A startup that capped creator pay · B2C · SideShift customer
Cap a viral creator's monthly pay
Paid ~$4K instead of ~$75K for 180M views; creator left
Failedcreator-ops
What they did
A startup capped a creator's monthly CPM payout; he got ~180M views in two weeks (one 45M-view video) and was paid ~$4K instead of ~$75K uncapped.
What happened
Creator was furious and the startup lost him; guest says the right payment structure would have prevented it.
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Drew Levin - I Studied 1,000,000 UGC Ads, This Is What Will Grow Your App“the startup like didn't want to pay it but like they didn't technically have to pay it but they lost the creator”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Suno: Lean into people hating your category to drive commentsCalled the easiest way to go viral; no numbers
- SideShift: Tie videos to job-market anger: 'I have a master's and can't find a job'Talking-head version got 9.6M views; 6-7 of ~15 early videos hit 150-300K
- Hand creators viral videos to copy; review every post for the first 3 daysCommon to every successful creator campaign he sees
- Hire one manager for every 10 creators to keep them postingEvery long-running successful program has many managers
- Turn the TikToks that already did well into adsCPMs well under $1; also lifts the account's later organic views
- GoWish: Grow an app mainly by running creator TikToks as adsHit #1 on the App Store, secondhand; cheapest acquisition
- Run creator posts as Meta partnership ads with targetingConverts better than TikTok's boosted creator ads in general
- Clue: Have creators post to four platforms; pay for views only on the best oneSpreading among brands; adds reach while hedging pay; no numbers
- Pay creators $800/month for 60 videos, plus view bonuses capped by viewsCPMs fall from $5-8 in month 1 to ~$0.80-0.90 at $100K+/month
- Pay creators only a share of ad spend or sales, nothing up frontOne creator made 35 videos before earning; hurts loyalty
- Brex: Run creator videos as TikTok ads to win B2B customers'Really good results', secondhand; very cheap CPMs
- Post daily 10-minute story videos with the call to action at minute nine'Somehow this is working'; no conversion numbers
- SideShift: Train your own creators with a 6-hour course on making app videosCreators earn ~$10-15K after 1-2 months; early quality complaints
- SideShift: Pay creators yourself when a brand fails to pay themExtreme creator loyalty and referrals; costs up to ~six figures/month
- Suno: Have creator managers also coach the creators#1 in the App Store music category, secondhand