TikTok creators are asking their followers to migrate to Meta, YouTube before the ban

Before Jack Nader started posting beauty videos on TikTok in 2023, he was working Starbucks He is a barista 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 exploded. With over half a million followers, she was able to earn enough from brand sponsorships and a share of advertising revenue that she quit her coffee shop gig and got her own apartment.

“It’s my 9-to-5 job,” Nader, who says he earns $1,000 to $12,000 a month as a creative, told CNBC. “I do this for a living. It’s how I pay for my groceries. It’s how millions of small businesses make money.”

Nader’s new reality is far from stable. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is approaching its January 19 date. sold or face ban Like many other creators in the US who have come to rely on TikTok, Nader urges fans to find it on other social media apps and the significant revenue stream they represent before potentially losing them entirely.

“Not from everyone my TikTok the following will come, and it’s really sad,” Nader said.

The risk of TikTok has been around for years, but it got even bigger in April President Joe Biden signed a the law That prompts ByteDance to abandon its short-form video program this month. If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok in time apple and Google will be forced by law to ensure that their platforms no longer support the application in the US

elected president Donald Trumpwhich favored a TikTok ban in its first administration, has since flip-flopped on the issue. Late last month he he called The Supreme Court intervened and forcibly delayed the implementation of Biden’s ban, giving him time to find a “political solution.” His inauguration is on January 20.

Trump’s rhetoric on TikTok has since changed met in February with billionaire Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor and major investor who owns a stake in ByteDance Truth SocialTrump’s social media company.

Supreme Court heard oral arguments On January 10 from both sides. In a hearing that lasted more than two hours, the judges asked TikTok’s top lawyer questions about the app’s ties to China and generally did not believe TikTok’s main argument that the law violated the free speech rights of millions of people. Individual users in the United States

On Thursday, businessman Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group Freedom project ByteDance has announced that it has submitted an offer to buy TikTok. Calling it a “People’s Proposal for TikTok,” the group said it would restructure the app to be available on an American-owned platform and prioritize users’ digital security, although it did not disclose the terms of the proposal.

A decision may be made at some point. Nader isn’t waiting for a ruling to figure out what’s next.

He currently downloads four or five TikTok videos every day to save them while he transfers his content. of methane Instagram reels and of the alphabet YouTube Short Films. After downloading the videos, Nader re-edits them, optimizing the clips for each application.

“It took me over a year and a half to build a following on TikTok to become my full-time job,” Nader said. “Now it’s about rebuilding the whole brand on another platform, which is not ideal.”

Nader said he has yet to make money from Reels or Shorts.

Carter, who previously worked in luxury retail, is done his TikTok videos telling his followers they can find him on YouTube, Instagram and Patreon.

“It’s not just some stupid app that people use to post dance videos,” said Carter, who earns about $4,000 a month on average from his TikTok activity. “It’s been remarkable in terms of changing people’s lives, changing people’s businesses.”

TikTok may still find a way to work in the US, but if the app is shut down, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram will be the biggest winners in the failure, experts predict.

TikTok has about 115 million monthly active users in the U.S., behind YouTube’s 258 million and Facebook’s 253 million. Sensor tower. Instagram has 131 million. Sensor Tower data shows that short videos that mimic clips on TikTok account for about 41% of user time on Instagram, gaining traction among these apps.

While TikTok has a smaller user base in the US and fewer total ad dollars than its top competitors, it’s the preferred platform for creators, especially those focused on short-form content.

Influencer marketing platform HyperAuditor defines an influencer as a user with more than 1,000 subscribers. According to HyperAuditor, TikTok has about 8.5 million people in the U.S. that fit this category, followed by about 5.2 million on Instagram and 1.1 million on YouTube.

Meanwhile, TikTok accounts for 9% of digital ad spending on social media platforms in the US, compared to 31% for Facebook, 25% for Instagram and 21% for YouTube, according to Sensor Tower.

If TikTok goes away, “it’s potentially worth billions of dollars for competitors to take over,” Sensor Tower told CNBC in an email. Emarketer It estimates that Meta and YouTube could capture about half of the redistributed dollars if the ban goes into effect.

This kind of market shift 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 grew by 20%, while YouTube grew by 11% year-on-year, according to Sensor Tower estimates.

“That’s when we saw the biggest jump in Reels usage,” said Meghana Dhar, a former Instagram manager who was with the company during the Indian ban. “Many creators are already hedging their bets if TikTok gets banned and creators are forced to bounce between YouTube Shorts and Instagram.”

A person familiar with the matter told CNBC that leaders within Instagram at Meta scheduled multiple impromptu meetings on Friday after hearing oral arguments before the Supreme Court. While many inside the company have long expected TikTok to remain active in the U.S., leaders at Instagram have begun directing their teams to prepare for the potential influx of users if the ban is lifted, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of privacy concerns. .

Some creators will invite their followers to find them on fbook, for example, instead of posting on Facebook. Others will say enough words to convey a message to their followers, hoping to avoid TikTok detection, Nolan said. Some creators team up with brands to incentivize users by holding a prize gifts for users following them on other apps, he added.

“Obviously, they’re not saying, ‘Come on Instagram,'” Nolan said. “They say, ‘Go follow me,’ and open their mouths.”

Even though there are many other options for finding a large audience, creators worry 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 going to make the most of it,” said Nealie Boschma, 27, of Los Angeles, who has lived as a full-time creator since 2022. How should I look at it so I don’t panic.”

Despite the potential upheaval, Boschma said she sees the potential ban as an opportunity to expand her career and become more creative.

Boschma began to produce TikTok videos after quitting his job working on a horse farm, he chose to live off the money he saved while experimenting as a creator. Boschman’s bet on himself paid off, and he earned enough money to live in Los Angeles, paying for his own place and 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 goes through, Boschma said he plans to make a video specifically asking fans to watch him elsewhere.

This will be quite a rise as she currently has 2 million TikTok followers compared to only 278,000 on YouTube. But Boschma said she’ll try her hand at making longer-form videos, which she’s always wanted to explore.

“Whether TikTok goes away or not, I think something will work out,” Boschma said. “I’ll find my place in other places like I did on TikTok.”

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