That TikTok has been a cultural phenomenon has never been in doubt. Every big tech company — Snap, Facebook, Google — has tried its best to create a TikTok rival but to limited success. Now, Google is taking another leaf out of TikTok’s book in order to boost YouTube Shorts — its answer to TikTok — and lure more creators. According to multiple online reports, YouTube has created a $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund, which will pay creators money for creating engaging content.
According to a report by The Verge, YouTube will get in touch with creators on a monthly basis. These will be creators that have the most views and boast of wide-scale engagement. YouTube hasn’t specified how much money will it pay but it did mention that thousands of creators could end up getting paid. Anyone who posts to Shorts remains eligible but the content has to be original.
YouTube Shorts users in India and the US will be eligible to earn from the fund. It’s not clear when the payments will start but they will start this year and run till sometime in 2022.
This isn’t exactly an original idea from Google as TikTok has been doing this for a while now. In July 2020, TikTok had launched a $200 million fund to pay creators for engaging content. Snapchat, which has a TikTok rival called Spotlight, also revealed that it was paying up to $1 million per day to creators.
Despite being banned in India, TikTok remains wildly popular across the world. TikTok’s ban led to the rise of homegrown apps as well as the likes of Instagram and Google trying to cash in on the ‘void’ left by TikTok in India. The $100 million fund is yet another attempt by YouTube and Google to give users an alternative to TikTok and boost their presence in the short video space.
