YouTube is King … TikTok is Queen

There is only one rule of accounting club: “Cash is King”. At least that is what Ted Green, my high school business teacher, would tell me. Ted, the spitting image of Gene Wilder, would say things like, “You’re not going to Penn State, but State Penn” or “Forget Yale, how about jail?”. I always looked forward to hearing his pithy comments of the day. However, the one that stuck with me is, “Cash is King”.

It seems like such an obvious statement. But it’s one that many people forget — especially when it comes to social media. God, I hate comments like, “Followers are the new currency.” Try to pay for dinner with your followers. Let me know how it goes. 

Not All Audiences Are Equals

Yes, building an audience makes you money. The larger your audience, the more money you make. But all audiences aren’t equal. This is especially true when it comes to TikTok.

Don’t get me wrong, TikTok rocks! My iPhone tells me I spend 48 minutes a day on the app. Lately, my feed consists of people dancing to Taylor Swift. The words Marry Me Juliet are seared into my head (you only understand that reference if you use TikTok).

But !00,000 followers on YouTube are more valuable than 100,000 followers on TikTok. Let me explain why.

Monetization for Creators

At the moment, there are only two ways to directly monetize on TikTok:

1. Payment through the TikTok Creator Fund

2. Gifts from fans during live videos

Many creators do monetize indirectly through their audience — for example, merchandise, affiliate links and brand partnerships. 

YouTube monetization is more robust. YouTube offers creators five direct ways to monetize their audience:

1. Advertising

2. Channel Memberships — monthly subscription for member-only channels

3. Super Chat and Super Stickers — gifts during live streams

4. Merch shelf — buy official merchandise from the creator through YouTube

5. Subscriptions — YouTube creators earn money from YouTube Premium subscribers based on watch time

This is in addition to other indirect monetization options available to creators. 

A side by side comparison already shows that YouTube is the exceptional platform. It’s deeper than just the monetization options on the surface. It also boils down to user engagement.

YouTube vs TikTok — User Experience

When I use TikTok, I‘m only on the For You page. Yes, I follow people, but I have never gone to the Following tab. I think that the majority of users focus on the For You page.

For TikTok, this user experience gives new content creators hope. Someone with zero followers can go viral overnight. The problem is that building a loyal community is next to impossible. You are constantly vying to make the For You Page.

This is in contrast to YouTube’s experience. YouTube encourages content creators to build a community. It prioritizes users to watch the people they follow over people they don’t follow. Yes, it’s harder to find newer content on YouTube, but the experience centers around the community. 

This makes monetization better in the long-run on YouTube. YouTube encourages consumption of the content creators you follow while TikTok encourages consumption-based on your interest.

TikTok is like a parasite for most content creators. Its algorithm makes TikTok money at the expense of creators.

I write all of this knowing that it’s probably irrelevant. TikTok will be banned in the United States. Even if it’s purchased the algorithm, that drives it, will be forever changed. If anything, I hope the lesson you learn by reading this is that followers don’t equal monetization. Yes, TikTok drives engagement, but it doesn’t build community for content creators. Thus, depriving TikTok creators of maximizing their earning potential. So always remember: “Cash is King.”

Thanks to Jake McGraw and Adam Singer for their thoughts on this essay.

This post was inspired by my podcast with Brian Bosche, TikTok Influencer. Watch on YouTube. Listen on iTunes.