YouTube lures creators with $10,000 per month to make short videos on its recently launched YouTube Shorts to take on TikTok

The popularity of TikTok is on the rise. The short-video app was developed by Chinese tech company ByteDance. In just four years, TikTok became the most downloaded app. It has been downloaded more than 130 million times in the United States and has reached over 2 billion downloads worldwide. The success of TikTok caught the attention of American big tech companies like Facebook and Google.

As we reported back in March, Facebook launched BARS, a TikTok-like app that lets aspiring rappers create and share their rap music. During the same month, YouTube rolled out its own YouTube Shorts in the US to take on TikTok, but the beta was half-baked.

Now, YouTube is trying to dangle a $10,000-per-month carrot to woe YouTube creators to make videos for the new YouTube Shorts. However, right out of the gate, the outreach fell flat on its face. Here is what one creator said on Twitter, next to the YouTube Twitter ad.

“LITERALLY nobody asked for this. I’m sick of the higher-ups treating Youtube as something it’s not supposed to be, the YOU in the name is now gone. It’s no longer in our control, and you are very vague on your rules. You keep adding/deleting things that hurt/help (1/2). The website. You want us to make money, but you want us to be family-friendly. However, if we are family-friendly, that means the video is put in as a kids video, and we make no money off of it. Oh but SOME swear words are alright, yet we can’t say covid or coronavirus.”

https://twitter.com/Skyler476/status/1425364534399733761

But that does not mean YouTube is throwing the towel. YouTube said it will continue to pay creators up to $10,000 per month for making popular videos on its TikTok competitor. The tech behemoth said it plans a $100 million YouTube Shorts Fund distributed over the course of 2021-2022.

“Each month, we’ll reach out to thousands of creators whose Shorts received the most engagement and views to reward them for their contributions. We’ll also ask these creators to share their feedback with us so we can continue to improve the product experience,” YouTube said in a statement.

However, there is no guarantee that all creators will receive the payouts. YouTube only pays the creators if their videos go viral. The popularity needed to earn money will also depend on just how many people are making and watching Shorts each month, and payouts will also depend on where each creator’s audience is located.

YouTube is also requiring these to be original videos. Reuploads and videos tagged with watermarks from other platforms. “Creators will be eligible to participate if they create original content for Shorts and adhere to our Community Guidelines,” the company added. Any creator that posts videos from other platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, or Reels — will not receive payments.

For now, YouTube said the payments are only available in 10 regions, including the US, UK, India, and Brazil, among others, and YouTube says it plans on expanding that list “in the future.”