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Before Jack Nader started posting beauty videos on TikTok in 2023, he was working as a Starbucks bartender in Chicago and lives at home with his parents.
But after Nader, now 21, started taking his videos seriously in April of that year, his TikTok account skyrocketed. With over half a million followers, he was able to generate enough income through brand sponsorships and his share of advertising revenue that he quit his coffee shop gig and bought his own apartment.
“This is my 9-to-5 job,” Nader, who said he earns between $1,000 and $12,000 per month as a creator, told CNBC. “This is what I do for a living. This is how I pay for my groceries. This is how millions of small businesses make their money.”
Nader’s new reality, however, is far from stable. TikTok, which belongs to China’s ByteDance, is close to a deadline of January 19 by which it should be sold, or makes a ban in the United States Like many other creators who have come to rely on TikTok, Nader urged his fans to find him on other social media apps before he potentially loses them entirely and the substantial income stream that they represent
“Not all of them my TikTok The sequel will come, and that’s really sad,” Nader said.
The TikTok risk has been present for years, but it was amplified in April, then President Joe Biden signed a law which requires ByteDance to divest the short-form video app this month. If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok on time, Apple and Google they will be forced by law to ensure that their platforms no longer support the app in the United States
President-elect Donald Trumpwho advocated a ban on TikTok during his first administration, has since flip-flopped on the matter. At the end of last month, he I urged the Supreme Court to step in and forcefully delay the implementation of Biden’s ban to give time to find a “political solution.” Its inauguration is on January 20.
Trump’s rhetoric on TikTok has begun to backfire on him meeting in February with billionaire Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor and a major investor in ByteDance who also has a stake in the owner of Social truthTrump’s social media company.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments from both sides on January 10. During the more than two-hour session, the judges peppered TikTok’s chief lawyer with questions about the app’s ties to China and seemed generally unconvinced by TikTok’s main argument, that the law violates the free speech rights of their millions. of individual users in the United States
On Thursday, entrepreneur Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Freedom announced that it had submitted a proposal to buy TikTok from ByteDance. Calling it, “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” the group said it would restructure the app to exist on an American-owned platform and prioritize users’ digital security, although it has not did not disclose the terms of his offer.
Jack Nader, 21, from Chicago, is a full-time TikTok creator who started moving his content from the Chinese-owned app onto Meta’s Instagram Reels and Alphabet’s YouTube Shorts.
Courtesy of Jack Nader
A decision could come at some point. Nader isn’t waiting for a resolution to figure out what’s coming.
He currently downloads four or five of his TikTok videos every day to save them while he migrates his content to of Meta Instagram Reels is The alphabet YouTube shorts. After downloading the videos, Nader re-edits them, optimizing the clips for each app.
“It took me over a year and a half to build the following I have now on TikTok to make it my full-time job,” Nader said. “Now it’s about rebuilding the whole brand on another platform, which is not ideal.”
Nader said he hasn’t made any money from Reels or Shorts yet.
“This is not just a stupid app”
Danisha Carter, 27, is in a similar place. A resident of Los Angeles, Carter has been a full-time creator since 2021, posting social commentary and lifestyle videos. Although she had known about the ban on TikTok for months, she said she had a wake-up call in the middle of the night in November.
“I need to start taking this seriously before I lose access to the platform I’ve built and the followers I’ve built,” Carter said, recalling his panicked realization. “I need to stop wasting time.”
Carter, who previously worked in luxury retail, is done his TikTok videos telling her followers they can find her on YouTube, Instagram and Patreon.
“This is not just some stupid app that people used to post dance videos,” said Carter, who earns about $4,000 a month on average from his TikTok business. “It’s been remarkable in terms of changing people’s lives, changing people’s businesses.”
Danisha Carter, 27, of Los Angeles, is a full-time TikTok creator who started by finishing her videos by asking her fans to follow her on YouTube, Instagram and Patreon before the January 19th law that banning Chinese-owned apps is in effect.
Courtesy of Danisha Carter
TikTok could still find a way to remain operational in the United States, but if the app is suspended, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are ready to be the biggest winners in the fall, experts predict.
TikTok has about 115 million monthly active users in the United States, far behind YouTube at 258 million and Facebook at 253 million, according to the market intelligence company. Sensor tower. Instagram has 131 million. Short videos, the kind that imitate clips on TikTok, gain a view of these apps, representing about 41% of the user’s time on Instagram, data from Sensor Tower shows.
While TikTok has a smaller user base in the United States and a lower share of total advertising dollars than its main rivals, it is the dominant platform for creators, especially those focused on short-form content.
Influencer marketing platform HyperAuditor defines a creator as a user with more than 1,000 subscribers. TikTok has nearly 8.5 million people in the United States who fit that category, compared with about 5.2 million on Instagram and 1.1 million on YouTube, according to HyperAuditor.
Meanwhile, TikTok accounts for 9% of digital advertising spending on social media platforms in the US, according to Sensor Tower, compared to 31% for Facebook, 25% for Instagram and 21% for YouTube.
If TikTok were to go away, “this equates to potentially billions of dollars up in the air for competitors to grab,” Sensor Tower told CNBC in an email. Emarketer estimates that Meta and YouTube could capture about half of the reallocated dollars if a ban goes into effect.
This kind of market change has happened elsewhere. India has banned TikTok in June 2020, when the app had about 150 million monthly users in the country. A year later, Instagram’s monthly active users in India had increased by 20% while YouTube had increased by 11% annually, according to Sensor Tower estimates.
“That’s when we saw the biggest jump in Reels usage ever,” said Meghana Dhar, a former Instagram executive who was at the company at the time of the ban in India. “If TikTok is banned and creators have to scramble, between YouTube Shorts and Instagram, many creators are already hedging their bets.”
At Meta, Instagram executives planned numerous impromptu meetings on Friday after hearing oral arguments before the Supreme Court, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. Although many at the company have long expected TikTok to remain active in the United States, Instagram executives have begun directing their teams to prepare for a potential influx of users should the ban go through, the person said. who asked not to be named due to confidentiality. .
(L-R) Sarah Baus of Charleston, SC, holds a sign that reads “Keep TikTok” as she and fellow content creators Sallye Miley of Jackson, Mississippi, and Callie Goodwin of Columbia, SC, stand outside the Building of the Supreme Court of the United States as a court. hear oral arguments to overturn or delay a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the United States on January 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
It is necessary to diversify
Kristina Nolan, vice president of media services at marketing agency DMi Partners, said that TikTok’s situation is the latest example of why social media creators must always diversify their following.
“We always remind them to create the depth of the audience on other platforms,” said Nolan, whose agency works with more than 50,000 creators.
In recent weeks, DMi has seen more of its creators begin migrating followers elsewhere in a variety of ways, Nolan said. But they have to be careful. Nolan said some creators worry that TikTok will “shadow ban” them, or reduce their exposure to users, if the technology recognizes that they are promoting profiles elsewhere.
Some creators will suggest that followers find them on “fbook”, for example, instead of typing Facebook. Others type just enough words to get the message across to their followers while hoping to avoid TikTok’s detection, Nolan said. Some creators team up with brands to incentivize users by holding prizes gifts for users who follow them in other apps, he added.
“Obviously they’re not saying, ‘Come on Instagram,'” Nolan said. “They’re like, ‘Go follow me,’ and they’re mouthing it.”
After working on a horse farm, Nealie Boschma, 27, was able to move to Los Angeles and live full-time as a creator after starting to post videos to TikTok in 2022.
Courtesy of Nealie Boschma
Even with many other options to find a large audience, creators are worried about trying to rebuild their business and whether enough followers will migrate with them.
“What’s going to happen is going to happen, and we’re just going to make the most of it,” said Nealie Boschma, 27, of Los Angeles, who has been living as a full-time creator since 2022. “This is just . how I’m going to watch it, because I don’t panic.”
Despite the potential upheaval, Boschma said he sees the potential ban as an opportunity to expand his career and become more creative.
Boschma started doing it TikTok videos after quitting his job working on a horse farm, choosing to live off his savings while experimenting as a creator. Boschma’s bet on himself worked and he earned enough to live in Los Angeles, paying for his own place and a car.
Now she makes sure her TikTok fans see links to her other profiles so they can find her on other apps, including YouTube. If the ban passes, Boschma said she plans to make a video specifically asking her fans to follow her elsewhere.
It will be a great lift, as he currently has 2 million followers on TikTok compared to only 278,000 on YouTube. But Boschma said he’s going to try his hand at making longer-form videos, something he’s always wanted to explore.
“Whether TikTok goes away or not, I think something will work,” Boschma said. “I will find my place in other places, like I did in TikTok.”
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