How to pay creators fairly and safely

1 The bottom line

Pay a small base for the work, add view bonuses that do not stack, and never pay a CPM above what a thousand views earn you. Creators feel paid for their work, and your cost per view stays below what those views earn.

2 Key takeaways

• Set your CPM ceiling from your revenue per thousand views. Paying above it guarantees a loss.
  • Evan Yadegari, Locked9:38 has an RPM of $3 to $4 and runs CPMs of about $1 to $2.
• Pay a base for the work and a bonus for views. The base values the creator's time and the bonus rewards a hit.
  • Dillion Verma, Halo AI34:00 offered a choice between CPM and milestone bonuses, with CPM paying slightly more. 29 of 30 creators chose milestones.
• Make milestone bonuses non-stacking. You pay for milestones, not for every view in between.
  • Halo's milestone structure averages under $1 CPM, because creators are not paid for the views between milestones Dillion Verma, Halo AI34:00.
  • Above $30 to 50k a month in spend, the free views after a video's bonus window add up to a lot of money Drew Levin, SideShift43:42.
• Add a minimum view clause set below what the creator claims. It keeps you profitable even when videos underperform.
  • Creators who claimed 1 million views got clauses at 700,000 to 800,000 Alfie Dickens, Cal AI10:19.
• Pay viral hits in full, with no caps that make creators feel cheated. A cap saves a little now and loses the creator.
  • One creator got 180 million views in 2 weeks but was capped at about $4k instead of roughly $75,000, and the startup lost him Drew Levin, SideShift45:06.
  • The highest single payout at Nomad Table was about $8,000 in a month, from around 8 million views Jay, Nomad Table43:18.

You want the creators to feel like they're winning.

Drew Levin, SideShift

2.1 Set your ceiling before you set any price

Work out what a thousand views earn you, and treat that number as the most you will ever pay.

• Work out your revenue per thousand views and never pay a CPM above it Jake Castillo, Cal AI33:40.
  • Set each creator's rate from the views you can reasonably expect from them. Some will say no, and that is fine.
  • Work out RPM from your download-to-subscription conversion and your plan price Evan Yadegari, Locked9:38.
  • Locked converts a bit over 10%, about 10 downloads per subscription, on a $30 a year or $7 a week plan Evan Yadegari, Locked9:38.
  • Cal AI measured RPM by watching download and sales spikes after a single creator post. That was easy early on, when influencers were the only channel Jake Castillo, Cal AI33:40.
• Set the CPM from the cost per install you are willing to pay, then adjust levers like views per post Nic Weber, Noise10:41.
  • Give creators a ready format and assets, so they only curate an account and post on a schedule.
  • Noise averages about 30 cent installs on its own platform.
• Budget a high CPM in month one and expect it to fall Drew Levin, SideShift46:17.
  • Plan for CPMs of $5 to $8 at first, because retainers cost more per view while the first creators underperform.
  • Expect them to drop below $3 by month three, and toward sub $1 if the product has viral potential.
  • It takes a month or two to find your first three solid creators. Programs spending over $100,000 a month typically run sub 80 to 90 cent CPMs.

2.2 Test small before you commit

Spend a small, limited budget to find what works before you pay anyone big money.

• Start with a batch of about 20 creators on a one-month trial Melissa Cash, Pok Pok34:45.
  • Expect roughly four or five hits out of 20.
  • Give each creator a month, such as one video a day, with view thresholds to keep going. Pay per video with bonuses tied to engagement, so downside stays limited.
  • Pok Pok now works with 30 to 50 regular creators, and the program has scaled quarter over quarter for almost a year.
  • Pep AI's trial is four posts, four story posts and a link in bio. Pay is based on views and engagement, not follower count, about $200 for roughly 5,000 views per video. If they perform, move to a 3-month deal and raise pay Cedric Roberge, Pep AI15:25.
• Use a $2,000 to $4,000 budget in month one to solve one problem, content market fit Nick Lawton, SideShift8:12.
  • Pay $600 to $800 for 30 to 60 videos, which gives enough volume to test formats.
  • Many people quit UGC early because they overlook this validation phase.
• Pay a high CPM while you find formats, then move proven formats to base plus performance Matt Espinoza, Clover Labs28:15.
  • For pure clone content, weight the pay toward base.
  • Some campaigns pay $3 per post with a 3.5 CPM, while others pay a much higher CPM and no base.
• Pay a small amount up front to show the deal is real.
  • Send about $100 to a promising creator before the work. It shows this is not a scam, and a couple of creators will take it and vanish, which is a cost of doing business Alex, Boost App Social16:15.
  • Pay new creators $40 for a first video. It lowers the fear of flopping and gets them to keep posting Dris, Methods1:56.
  • Only one or two creators ran with Alex's money. Methods has paid out over $500,000 to creators, with a little over 50K on the platform.

2.3 Build the pay structure

Pay a base for the work, then add view bonuses that you control.

• Pay a guaranteed base plus a view bonus.
  • A $600 base retainer plus a $1 to $2 CPM has been the most fruitful structure for creators. Leave the CPM uncapped to reward virality, or cap it a little to stay profitable Nick Lawton, SideShift8:33.
  • Per-video fees can start low and rise with reliability: $30 to $40 for newer creators and $80 to $100 for reliable ones Ryan Thorpe, Flo39:27.
  • Ryan Thorpe adds a flat bonus at 50K or 100K views, and $200 to $1,000 when a video really works as an ad. Fixed fees kept creators loyal because they were paid for the work.
  • StudyFetch pays $100 for every 100,000 views, on top of base rates that have ranged from $50 to $2,500 per video Kieran, StudyFetch40:48.
  • A simple bonus tier also works. Pay a $250 base and another $250 if the video reaches 250,000 views Evan Yadegari, Locked14:40.
• Make milestone bonuses non-stacking, so a creator earns only the highest tier reached.
  • Pingo pays a base fee per video, then bonuses at 50k, 100k, 200k, 500k and 1 million views Morrie Schonfeld, Pingo34:50.
  • Halo pays a $20 base per video, then roughly $60, $200, $500 and $800 extra at 20K, 100K, 500K and 1M views. Only one post per video needs to hit the milestone Dillion Verma, Halo AI34:00.
  • At Pingo, a creator at 200,000 views gets the $100 tier, not $150.
  • The best programs pay about $800 a month for 60 videos plus non-stacked bonuses. A creator who hits 100k and then 1M gets the $1,000 bonus, not $1,100. Four months earlier the popular structure was a $400 base plus a $2 CPM Drew Levin, SideShift43:42.
• Use a decreasing CPM instead of a flat one Nicole, Glam Up and Sprout49:00.
  • Pay $10 to $30 per post plus view-threshold bonuses.
  • For example, 10K views earns $40, 50K earns $50, 100K earns $80 and 1M earns $800. She says this usually works best.
  • A flat CPM would pay $10 at 10K views, $100 at 100K and $1,000 at 1M.
• Add a one-time 20% affiliate commission on top of the retainer Cedric Roberge, Pep AI21:55.
  • It is usually 20% of subscription sales, paid once and not recurring.
  • Creators post more than asked and are quick to promote new features, because it raises their own earnings.

2.4 Add safeguards to the contract

A few clauses limit your downside without making creators feel cheated.

• Use a minimum view clause as your default deal.
  • When a creator says they can get a million views, agree and set the paid floor lower. They cannot back down from their own claim, and a realistic floor means they hit it every month without stress Alfie Dickens, Cal AI10:19.
  • Pay a flat fee per post, such as $1,000 with a 500,000 view clause. If the first video misses, the creator keeps posting until videos collectively reach the benchmark Evan Yadegari, Locked15:44.
  • Set the view number from a $1 to $2 CPM, so an $800 deal gets a 400,000 to 800,000 view clause.
  • Without a minimum, a flop leaves both sides unhappy: the creator doesn't profit and the app gets no downloads. Cal AI saw this fail in earlier apps, when a creator refused the minimum and the video missed Daniel Heintzman, Cal AI13:42.
• Offer a proportional payout if a creator wants to stop early Evan Yadegari, Locked16:11.
  • The high full amount stays the target, so creators are motivated to reach it.
  • On a $400 deal with a 400,000 view clause, a creator who stops at 50,000 views is still paid $50.
• Track every creator and every kind of view.
  • Give each creator a tracked link in bio and a creator code, to see clicks, downloads and subscriptions per creator. Use the data to keep strong creators and renegotiate with weaker ones at a lower price Cedric Roberge, Pep AI9:02.
  • Never pay view bonuses on sparked views. Track organic and sparked views separately and make that explicit in the contract Drew Levin, SideShift29:47.
  • If creators cross-post to several platforms, pay the bonus only on the one that did best. You pay once even if all four do well Drew Levin, SideShift40:10.
  • In Drew's example, a video with 800,000 organic views is sparked to 200,000 more, and the creator may feel owed a bonus on the paid views.
• Sign perpetual rights contracts with every creator Alex, Boost App Social11:57.
  • You never have to renew a contract to keep running an ad. Include the right to edit, trim and mix and match their footage.
  • Without it, a creator whose ad goes viral can ask for 100k. The 300 signed perpetual contracts and creatives transferred with the company in the sale.

2.5 Keep creators happy as you scale

Fair payouts and rising pay for proven creators keep your best talent.

• Do not cap payouts in ways that make creators feel cheated.
  • Brands sometimes cap monthly pay or time-cap bonuses. Creators are sensitive, and a cap can cost thousands later Drew Levin, SideShift45:06.
  • Track views on old posts for about 3 months, which most people do not do. The huge payout stings, but the subscriptions from those views repay it Jay, Nomad Table43:18.
  • Jay's reason is simple: "I just like to be fair." Fairness builds a strong relationship with creators.
• Treat creators as partners and pay bonuses when you win Jake Castillo, Cal AI7:45.
  • Build personal relationships early, while you have the time. Creators who feel valued iterate on content, take extra requests and refer other creators.
  • Give unrequested bonuses when a creator crushes a month. Almost no one does this.
  • Dawson Gibbs iterated on formats without charging for every extra. That let Cal AI find a format to copy across millions of fitness influencers.
• Raise pay for reliable creators, and flex for top talent.
  • The more reliable a creator was at making viral content, the more Flo paid them, which kept them long term Ryan Thorpe, Flo39:27.
  • Praktika's country coaches manage the roster, so they can change the structure for a strong creator Adam Turaev, Praktika46:41.
  • Do not outprice the market for ordinary creators. A creator with sub $2 CPMs on every campaign is worth a big retainer, and Drew would pay $10,000 in month one Drew Levin, SideShift48:25.
  • A study tool paid one TikTok creator with about 100k followers and got about $20k MRR from one video on a brand new account.
  • Influencer retainers for a new account run about 10 to 20 times a UGC creator's pay. One deal was roughly $10,000 a month for a video a day from a creator with about 750,000 followers Kieran, StudyFetch15:44.
• Pay more per deal as people come to know your app Alfie Dickens, Cal AI12:48.
  • Early on, keep CPMs very low to get as many first views as possible, since buyers need around seven exposures.
  • Once people recognise the app, a creator using it converts better, so you can pay more and stay profitable.
  • Cal AI's influencer deals became more profitable over time, even as it saturated the fitness niche.
  • Timing posts around a trending moment can make an expensive deal cheap. Cal AI posted with a famous reality TV creator just before and after a new season, and the CPM came out really low Alfie Dickens, Cal AI28:56.

2.6 Where they disagree

The right structure depends on how proven your app is and how much risk you can carry.

• Flat fees versus pure CPM.
  • Jake Castillo, Cal AI30:50 prefers flat fees based on a creator's average views, because they keep all the upside of a viral hit. One creator posted 10,000 to 12,000 views for two months, then had a 7 million view video.
  • Jay, Nomad Table38:46 pays mostly on views at $1 to $2 CPM with no retainer. It only works if creators believe your app gets views, so show them your own viral videos first. If you cannot prove it yet, start with retainers.
  • Ryan Thorpe, Flo39:27 says the market has moved toward CPM-only deals, though fixed fees kept his creators loyal.
• Paying on ad spend or revenue.
  • Canyon, Sideshift51:33 says to pay a percentage of ad spend or revenue driven for paid creative, because retainers can flop and CPM deals can pay for viral videos that never convert.
  • Nick Lawton, SideShift35:25 pairs a retainer with a percentage of ad sales, which draws in TikTok Shop creators who know the model.
  • Drew Levin, SideShift41:07 warns against pure performance pay. It puts all the risk on creators and makes loyalty hard to build.
  • One of Drew's creators made 35 unique e-commerce videos before earning a dollar, because they barely ran as paid.
• Hard caps on payouts.
  • Evan Yadegari, Locked9:38 uses CPM deals with a hard cap, such as $500, so a runaway video cannot blow the budget.
  • Drew Levin and Jay (both cited above) pay viral hits in full, because a capped creator can feel cheated and leave.
• Equity deals.
  • A 50% stake keeps a creator inventing new formats as old ones dry up, and 70% of that content's views came from non-followers. Casper says equity should follow business sense, not technical skill Casper, Payout51:00.
  • George made the top wrestling creator a 50/50 partner. He suggests setting minimum posts and vesting, which he skipped by luck George, Wrestle AI8:23.
  • Casper's third app gave the developer only 15%. The pre-order George's partner hyped brought $8K in the first week.