CV NEWS FEED // The rise of social media brought a new and highly sought after job, mainly among younger generations—being an influencer. According to the Wall Street Journal, however, most influencers are hardly making enough money to make ends meet.
“Earning a decent, reliable income as a social-media creator is a slog—and it’s getting harder,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently reported:
Platforms are doling out less money for popular posts and brands are being pickier about what they want out of sponsorship deals. The real possibility of TikTok potentially shutting down in 2025 is adding to creators’ anxiety over whether they can afford to stick with the job for the long haul.
According to a Goldman Sachs 2023 report, only about 50 million influencers out of the hundreds of millions of social media users posting content actually make money. Citing another report from an influencer marketing agency, WSJ reported that 48% of content creators made $15,000 or less, while just 13% made over $100,000.
While being a social media star seems like a glamorous career, the constant behind-the-scenes work and lack of benefits—like not having an employer contribute to a retirement fund—actually makes the job more difficult than people imagine.
“It is a lot more work than most people realize,” Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg said, according to WSJ. “Creators who make a living doing it have been at it for many years. Most are not overnight sensations.”
In addition, social media platforms are beginning to pay influencers less, while brands are becoming more selective about who they are partnering with.
“Qualifications for TikTok’s current rewards program include having an account with at least 10,000 followers with a minimum of 100,000 views in the past month,” WSJ reported. “Instagram is currently testing a seasonal, invitation-only program that rewards creators for sharing Reels and photos.”
Other platforms, like YouTube and Snapchat, also require creators to have thousands of followers and millions of views before they receive portions of revenue from ads that appear between stories or posts.
However, even as the number of an influencer’s followers increase, revenue from social media companies continues to go down. One influencer, Yuval Ben-Hayun, said that he recently only received $120 for a video that got 10 million views.
Advertising and brand partnerships have also changed, as now advertisers look for creators with strong follower engagement and specific demographics. Thanks to algorithm changes and factors outside their control, content creators are finding it difficult to maintain engagement or get enough views, according to WSJ.
TikTok influencers could also see their revenue disappear entirely—or at least decrease dramatically—if an appeals court allows a law to stand that would either ban TikTok in the U.S. or force the app to sell by January 19, 2025.
Both TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and several U.S.-based TikTok influencers sued the government for infringing on their First Amendment rights. According to the WSJ, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments in September to decide whether or not to keep the law.
