Where Are Followers Worth the Most?

Based on our creator income data, we found that creators whose primary platform was:

• YouTube made an average of $1.00 per follower per year
• TikTok made an average of $0.15 per follower per year
• Instagram made an average of $0.29 per follower per year

This isn’t to say you should ditch TikTok and Instagram, but something to think about when planning your monetization strategy for 2025.

Top Monetization Insights and Resources

We covered a ton of monetization topics in 2024. Here are some of the most valuable guides, insights, and resources we shared.

🤝 Brand Deals

Tips:

• Based on our research and data, most creators charge between 2-4% of their following size as a base rate for a sponsored post.
• Use FYPM to see if your rates are on par with the market.
• Know how to convey your value when pitching. Can you share conversion data? Do you have a broadcast channel people interested in the topic? Have people clicked on this brand’s product in your LTK before?
• Don’t diss lowball offers—negotiate them. (I turned a $500 offer into a $2,700 deal simply by sending 1 negotiation email back.)

Resources:

• How much to charge for a brand deal (link)
• How to negotiate higher paying brand deals (link)
• 15 places to get paid brand deals & UGC opportunities (link)

🖥️ Digital Products

Tips:

• Use ManyChat to automate sending viewers the link to purchase your products. It’s increased sales by 9x for some creators.

Resources:

• Complete guide to making $10k+/mo from digital products (link)
• In-depth guide to selling a digital course (link)

🤳🏼 User Generated Content (UGC)

FYI: UGC is creating videos for brands to use in organic or paid media. Think videos for their social media pages or paid ads, but not posted to your page.

Tips:

• Look at example videos from creators like Tran and Emma, then create a few samples of your own.
• Most creators charge around $200-$300/video (for organic use only) based on the rate cards we researches.

Resources:

• Complete guide to making money with UGC (link)
• Follow this X page for UGC opportunities (link)
• The highest-paying UGC opportunities we’ve found (link)

💰 Affiliate Income

Tips:

• Compile your favorites into a guide. Link out with affiliate links. Use ManyChat to automate sending people the link.
• When you link an item on an Instagram story, save it to a highlight so people can easily find and use your affiliate links.

Resources:

• How to maximize your affiliate income (link)

🗣️ Paid Communities

Tips:

• Paid communities are ideal if you have a specific offering that requires new information month-over-month (ie. workout plans, recipes, investing tips, etc.)
• Hosting on Skool is your best bet. It offers the best features for a fair price.
• Most creators charge between $14 and $147 per month, although higher-priced memberships provide more intensive offers (ie. a 1:1 coaching session, weekly mastermind calls, access to courses, etc.)

Resources:

• How creators make $200k/mo with paid communities (link)

TikTok Ban Update

As of writing this newsletter, the status of the TikTok ban is still in limbo. Here’s the most recent update:

• On 12/27, President-elect Trump filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court.
• This document is filed by a third party that is not part of the case to give additional arguments the Court may want to consider.
• Trump argued the Court should issue a pause on the ban.
• His goal is to resolve the case once he takes office. He argued that he is the right person to resolve the dispute through political means.

Watch this video for a breakdown.

Quick Links

🗞️ Top creator economy stories from 2024.

😬 Could the TikTok ban collapse the creator economy?

🧒 The best social media trends from 2024.

This Week in Creator Studio

This week we don’t have a guest, but next Thursday at 4PM EST in Creator Studio (our free Discord community) we’re interviewing Rachel Kisela—a YouTube editor.

In 2023, she was a lead video editor for MrBeast and now edits for creators like HopeScope (5.8M subscribers). Her edits have been featured in CNN, Forbes, Insider, and more.