Creators have long expressed disappointment about how they make money from TikTok. Some receive payouts from the short-form video app’s $1 billion Creator Fund, but many others rely solely on brand partnerships. Swaypay, a startup launched in July, tries to provide an additional path: linking creators with advertisers for in-video product placement.
TikTokers who have downloaded the Swaypay app choose products, say a t-shirt or iced drink, from a list of brands working with the startup and include them in their videos alongside the caption #swaypay. The creators then submit the link of their video to the app. The app’s algorithm determines how much, if at all, the creator would receive in cash, which could be a percentage of the product’s price and is determined by the quality of the video and metrics, including how many people watched the video.
