X Ad Revenue Payouts, Instagram's 'Send Gifts' And YouTube's Partner Program: How To Profit From The Changing The Creator Economy

The creator economy has been rapidly growing due to the democratization of content creation and distribution enabled by the Internet and social media platforms. Creators no longer need traditional gatekeepers to access audiences, and this has led to a proliferation of independent content creators across different niches and industries.

Content creators have gone from being niche to mainstream rapidly. An estimate by Goldman Sachs pegs the creator economy to touch the $480 billion mark by 2027, nearly doubling from $250 billion now.

Tech giants Meta Platforms Inc.'s META Instagram and Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL YouTube have been amongst the biggest enablers of this creator economy, now joined by Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter).

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Other platforms that content creators can look at for monetization include TikTok, Twitch, and Substack, among others.

To help you out, we have curated the latest monetization options offered by the top three platforms – X, Instagram, and YouTube.

X (Formerly Twitter)

Elon Musk kickstarted X's ad revenue-sharing program, allowing content creators to monetize the millions of impressions on their tweets. The social media platform has already issued the first batch of payout, with creators reporting receipts ranging between hundreds to thousands of dollars.

X ad revenue sharing eligibility:

• Minimum cumulative impressions of 5 million in the last three months.
• Be an X Premium subscriber.
• Have at least 500 followers.

Once you qualify, you will need to set up a Stripe account for payouts.

X also has the most transparent ad revenue-sharing model as far as eligibility is concerned.

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Instagram

Instagram has a range of monetization solutions, including bonuses, badges, subscriptions, and gifts. Besides this, content creators on Instagram can also become influencers and partner with brands and agencies to publish branded content and earn from it.

That said, while X has a clear set of eligibility thresholds, Instagram has no publicly defined limits just yet.

Some of the monetization options available to content creators on Instagram are:

Badges: Creators can earn from going live on Instagram, with viewers being able to buy badges starting from $0.99 to $4.99. However, this option is invite-only.

Subscriptions: Another invite-only solution, Instagram Subscriptions, allows eligible creators to launch a paid subscription and share exclusive content with their subscribers. This includes posts, stories, chats, and more.

Gifts: Another monetization tool being tested by Instagram is Gifts – as the name suggests, it allows users to tip creators for Reels and Stories.

A general rule of thumb for monetization on Instagram is to consistently create healthy original content, especially when the eligibility thresholds are only partially known.

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YouTube

The YouTube Partner Program is among the longest-running monetization solutions among the three here. Here are the eligibility requirements for the program:

• At least 1,000 subscribers, and,
• 4,000 valid public watch hours (for long-form videos), or,
• 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Once your account becomes eligible, you can apply for the YouTube Partner Program and link an active AdSense account. The YouTube team will then review your channel and decide within one month.

Some of the ways you can earn money from YouTube are:

• Advertisements.
• Shopping.
• Share of YouTube Premium revenue.
• Channel memberships.
• Super Chat and Super Stickers.
• Super Thanks.

For detailed eligibility thresholds, head over to the YouTube support page.

Image Source – Shutterstock

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