Content creators across TikTok are abandoning the platform’s Creator Rewards Program in droves after experiencing dramatic payment cuts that many attribute to the app’s recent ownership transition from ByteDance to U.S. companies.
Creators who once earned thousands of dollars monthly from their content are now reporting payments that amount to mere pennies, regardless of view counts. One creator detailed how their revenue per thousand views (RPM) plummeted from a consistent 50 to 60 cents down to just four or five cents, representing nearly a tenfold decrease with no changes to their content quality or production.
The financial impact has been severe across the board. A creator who previously earned $5,000 monthly reported their income dropping to essentially nothing, with some videos generating only one cent RPM despite strong performance metrics. Another documented earning just $123 from a video that received 16 million views with a 10% completion rate, while a significantly smaller creator earned substantially more from fewer views on similar content.
“I went from making $5,000, $6,000 a month on this app to making $800, $900 posting the same videos, same content, same everything,” explained one creator with 800,000 followers, who has pivoted to focusing on brand partnerships and TikTok Shop commissions instead of relying on creator payments.
The timing of these cuts has not gone unnoticed. Multiple creators point to the platform’s acquisition by Oracle and subsequent U.S. oversight as the turning point. During the 2020-2022 period under Chinese ownership, creators regularly earned RPMs of $1 to $3, with some reporting monthly incomes in the six-figure range. Those days appear to be over.
“We were making livable wages off of TikTok alone,” one creator noted, describing how RPMs that once reached $2 to $3 have now dropped to 20 to 30 cents at best, with many videos earning far less.
The situation is particularly challenging for part-time creators who maintain full-time employment and used TikTok as supplemental income. Many are now forced to seek additional work or overtime hours to compensate for lost revenue. Even creators posting 20 to 30 videos daily are struggling to generate meaningful income under the new payment structure.
Beyond reduced payments, creators also report increased content moderation and widespread video disqualification from monetization. Videos that perform well organically are frequently excluded from earning potential, with TikTok providing little explanation or recourse through their dispute channels.
Some creators have found success moving to alternative revenue streams, including TikTok Shop promotions, brand partnerships, and travel sponsorships. However, many are migrating their content to platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, where monetization remains more consistent and transparent.
With these changes, it seems like platform’s golden era of creator compensation has ended, leaving thousands questioning whether their time investment still makes financial sense.
