure for them, and a bigger incentive for creators to make content that hits the top of the pile. Brands can choose specific categories for their ads, like cooking, fashion, gaming, and beauty. That means their content will show up among TikTok content that fits these categories.
For creators, the program gives you a potential opportunity to benefit financially from increased advertiser interest in the platform. Keep reading to learn how you can get a piece of the action.
How does TikTok Pulse work?
Once you’re signed up for TikTok Pulse (more on that in a minute), you’ll get 50% of the money TikTok makes from sponsored posts that it places next to your TikTok content. It’s an aggressive number that strikes back at YouTube’s recently announced revenue-sharing program for YouTube Shorts.
In order to be eligible to make money from TikTok Pulse, your videos will need to hit the top 4% of all TikTok content. So they need to be aggressively viral. And if your video makes it there and is used for TikTok Pulse ads, you’ll receive a payment notification in the first half of the following month. Then, that payment will get added to your balance in Creator Marketplace Pay (which you can access from Creator Tools → Creator Marketplace → Dashboard → Creator Marketplace Pay).
That means if your videos hit that top 4% consistently, you could potentially be getting monthly payouts from TikTok Pulse.
Want to start earning money as a TikTok creator? Download our free TikTok Monetization Guide for more pro tips and easy strategies.
Who is eligible for TikTok Pulse?
First announced in May 2022, the program has been rolled out pretty quietly over the last few months. But here’s what we know so far, as reported by creators on Twitter:
- You need to have at least 100,000 followers on TikTok.
- Your videos have to respect TikTok’s Community Guidelines.
- You need to have posted at least five videos in the last 30 days.
- You have to be at least 18 years old.
- You need to have joined the TikTok Creator Marketplace.
How to get into TikTok Pulse
If you’re eligible for TikTok Pulse, you’ll soon see this notice in your account — if you haven’t gotten it already. No extra steps needed. This notice means you’re enrolled.
How much does TikTok Pulse pay creators?
That’s the big question, isn’t it? After all, TikTok said creators would receive 50% of ad revenue when their content hits the top 4%. But how much is that exactly? There isn’t a lot of information on this yet, but we’ve seen some reports trickling in from social media.
Twitter user @thehashaq shared how much he got paid from TikTok Pulse for the month of November 2022– and it’s not much.
When that TikTok Pulse check hits 🤑 pic.twitter.com/xHsbtmKmYo
— Hassan (@thehashaq) December 5, 2022
Remember that your TikToks have to be at the top of the platform to even qualify for this program, so only getting paid $4 after a whole month isn’t great. From the above tweet, you can see that TikTok Pulse seems to be paying $7.09 per 1,000 video views.
Another Twitter user, @JoshBarracks, only earned 74 cents. Although he claims to have accumulated 20 million views in the past month, it seems the majority of the views were from videos that weren’t selected for TikTok Pulse.
— JoshBarracks (@JoshBarracks) December 5, 2022I just got a 74 cent payment from TikTok pulse, the TikTok Ad Revenue system they implemented, its the first one I’ve gotten in a while.
And I had 20 Million views in the last 30 days.
Who is this for 😂? pic.twitter.com/9k0yXkAjG9
Meanwhile, @Daddy_Ditto tweeted saying he made $30 off of a single video through TikTok Pulse. That said, his tweet didn’t include a screenshot, so who knows?
— DaddyDitto (@Daddy_Ditto) December 5, 2022Time to update you guys.
I made 30 bucks off one vid that had Tiktok Pulse on it. So not terrible. Not amazing. But not terrible. https://t.co/vTaXoZRT0l
There isn’t not a lot of information on just how much TikTok Pulse pays overall — after all, it’s only been launched recently. But if the rate is $7.09 per 1,000 views across the board, then it might not be the big payday you might have thought it was.
Is TikTok Pulse worth it?
That depends on the way you approach it. If you’re expecting TikTok Pulse to completely transform your content creation career, you might be disappointed. Think about it as a nice bonus, rather than depending on it as a true income stream. Just keep on creating your content, hope you’ll hit the top 4%, and reap the rewards. And if not, don’t worry! There are many other ways you can make money on TikTok.
Wondering how much money you could make on TikTok? Use our free TikTok Money Calculator to estimate your earnings.
Follow The Leap onTikTokandInstagramfor moremonetization tips for creators.We also make anewsletter.
Further reading
- How To Make Money on TikTok: 9 Effective Ways
- TikTok Money Calculator: Estimate How Much You Can Earn as a Creator
- How Much Does TikTok Pay You?
- TikTok vs. YouTube Shorts vs. Instagram Reels: Which Platform Makes You Money?
