The Battle for Short-Form Content Monetization Is Just Getting Started

I feel like gamers, and content creators are only scratching the surface with what they can do with their content. With TikTok increasing their CreatorFund to $1 Billion, I feel like the battle for creators is only beginning. This means it's time to ramp up the frequency and posting. Not only are there big brand deals out there, but I think TikTok and Instagram will soon start to compete at the same level of YouTube in terms of CPMs and payouts. Right now, both of those platforms are rolling out new features to monetize purely off of views and streams, and that is only going to continue.

Advertisers are only spending more, let’s pay the creators keeping users scrolling on those ads.

This is because social platforms are going to have to start competing in a major way for users eyeballs on their platforms. Also, they will most likely see a hit in their ad revenue due to new privacy laws. Even though ad spending will still be monstrous, it will probably be a slightly smaller monster due to the inability to track conversions going forward. Google is going to have cross this bridge sometime in the next few years. They already are beginning to with GoogleAnalytics4, emphasizing engagement instead of conversions. Either way, at this point, social platforms are probably as saturated as you are going to get.

Facebook isn't getting bigger, for example, and new users aren't just springing up out of nowhere. The platforms that are getting bigger, like TikTok, are only gaining new users from existing users on other platforms, not people just discovering social media. These are people leaving Facebook for TikTok, for example. The gold mine of new user acquisition is drying up. One hundred million people won't just pop into existence tomorrow to create a new social media profile. It is more or less the same problem with subscription services. They are all fighting over the same users, which is why Netflix is even considering an ad supported platform -- to compete

The top creators can earn a living off of their content, but once that opens up even more, the possibilities are endless.

So, how to get people to create content and keep eyeballs on the platform to view all of those ads people and companies are going to be spending big money on? Pay the people creating the content to keep them creating content! YouTube creators are getting burned out from long-form content, hence the advent of YouTube Shorts, and creators want a more efficient way to create and earn. Not only that, they want to earn money they can eat off of from the content they are posting. Platforms need to create the incentive outside of just gaining followers. The world of short-form content is slowly emerging from this burn out, and it is time social media platforms open up the books to create real incentive for those creators and gamers generating those billions of views to keep people scrolling on their feeds.

It's happening now. You can earn tens of thousands of dollars per year, if not more, on Instagram and TikTok if you have the followers. Once that starts getting into the millions like it is on YouTube, the floodgates will truly open. It's time to start building for that future now.

It’s time for social platforms to share more of that ad revenue.