Creative Juice Is Giving YouTubers 30-Day Advances On AdSense Payments

At the end of each month, YouTube tallies up how much AdSense revenue creators in its Partner Program have earned. Creators can see this amount in YouTube Studio, their channel management hub, so they know exactly how much money is coming their way.

But just because they can see the amount doesn’t mean it’s jumping straight into their bank accounts. After YouTube determines how much they’ve earned, a 21-day “processing period” begins, with the goal of delivering a lump sum payment to the creator around the 21st of the following month.

This processing period means creators who make money in June can wait three weeks or more into July to receive it.

And creator-focused fintech startup Creative Juice thinks that’s kind of a pain.

Launched in 2020 by Plaid’s former head of business development and strategy, Sima Gandhi, and longtime digital content exec Ezra Cooperstein, Creative Juice intends to supply a range of financial services to creators across platforms. Its debut product, Juice Funds, rolled out this past March, invests money in creators in exchange for a portion of their videos’ future earnings.

Creative Juice also offers Juice Money, FDIC-insured bank accounts specifically for creators that come with built-in rewards for spending.

To date, Creative Juice has raised $5 million in funding from YouTubers MrBeast, Preston Arsement, Carter Sharer, Graham Stephan, and Shelby Church, along with talent management agency Night Media (of which Cooperstein is president), record exec Scooter Braun, and Twitch cofounder Justin Kan.

“One of the major limiting factors of the creator economy today is that creators have limited access to capital, despite their obvious cultural currency and business power,” CEO Gandhi says. “Waiting 30 days–or longer–to get paid makes it hard for creators to manage their cash flow.”

Creative Juice’s solution? Juice Boosts, a program that gives creators AdSense advances up to 30 days before they’re due to be paid out.

@getjuicexoxo##stitch with @grahamstephan — use Juice Boost to access your AdSense money instantly. ##LearnOnTikTok ##YouTuber♬ original sound – Creative Juice

Juice Boosts hands a creator the full amount they are expected to earn, with no interest and no impact to their credit score, Creative Juice says.

Creative Juice says Juice Boosts is helpful for creators because having free cash flow early in the month can be necessary for managing business expenses, especially if creators are hiring contractors for things like video editing and thumbnail art. More money for production means the potential for making more videos, which (hopefully) means more income.

“Juice Boosts are a game-changer,” Betty Van of YouTube channel Switch and Click said in Creative Juice’s press release about Juice Boosts. “Boosts mean I can invest in the tools and upgrades I need to make my videos better and quicker—so I can invest in things like my studio upgrade NOW instead of later.”

“Creative Juice doesn’t look or feel like a bank, but functionally, we’re solving for creators’ banking needs and also giving them the full-stack tools they need to make it easier to run their businesses,” Gandhi says.

Juice Boosts are fee-free for creators through the end of 2021; it did not disclose what the fee will be from 2022 onward.

Creators interested in Juice Boosts can check them out here.

It’s worth noting that Vancouver-based digital network BBTV also launched an advance AdSense payment program for creators this past week

. That program charges a 2% fee.

At the end of each month, YouTube tallies up how much AdSense revenue creators in its Partner Program have earned. Creators can see this amount in YouTube Studio, their channel management hub, so they know exactly how much money is coming their way.

But just because they can see the amount doesn’t mean it’s jumping straight into their bank accounts. After YouTube determines how much they’ve earned, a 21-day “processing period” begins, with the goal of delivering a lump sum payment to the creator around the 21st of the following month.

This processing period means creators who make money in June can wait three weeks or more into July to receive it.

And creator-focused fintech startup Creative Juice thinks that’s kind of a pain.

Launched in 2020 by Plaid’s former head of business development and strategy, Sima Gandhi, and longtime digital content exec Ezra Cooperstein, Creative Juice intends to supply a range of financial services to creators across platforms. Its debut product, Juice Funds, rolled out this past March, invests money in creators in exchange for a portion of their videos’ future earnings.

Creative Juice also offers Juice Money, FDIC-insured bank accounts specifically for creators that come with built-in rewards for spending.

To date, Creative Juice has raised $5 million in funding from YouTubers MrBeast, Preston Arsement, Carter Sharer, Graham Stephan, and Shelby Church, along with talent management agency Night Media (of which Cooperstein is president), record exec Scooter Braun, and Twitch cofounder Justin Kan.

“One of the major limiting factors of the creator economy today is that creators have limited access to capital, despite their obvious cultural currency and business power,” CEO Gandhi says. “Waiting 30 days–or longer–to get paid makes it hard for creators to manage their cash flow.”

Creative Juice’s solution? Juice Boosts, a program that gives creators AdSense advances up to 30 days before they’re due to be paid out.

Juice Boosts hands a creator the full amount they are expected to earn, with no interest and no impact to their credit score, Creative Juice says.

Creative Juice says Juice Boosts is helpful for creators because having free cash flow early in the month can be necessary for managing business expenses, especially if creators are hiring contractors for things like video editing and thumbnail art. More money for production means the potential for making more videos, which (hopefully) means more income.

“Juice Boosts are a game-changer,” Betty Van of YouTube channel Switch and Click said in Creative Juice’s press release about Juice Boosts. “Boosts mean I can invest in the tools and upgrades I need to make my videos better and quicker—so I can invest in things like my studio upgrade NOW instead of later.”

“Creative Juice doesn’t look or feel like a bank, but functionally, we’re solving for creators’ banking needs and also giving them the full-stack tools they need to make it easier to run their businesses,” Gandhi says.

Juice Boosts are fee-free for creators through the end of 2021; it did not disclose what the fee will be from 2022 onward.

Creators interested in Juice Boosts can check them out here.

It’s worth noting that Vancouver-based digital network BBTV also launched an advance AdSense payment program for creators this past week. That program charges a 2% fee.