When TikTok arrived in South Africa in 2018, it was still a relatively new name in the country’s social media landscape.
Within two years, however, it has reportedly become one of the country’s fastest-growing platforms, with South African content creators already building audiences in the millions.
For a generation of creators, the platform became a place to experiment with comedy, dance, music, beauty, fashion, food and other forms of content. Some people who began creating during the pandemic continued long after lockdown ended, turning audiences built during that period into opportunities beyond the app.
Six years after its arrival in the country, TikTok is now making a bigger push to turn that creator activity into an economy.
The platform has expanded TikTok One to South Africa, giving creators another route to paid opportunities with brands while continuing to offer monetisation tools such as LIVE Gifts, subscriptions and “Work with Artists”.
Beauty and fashion creator Queen Tshabalala, known as ShesQuiin on TikTok, is one example of how those opportunities can translate into income.
The 26-year-old has used the platform’s “Work with Artists” feature to make money from music-related content, which she said has helped with her journey as a nail technician.
Her experience offers a closer look at what earning money through TikTok can actually mean for a South African creator, while the platform’s growing list of monetisation tools raises a bigger question about whether social media income can become a sustainable career.
Speaking to “The National”, Tshabalala said she discovered different ways of earning through TikTok, including “Work with Artists”.
“Work with Artists” allows creators to participate in campaigns connected to music releases. Tshabalala said creators can find the feature through TikTok Studio, where they can see available opportunities alongside their analytics and other creator tools.
For each campaign, creators are given requirements for the type of content they need to make. This can include lip-syncing, dancing or other ways of promoting a song.
Tshabalala said one of her most successful campaigns was linked to Zee Nxumalo’s song “Guqa”, which she said generated her highest views and highest payment through the feature.
“You just get there, be your creator, be your own person,” she said, explaining that campaigns can be based on views or likes.
For her, “Work with Artists” is only one part of the picture. She also sometimes goes LIVE, where viewers can send her gifts that can be converted into earnings, and she has explored other monetisation options available on the platform.
“I can advise everybody just to see their options and see which options are open to them,” she said. That variety is central to TikTok’s argument about how creators can earn money from the platform.
Head of Communications at TikTok, Keagile Makgoba, said the “Creator Rewards Programme”, which often dominates conversations about TikTok monetisation, is only one part of a wider collection of tools.
“We’ve got a suite of monetisation tools. We’re allowing different creators to monetise in different ways and giving everyone a fair opportunity to monetise,” she told “The National”.
The reasoning, she explained, is that creators have different types of content and different relationships with their audiences.
A creator who enjoys interacting with viewers through going live may be able to make use of gifts, while another who creates music-related content may find “Work with Artists” more suited to them.
TikTok also offers subscriptions, while brand partnerships have long provided another source of income for creators. The company said its teams have worked with South African creators on branded content since “TikTok for Business” launched locally in 2021.
How 'TikTok One' works
The arrival of TikTok One is intended to expand those commercial opportunities.
Through TikTok One Creator Marketplace, which is built into TikTok Studio, creators can discover paid opportunities and manage brand collaborations. Depending on the campaign, they can be discovered by brands, apply for selected campaigns or earn from content they have already created.
There are currently three TikTok One solutions available to South African creators.
“Spark Opportunity” allows creators to monetise existing TikTok videos when brands authorise them to be used as Spark Ads. “Creative Challenge” allows creators to produce videos based on brand briefs, with earnings linked to performance and media investment.
“Creator Led Package” connects creators with approved creator marketing agencies for campaigns.
The requirements differ between programmes.
“Spark Opportunity” requires at least 500 followers, while “Creative Challenge” requires at least 1,000 followers. “Creator Led Package” operates through individual invitations from approved agencies.
For TikTok, the expansion is part of a broader attempt to create more pathways between creators and commercial opportunities.
Head of Sales at TikTok, Sub-Saharan Africa, Zethu Mthethwa, said: “South Africa has an incredible creator community, and TikTok One gives them a direct pathway to work with local and global brands.”
“This is more than a platform update, it’s part of our continued commitment to South Africa’s creative economy. Through this announcement, we want local creators to continue to recognise that their talent has real value, and we’re building the tools to make sure homegrown talent gets the recognition and the income it deserves,” she added.
The company’s own explanation of its monetisation model also points to an important distinction. Having access to monetisation tools does not necessarily mean every creator will earn a significant income from them.
TikTok’s global figures show that creator-brand activity is growing.
Between June 2025 and May 2026, the number of creators receiving rewards through TikTok One increased by 90% year on year, according to the company. Creators were also taking part in more than twice as many TikTok One brand collaborations each month.
Among established creators with more than 50,000 followers, TikTok said the monthly rewards value for TikTok One campaigns increased by 40% year on year in May 2026.
Those figures are global, however, rather than a measure of what the average South African creator earns.
The question of which monetisation tools are available in different countries has also become a source of frustration and confusion among creators.
The “Creator Rewards Programme”, which pays eligible creators based on the performance of their content, is currently available in only seven markets, according to Makgoba. South Africa is not one of them.
Makgoba said the programme’s limited availability is not unique to Africa. TikTok operates in more than 150 countries, while markets including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia also do not have access to Creator Rewards.
She also pointed to TikTok’s previous attempt at a “Creator Fund”, which was eventually discontinued globally after the company decided the model was not working.
“We don’t want to launch something and then take it away because it just doesn’t work,” she said. “Like the Creator Fund, we tried it. It didn’t even last that long. It was just not working.”
For TikTok, this means monetisation is not simply about creating one programme and making it available everywhere. The company says it continues to test different models and use feedback from creators to determine which tools are useful in different markets.
Makgoba also argued that TikTok’s investment in creators should not be measured only by money creators can withdraw directly from the platform.
She pointed to “Rising Voices”, a programme launched in partnership with the National Film and Video Foundation in 2021, which included a R1 million fund distributed among participating creators after a boot camp.
Creators including Siphokuhle, Jared Jones and Banele Ndaba, known as Moghelingz, were among those involved in the programme, which she said was intended to help creators develop their careers and production capabilities.
That broader approach is important when considering whether TikTok can be treated as a source of employment rather than simply another platform for creators to build an audience.
nomathamsanqa.sithathu@nationalmg.co.za