Which social media platform pays the most in 2024?
Which social media platform pays the most in 2024? Whether you're working as a freelancer or part of a wider creative team, here’s what you need to know.
Author: Alec Chillingworth
Date: Sep 1, 2024 • 6 min read
Social media isn’t just fun and games. For content creators and brands, it can be a high-stakes world where careers are made and broken. Let’s find out which social media platform pays the most in 2024.
We'll cover:
Which social media platforms support monetization?
Which social media platform generates the most money?
Which social media platform pays creators best?
Who pays more, TikTok or Instagram?
Which social media platform pays the most for views?
Which social media platform pays the most in 2024, full-stop?
Which social media platforms support monetization?
Before we discuss the ins, outs, and roundabout ways of earning money on social media, let’s start with the basics. Which social media platforms support monetization? Here’s a quick checklist of the main players:
Before we discuss the ins, outs, and roundabout ways of earning money on social media, let’s start with the basics. Which social media platforms support monetization? Here’s a quick checklist of the main players:
YouTube: When you think of content monetization, you probably think of YouTube, right? Unlike most of the platforms we’ll cover, YouTube clearly pays creators per ad view. The value changes depending on the content, but ads aren’t the only way to earn money on YouTube. Subscriptions, Super Chat, and YouTube Shopping all help to top up the ol’ bank.
Facebook: Facebook’s been around longer than all the other platforms on this list, but does it offer the most reliable payouts? It offers monetization via several avenues, including ads, Subscriptions, and the Brand Collabs Manager.
Instagram: Given that Instagram sits under the same parent company as Facebook, its monetization options are pretty similar. Sponsored posts and affiliate marketing are both big drivers on the platform.
X/Twitter: X/Twitter only introduced monetization in 2023, and it comes in two forms: Subscriptions and Ads Revenue Sharing.
Snapchat: Snapchat might not seem super-bankable compared to giants like YouTube and Facebook, but it’s got a few tricks up its sleeve. An official Revenue Share Program, paid partnerships, and other rewards are available on the platform.
TikTok: TikTok offers a surprisingly broad spread of monetization options, including brand partnerships, TikTok Shop, subscriptions, and more.
Twitch: Content creators have made tons of money on Twitch, through a combination of ads, subscriptions, and sponsorships.
Kick: Kick is very similar to Twitch, but offers more competitive payouts.
Pinterest: Even though Pinterest is mainly considered a discovery platform, it still provides monetization via sponsored Pins and affiliate links.
Which social media platform generates the most money?
On paper, the social media platform with the most cash should pay the best, right? Facebook and Instagram are comfortably the two biggest social media platforms in terms of revenue, the former especially leading the charge between 2010 and 2022. That makes sense, given both have been around since the initial social media boom, and are now the two core pillars of Meta’s offering.
YouTube follows in third place, with TikTok and Snapchat trailing behind. But just because Facebook and Instagram make the most money, it doesn’t mean they make you the most money.
Just think of all the experiments and investments Facebook and Instagram pull off. That’s not a bad thing — social media platforms need to change to survive! — but it means that there’s a smaller slice of the pie for creators to nibble on.
Which social media platform pays creators best?
So, which social media platform pays the most money? It’s all on a case-by-case basis, meaning we have to break this down into smaller chunks. But, according to Epidemic Sound’s own research of 1,500 monetizing creators, TikTok is the top platform for generating income. In fact, 30% of respondents said that!
YouTube wasn’t far behind at 25.8%, with Facebook at 16.5%, X/Twitter at 13.1%, and Instagram down at 7.1%. So, despite Facebook and Instagram bringing in the most money, users are making more over on TikTok and YouTube.
Regarding the big bucks, YouTube is the primary source of income for creators earning more than $200,000 per year. However, the main source of income for creators earning under that amount might surprise you — it’s TikTok. Despite coming late to the monetization party, the ByteDance-owned app has more than made up for it.
Who pays more, TikTok or Instagram?
Because of its relatively new position in the market, TikTok is often viewed as a ‘lesser’ way of making money on social media. In 2024, though, that’s just not the case.
Our research shows that monetizing creators rely on TikTok much more heavily than Instagram. Even for content creators making less than $10,000 per year, 28.6% cite TikTok as their primary income source, compared to just 7.3% for Instagram.
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Which social media platform pays the most for views?
The amount of viewers has often been used to gauge how much bank you’re making on social media. But as more payment options become available — gifts, sponsorships, subscription models, and more — the focus on views has slackened. In fact, there’s no concrete way to determine which social media platform pays the most for views.
With that in mind, let’s look at how well the four core social media platforms pay creators, and if they pay per view:
TikTok: TikTok payments aren’t set in stone. Rather, they come from the TikTok Creator Fund, which will soon merge into the TikTok Creativity Program. At the moment, it’s estimated that you can pull in between 2 and 4 cents for every 1,000 TikTok views once signed up to the Creator Fund. The payments on TikTok are significantly lower than on other platforms, as it’s a much more bite-sized, viral beast.
YouTube: Once a video is monetized, established YouTubers can expect to receive around $0.018 per ad view. That means you’ll bank about $18 for every 1,000 ad views on your video, which averages around $3 to $5 for 1,000 video views on YouTube.
Instagram: You don’t get paid per view on Instagram, but can make money by allowing ads on your videos.
Facebook: Facebook’s payments per 1,000 views aren’t cut-and-dry, either. Some folks have reported receiving as little as $1 for 1,000 views, and as much as $10 on the other end of the spectrum.
Which social media platform pays the most in 2024, full-stop?
Knowing which social media platforms pay-per-view and which don’t is a good start. But which social media platform pays the most, full-stop, in 2024? Unfortunately, there’s no definitive answer. Sure, TikTok makes up the largest portion of creators’ income, but that isn’t the case for everyone — TikTok might not be the right home for your content.
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