Snapchat Introduces Revenue Sharing for Ads

👻 Snapchat unveiled a new way for creators to earn money by placing mid-roll ads in their Stories.

• The feature is currently being beta-tested by a small group of US creators, but the company said it plans to include all Snap Stars – what the platform calls its biggest creators – in the coming months.
• Snap said its payout to creators is determined by a formula that weighs factors like posting frequency and audience engagement. The company shelled out $250 million for creators last year through its TikTok clone, Spotlight.

📱 Zoom out: Longtime YouTuber and Vidcon co-founder Hank Green last month pointed out that some creator funds, like the one operated by TikTok, don’t grow at the same rate as the company. This means that as these platforms become increasingly successful – with more creators and users joining the platform and contributing to more views – the existing creators see their portion of the funds shrink. (Put simply, more people and views chasing a finite amount of money.)

The lone exception is YouTube, where creators receive ~50% of the ad revenue tied to their individual videos. The platform has paid out $10 billion to creators over the past three years.

+For example: Jimmy Donaldson, the streamer known as MrBeast, said he earned $15,000 from TikTok last year despite attracting “prob over a billion views” on the app. He made $54 million from YouTube over that same period, garnering 10 billion total views.