How every major platform pays creators

It’s a lot to keep track of. 

That’s why it’s understandable if creators looking to monetize their content on their platform of choice are a bit confused, especially since those requirements can also be changed entirely, like the forthcoming changes to YouTube’s thresholds and X’s new original content rewards program. 

Here’s a breakdown of the monetization rules and requirements for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, X, Facebook, and Snap.

Instagram

• Minimum audience threshold: 500 followers to receive fan tips on Reels, a minimum 1,000 followers for Creator Marketplace and Instagram Affiliate (tag products in posts and reels), 10,000 followers for exclusive content and livestream badge
• Minimum activity threshold: Doesn’t appear to be any
• Account requirements: Must be at least 18 years old with a business or creator account in compliance with platform/community guidelines and standards
• Country/region restrictions: Must be on the approved country list for subscriptions, monetization features vary by country. Bonuses limited to the U.S., Japan and South Korea
• Invitation status: Open application except for Bonuses, an invitation-only, performance-based program whereby Meta pays eligible creators directly
• Payout terms: Payout minimum in the U.S. is $5, paid twice a month, outside of the U.S., it’s $100 minimum for wire transfer and $25 minimum for all other payout methods

Meta’s been testing a unified monetization model that combines Reels, videos, photos, and text posts, but it’s currently only available by invitation. Though Instagram and Facebook are both Meta platforms, monetization and audiences vary greatly.

Instagram is still a popular platform for advertisers — particularly for social commerce. There are several pathways to earn money on the platform, with varying degrees of effort required: monthly subscriptions can be lucrative if you build an engaged audience within a niche, or you can have a Reel go viral and earn money through gifts sent by viewers.

TikTok

• Minimum audience threshold: 0 followers for TikTok Shop (but must link to official seller account), 1,000 followers for TikTok Live and video gifts, 1,000 followers for Live subscriptions, 1,000 followers for TikTok Shop Affiliate, 10,000 followers for the Creator Rewards Program, 10,000 followers for the creator marketplace (TikTok One), 10,000 followers for select paywalled content (TikTok Series), and 100,000 followers for premium ads (TikTok Pulse)
• Minimum activity threshold: 100,000 likes and at least three posts in the last 28 days for the Creator Rewards Program, 1,000 views in the last 30 days for TikTok Series, top 4% engagement rank for TikTok Pulse
• Account requirements: Must be at least 18 years old with a personal account in compliance with  platform/community guidelines and standards,
• Country/region restrictions: Must be 19 years old in South Korea, Canada, Australia, and much of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa do not have the Creator Rewards program, TikTok is banned in India, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, and North Korea 
• Invitation status: Open applications except for premium ads, and TikTok One (creators can join the directory via application, but can’t earn until an advertising sends a campaign offer)
• Payout terms: Varies based on country, but typically a $10 minimum in the U.S. paid out once a month

TikTok has quite a few pathways to monetization, but the main fork in the road for creators is deciding if they want to focus on TikTok commerce and earn affiliate revenue or make more traditional content and go for the Creator Rewards Program. Affiliate has a lower barrier for entry, but brand deals and sponsored content will earn more. 

Platform commission per item sold is 9% in the United States, while affiliates can set custom rates. Stack Influence reported that a June 2026 analysis of disclosed creator examples found payouts to be between $362 to $1,035 per 1 million qualified views. 

Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2026 benchmark report stated that TikTok is the most “frequently selected platform for investment intent” at 31% of marketers surveyed. The next most selected platform was Instagram at just 15%. 

YouTube

• Minimum audience threshold: 500 subscribers for fan funding (like Super Chats, channel memberships, and YouTube shopping), 1,000 subscribers for ad revenue and Premium revenue sharing
• Minimum activity threshold: Three uploads in the last three months and 3,000 watch hours in the last year or 3 million public shorts views in the last 90 days for fan funding, 4,000 watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days for ad revenue
• Account requirements: Must be at least 18 years old (or have parental permission), with an account in compliance with platform/community guidelines and standards that has two-step verification on and an active Google AdSense account
• Country/region restrictions: Over 120 countries are included in Google’s monetization offerings, but it suspended all ad services in Russia in 2022, and is banned in countries like North Korea, China, and Iran
• Invitation status: Open application
• Payout terms: $100 minimum (or equivalent in other countries) paid out monthly that will roll over if minimum not met

As previously reported, YouTube is changing its requirements for monetization in February 2027, requiring double the long-form watch hours (8,000 instead of 4,000) and double the Shorts views (20 million instead of 10 million). The platform will also introduce a rolling minimum threshold: 10 million views every 90 days for Shorts creators. If you fall below that threshold, you won’t get kicked out of the YouTube Partner Program, but you also won’t earn anything for those 90 days. 

According to VidIQ, an AI-powered creator support app for YouTube and Instagram, as of late 2025 YouTube takes 45% of ad revenue earnings for long form, and keeps 30% of fan funded revenue like Super Chats. Shorts pays “peanuts.” 

Facebook

• Minimum audience threshold:10,000 followers for in-stream ads and subscriptions, 10,000 followers (or more than 250 returning viewers) 
• Minimum activity threshold: Five active videos and 600,000 total stream minutes in the last 60 days for in-stream ads, 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 watch minutes in the last 60 days for subscriptions
• Account requirements: Must be at least 18 years old (or have parental permission), with a professional or personal account that is at least 20 days old that is in compliance with platform/community guidelines and standards, and must publish authentic, original content
• Country/region restrictions: Facebook monetization offerings are available in 70 countries 
• Invitation status: Currently invite-only
• Payout terms: Payout minimum in the US is $5, paid twice a month, outside of the US it’s $100 minimum for wire transfer and $25 minimum for all other payout methods

Earlier this year, Meta announced its Facebook Creator Fast Track, a program aimed at bringing more creators to the platform with guaranteed payouts no matter their following there — because it was based on their followings on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 

Interestingly, and perhaps because of its storied history involving Russian bots and Congressional hearings, Facebook is one of the few platforms that explicitly states creators can lose monetization eligibility if they post content flagged as misinformation, clickbait, sensationalism, and false news.

In August, Meta agreed to pay an $18 billion settlement over child safety claims and will also implement changes to its products focused on time limits and features available to teens on Instagram and Facebook. This shouldn’t affect monetization, as you have to be 18 years old to earn revenue, but it could affect metrics across the platform.

The platform just rolled out its standalone, AI-powered Creator Studio app, which gives creators personalized tips on how to improve their content and grow their audience. Facebook creator Ronica Rupan told Digiday the app gave her advice on how to improve her voiceover or clip her content to a more watchable length. The first video she adjusted based on Creator Studios’ advice performed 86% better than her previous Reels.

X

• Minimum audience threshold: 500 verified followers 
• Minimum activity threshold: 5 million organic impressions within the last three months
• Account requirements: Be at least 18 years old, have an active Premium, Premium Business, or Premium Organizations subscription, and compliance with the X User Agreement
• Country/region restrictions: Available in 118 countries
• Invitation status: 
• Payout terms: $30 every two weeks

On Sept. 7, X will throw out its old Creator Revenue Sharing program and replace it with the Original Content Rewards Program in to court creators making high quality content and sharing it on the platform.

The new program places emphasis on new ideas and new content, and rewards quality over quantity, according to Allegra Jacchia, creator product lead at SpaceXAI, the parent company of X.

“The revenue share program had run its course,” Jacchia told Digiday. “It was time to send a signal and to make it super clear to high-quality creators, whether they’re small or new or big, that we want to support you.”

The new program will require the same amount of verified followers, and 500,000 home timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days. They must also regularly post “original content.”

Crucially, creators will still need to have an active X subscription (which they have to pay for) to be a part of the new program.

Snap

• Minimum audience threshold: 50,000 followers
• Minimum activity threshold: 10 million Snap views, 1 million Spotlight views, or 12,000 hours of public view within 28 days, posting at least 25 times a month or 10 of the last 28 days
• Account requirements: Be a verified Snap Star, at least 18 years old, and publish meaningfuls, engaging, authentic content 
• Country/region restrictions: Country eligibility varies between the three monetization models (creator midroll ads within stories, spotlight reward program, and lens creator rewards program) 
• Invitation status: Snap Star requires an application, but to be monetized you have to be invited
• Payout terms: $100 and creators can cash out daily 

Snap has a robust revenue system for creators posting on the platform, but it also has a monetization option for those who create AR filters, the Lens Creator Rewards program. For tech savvy creators who build their own lenses, they can earn rewards if other Snap users apply those AR filters to their content. If a Lens reaches 15,000 qualified posters in the first 90 days, they can earn a top performer payout. 

For the creators posting more traditional content, they’ll have to ensure their Spotlight videos (Snap’s answer to TikTok) to qualify to earn revenue, which means they need to be at least 30 seconds long, so ads can be served on them. 

Earlier this year, a creator told Digiday that they never make less than $200 a day on the platform, while another, Abby Berner, said she makes the most on Snap than any other platform, despite having nearly 7 million followers on TikTok. Berner told Digiday she made over a half a million dollars on Snap in 2025.

Twitch

• Minimum audience threshold: 25 followers and an average of three viewers on four different days for Twitch affiliate, an average of 75 viewers across six different streams in two consecutive months for Twitch partner
• Minimum activity threshold: See above
• Account requirements: Over 18 years old (or over 13 with parental permission) and broadcasting content that conforms to community guidelines
• Country/region restrictions: Affiliate is available to join globally, though unavailable in Kenya (tax regulations), South Korea (network fees), and sanctioned countries
• Invitation status: Affiliate invite is sent out after meeting requirements, Partner application is available after meeting requirements 
• Payout terms: $50 minimum for most payout methods, $100 minimum for wire transform, paid out 15 days after the end of the month of revenue being earned (Net15)

In May of this year, Twitch introduced a global rollout of its monetization for all policy. The policy allows any eligible streamer (they don’t need to be an Affiliate or a Partner) to earn through fan funding, like channel points, subscriptions, emotes, badges, and more. However, you cannot get a balance paid out unless you become an Affiliate or a Partner, you can only use the balance to buy things on Twitch. 

The goal, even if it’s not to get creators paid immediately, is to give every creator access to these features (which were normally locked behind Affiliate or Partner) to help grow their community. 

“Our approach to monetization is simple,” said Mike Minton, chief product officer at Twitch. “Give creators more ways to earn earlier in their journey and as they grow. We don’t think a creator needs a massive audience to have built something valuable.”

The platform has several tiers for its revenue sharing, with the standard subscription revenue split sitting at 50/50, with eligible streamers capable of earning a 60/40 or 70/30 split. 

Twitch still has a discoverability problem that makes it hard for smaller creators to earn on the platform, as it prioritizes highlighting streamers with high viewer counts on its home page.