What TikTok, Reels and Shorts pay per 1,000 views

Published 15 November 2026 · by UGC Pocket

The three programs side by side

The rules are official; the reported figures are estimates from the press and creator-tool sites.

TikTok: the Creator Rewards Program

Per TikTok's help center, you must be at least 18 (19 in South Korea), have a personal account (business accounts are not eligible), at least 10,000 followers, at least 100,000 video views in the last 30 days, and post original videos that are at least one minute long. The program terms are published for Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the UK and the US.

Only videos posted after you are accepted can earn, and each one starts earning at 1,000 qualified For You views. A qualified view is a unique view from the For You feed watched for more than 5 seconds. Paid, promoted, fraudulent and "not interested" views are excluded. Duets, Stitches and lightly edited reposts are not original.

The Standard Reward is qualified views multiplied by the RPM, the average reward per 1,000 qualified views. TikTok says the RPM depends on watch time, search traffic, your region and your viewers' region, engagement, and ad watch time. Payments go out on the 15th of the month once the balance reaches $10.

What it pays in practice: Influencer Marketing Hub (updated 1 October 2026) and Descript (updated 29 July 2026) both report about $0.40 to $1.00 per 1,000 views. Descript attributes it to creator reports; neither names a dataset. At those rates, 100,000 qualified views would be $40 to $100.

Sources, checked 15 November 2026: TikTok, Creator Rewards Program, TikTok, How rewards work, Influencer Marketing Hub, Descript.

YouTube Shorts: revenue sharing in the Partner Program

The expanded Partner Program (500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days or 3,000 watch hours in 12 months) gives fan funding and Shopping, not a share of ad revenue. Ad revenue needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days or 4,000 watch hours in 12 months. You also need an eligible country, a linked AdSense account and no active Community Guidelines strike.

Each month, revenue from ads between videos in the Shorts Feed is pooled. Part of it covers music licensing. The rest, the creator pool, is split by each creator's share of engaged views on monetizing Shorts, country by country. The creator keeps 45% of what is allocated to them.

YouTube announced on 10 August 2026 new terms that take effect on 1 February 2027. New applicants will need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days; this entry bar does not affect channels already in the program. From the same date, every channel, members included, will need 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days to share in Shorts revenue. Channels below it stay in the program and keep earning on long videos.

vidIQ (updated 28 May 2026) reports $0.03 to $0.10 per 1,000 Shorts views after YouTube's share, although its own summary box says $0.01 to $0.06. AIR Media-Tech, working on 274 channels (updated 16 September 2026), reports medians of $0.07 to $0.20 in most niches, music being higher, and about $0.33 for US audiences in its partner data. One million Shorts views at $0.03 to $0.10 would be $30 to $100, but from 1 February 2027 only for a channel that has 10 million qualified Shorts views over 90 days.

Sources, checked 15 November 2026: YouTube Partner Program overview, expanded Partner Program, Shorts revenue sharing, YouTube blog, 2027 updates, vidIQ, AIR Media-Tech.

Instagram Reels: bonuses by invitation

Instagram does not run an open program that pays per 1,000 Reels views. Its creator site says bonuses reward the performance of reels and photos, including carousels, and that they are "limited time and invite-only". It does publish minimums: the reels bonus needs at least 5 million views over the previous 3 consecutive calendar months and is only available in the US and South Korea, and an invitation requires being at least 18, having a professional account, and being located and taxed in Japan, South Korea or the US. Meeting them does not guarantee an invitation, and no rate is published. Its other ways to earn (badges, gifts, subscriptions, branded content) are paid by fans or brands, not by views.

Sites that print an "Instagram pay per 1,000 views" figure do not show where it comes from, so we leave it out. A Reel earns nothing from Instagram on its own unless you are invited to a bonus.

Sources, checked 15 November 2026: Instagram for Creators, Bonuses.

Why the same 1,000 views pay so differently

• Country. TikTok counts the region where you are based and where the video is watched. YouTube splits its pool country by country.
• Niche. vidIQ reports higher Shorts rates for finance, tech and US-heavy channels, lower ones for broad entertainment.
• Qualified views, not displayed views. TikTok counts unique For You views over 5 seconds, YouTube pays on engaged views. The number under your video is not the number you are paid on.
• Format rules. A 45-second TikTok earns nothing from the program. On YouTube, music in a Short sends part of the pool to music partners, but YouTube says it does not reduce your own allocation.

The other way to be paid per view: brand campaigns

Brands also pay per 1,000 views, directly: a creator films a video for their campaign, posts it on their own account, and the brand pays a rate per 1,000 views on it. The campaign decides who can take part, with no 10,000-follower bar built into the model. Three rules shape what you earn:

• A cap. Each video stops earning at a maximum set by the campaign. On Content Rewards, for example, a CPM clip "earns its rate per 1,000 views and stops at that ceiling".
• Approval. A video that misses the brief earns nothing.
• Original video or repost. Clipping campaigns pay for excerpts of footage the brand supplies. UGC campaigns ask for an original video you film yourself.

Content Rewards, for instance, lists clipping, sound, logo and UGC campaigns and four payment models, including CPM per 1,000 views, with each submission approved by the brand. Its details, fees and rates are covered in our Content Rewards guide.

Two limits. On TikTok, the Creator Rewards Program lists "Advertisements, paid promotions, sponsored content" among what eligible content must not contain, so a sponsored campaign video is paid by the campaign, not by the program. And a campaign pays per view: a video with few views earns little, a refused video earns nothing.

Sources, checked 15 November 2026: Content Rewards, home, Content Rewards, creators, TikTok, Creator Rewards Program.

Where UGC Pocket fits

UGC Pocket runs brand campaigns for digital products only: apps, mobile games, software, online courses, B2B services and fintech. Our team builds each campaign and writes the video scripts, then pushes it to the creators of our network. Creators who want to join take part.

For you as a creator: download the app on iPhone or Android. No audience is needed, the platform algorithm distributes each video. You film an original video and post it on your own TikTok or Instagram account. Pay is per 1,000 views, with a cap per challenge, and each challenge shows its pay conditions before you start. Our team reviews every video before it counts, views are read from public statistics, and reposts of someone else's footage are refused.

When something else fits better: if you already have 10,000 followers and like making one-minute videos, the Creator Rewards Program pays on all your eligible videos. If you prefer to be paid per delivered video whatever the views, a direct UGC deal fits better, see UGC creator rates.

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