Business of Creators 💬

Stay ahead of the curve in the creator economy...

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As TikTok pushes for minute plus videos, making money gets a little complex

Hank Green’s latest video, detailing his earnings from shortform content, highlights some intricacies across multiple platforms and CPMs amidst TikTok’s latest call for minute plus videos. 

Analyzing three short-form, swipeable video platforms in the video, Green dissects their monetary models. YouTube's Shorts wants brevity but monetizes based on existing relationships, striving for stability without pumping in extra money. Instagram Reels pushes creators toward self-monetization, lacking a clear revenue structure, frustrating Hank due to constant changes.

TikTok, however, entices longer content creators, incentivizing through the Creativity Program Beta with high CPMs for videos over a minute long. While TikTok offers substantial revenue potential, complexities arise in defining qualified views and market locations. Despite its allure, Hank acknowledges TikTok's struggles in traditional advertising due to its format's nature, leading the platform towards social commerce. TikTok Shop emerges, allowing creators to sell directly on the app, capitalizing on its addictive nature, albeit creating concerns about quality control and potential scams. Hank observes TikTok's shift towards monetization strategies, progressively worsening the platform experience for revenue gains, leaving room for competitors like YouTube and Instagram to vie for market share in this evolving landscape.

Adobe's derailed $20bn Figma acquisition

Adobe and Figma recently decided to part ways, scrapping their $20 billion merger agreement due to mounting pressure from UK and EU regulators. This termination prompts Adobe to pay Figma a $1 billion cash fee. While both companies expressed disagreement with the regulators' findings, Adobe's CEO, Shantanu Narayen, affirmed their decision to move forward independently, emphasizing their individual market potentials and aims to revolutionize digital experiences.

Regulators highlighted concerns about Adobe's near-monopoly in design software, resisting the merger due to fears of stifling innovation in the thriving Figma platform. Despite Adobe's rebuttals against these concerns, regulatory bodies in the UK and EU pushed back, suggesting significant asset divestments as a remedy. The mounting pressure, including probes from multiple regulatory authorities, led to the termination. Figma's CEO, Dylan Field, expressed disappointment, citing extensive efforts to address regulatory differences but ultimately seeing no path to approval.

TikTok’s e-commerce holiday hurdle

Amidst the holiday rush, creators dive into TikTok’s e-commerce fray, pushing products through videos, but the TikTok Shop, a new feature for commerce, stalls in the EU while flourishing in the US, UK, and Asia. 

The reason behind this lag might be the impending Digital Markets Act (DMA), an EU law poised to impose stringent curbs on tech giants like TikTok, regulating data use for targeted advertising and product selling. TikTok faces a labyrinthine tangle with the DMA: it mandates user consent for ad targeting, possibly slashing ad effectiveness and hinting at TikTok’s potential testing of an ad-free app in October, akin to Meta Platforms’ strategy.

The DMA poses a potential snag for TikTok's e-commerce aspirations in the EU's expansive market. The law's ad targeting rule could hinder merchants' attempts to promote products through shoppable ads on European feeds, while also curbing ByteDance's ability to leverage seller data for in-house products or favoritism in user feeds. This regulatory hurdle, coupled with TikTok's mammoth spending to allure US creators and address Indonesian regulatory issues, might contribute to the delayed TikTok Shop rollout. ByteDance's appeal against TikTok's "gatekeeper" label under the DMA complicates matters further, leaving creators eyeing Europe's holiday shopping season in a state of suspense.

Platform round-up

Leverage the latest updates and features across digital platforms to help you get ahead of the game…

YouTube makes converting longform videos into Shorts better. You’ll now see layout options for different kinds of split-screen videos, with the ability to pan and zoom on specific parts of the screen.

X announces integration with StreamYard for livestream broadcasts. The update will provide more broadcasting options for your livestreams.

TikTok launches improved experience on tablets and foldable devices. The update will improve experiences on larger screens.

More reads

• How much a travel creator earns from 7 income streams, from brand partnerships to selling memberships.

• 8 predictions for AI in 2024.

• 2023 in social media: the case for the fediverse.