TikTok’s “Creative Challenge” pays creators to produce video ads

TikTok is encouraging its community to get creative. The app has announced Creative Challenge, which asks creators to produce video ads in exchange for rewards.

The Creative Challenge hub includes a list of briefs from TikTok’s ad partners. Creators can fulfill those “brand challenges” by uploading video ads that satisfy the terms of the briefs. Those videos will be eligible to run as ads on the For You Feed. Payouts will vary, with TikTok noting that Creative Challenge rewards “are influenced by many factors, including qualified video views, clicks, and conversions.”

@tiktoknewsroom⭐️TikTok Creative Challenge⭐️ A new way for creators to collaborate with brands with full creative freedom! We’re excited to continue recognizing and rewarding creators for their creativity through this new in-app feature.

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♬ original sound – TikTok Newsroom

“Creators are at the heart of TikTok, driving creativity, culture, and entertainment,” reads a blog post introducing Creative Challenge. “Representing a new generation of storytellers, the TikTok community defines culture through their engaging and influential content, building new communities and inspiring audiences, sparking conversations, and driving real-world impact through the latest trends.”

Creative Challenge is reminiscent of Tongal, which rose to prominence by letting brands crowdsource their creative campaigns. In its first decade, Tongal partnered with major media brands to offer five-figure prize pools.

To use TikTok’s version of that service, creators must be at least 18 years old and have a U.S.-based TikTok account that reaches at least 50,000 followers. Qualifying for Creative Challenge is only half the battle. Once they gain access to the feature, creators must deliver “high-quality, well-edited, original content” in order to have their video ads approved.

If making videos for brands isn’t your thing, there’s another new TikTok monetization feature that might be more your speed. The app is expanding its Live Subscriptions, which it launched last year in order to match the primary revenue model on streaming platforms like Twitch. As of today, creators who sell Live Subscriptions will be able to restrict specific videos so that only their subscribers can watch.