You can tell that a new social media platform has reached a new level when it begins worrying about making money for its creators. This is the question that YouTube views competitor, Clubhouse, is facing right now. Notably, Clubhouse is an audio-based social media platform that came straight out of Silicone Valley. Despite being an invite-only app, it is attracting more than 2 million users every month.
A typical social media app will make money by helping key content creators thrive while using its app. This is something that Youtube does by sharing with its millions of creators billions of dollars in ad revenues. Without creators and influencers, most social media platforms will not attract audiences or make money from advertising, subscriptions, and other social media strategies.
The platform Snap found out about the importance of influencers the hard way. Back then, it largely eschewed these influencers when it was just a public company. As a result, share prices went down below $10 and left the company scraping for resources.
More recently, the company realized how important influencers are. For this reason, they had some changes and began to court influencers actively. They even started paying creators who posted popular content for the platform’s new Spotlight function — a feature similar to TikTok. The payments that the company uses come from a $1 million daily pot of cash. Smart early adopters were able to drop as much as $1 million into their bank accounts. Notably, the shares of Snap topped $56 recently.
Creators are the Lifeline of Clubhouse, Co-Founders Say
The clubhouse had gotten a reminder of how powerful name-brand creators were when Elon Musk logged into the platform for the first time on a Sunday night. Musk took part in a Q&A that drew more attention to the platform than usual. In fact, the room reached its 5,000 listener limit and spawned a number of side rooms for the people who were left outside.
However, not everyone can draw so much attention as Musk. However, people whose smarts and personalities can shrape conversation in a Clubhouse room are important for the long-term success of the platform.
The company’s co-founders acknowledge the aforementioned fact. Rohan Seth and Bruce Davison, the founders of Clubhouse, talked about the $100 million investment received from Andreessen Horowitz in a blog post. This investment made it possible for the company to value up to $1.4 billion. The money will be used on the different aspects of the platform. One of them is taking care of the Clubhouse rooms’ moderators.
In the blog post dated January 24, the co-founders wrote that creators are the lifeblood of Clubhouse. For this reason, they want to make sure that these people who are hosting conversations for other listeners are getting the recognition that they deserve. In the coming months, Seth and Davison plan to launch Clubhouse’s first tests to let creators get paid directly. The payments will be in the form of tipping, subscriptions, and tickets. The company will also use new funding round to roll out a creator Grant Program. It aims to support rising creators on Clubhouse.
Clubhouse Wants to Allow Creators to Get Paid Directly
In an interview on the Squawkbox show of CNBC, Davison said that many people are smart, funny, and have domain expertise, and are great at bringing people together. The company wants to allow them to earn a profit directly on Clubhouse through subscriptions, ticketed events, and tips from listeners who want to pay them directly for giving them something good to listen to.
As of now, the app does not have a built-in method for monetization. It is free and has no ads. It also does not have any subscription tier as well as a direct payment to creators. But Davison announced that the platform would soon introduce payment models.
But despite having no direct payment yet, creators are already looking for ways to make money on Clubhouse. For instance, Jesse Kirshbaum of the music talent firm Nue Agency wrote in a newsletter that brands are beginning to notice the talent that the site is spawning. And these brands are figuring out how they could work with those talents.
She added that influencers are being made on the platform, and brands will soon want to get involved. For this reason, monetization through brands and creators will soon be possible. Kirshbaum also predicted that there would influencer marketing campaigns built around topics on Clubhouse. Brands will start to curate conversations so they can tap into the growing audience of the platform.
The New YouTube Views Challenger Is Actually Clubhouse
One example of how creators make money on CLubhouse is comedian Leah Lamarr. She currently has 11,600 followers. Lamarr hosted a standup comedy show in a Clubhouse room in the middle of January. Along with several fellow comedians, the show drew an audience of 1,300 people. She said that the donations that came from the audience generated between $40 and $00 per comic. This means using any of the top 10 sites to buy YouTube views, the difference would result in significant profit.
According to Lamarr, it has been tough to make money for comics during the pandemic. People had no choice but to transition online. For this reason, she said that the comedy night is quite a good way to make a living. She did not have to do hair and makeup nor travel to get into the show’s venue.
Moreover, Lamarr already had a second show where she did not need to pass the hat. This is because sponsors paid up so they would reach the crowd that her comics were able to attract. Paying sponsors is common, and often associated with many myths about the industry of buying YouTube views.
Lamarr also added that there is a lot of space on Clubhouse to create a profit and grow.
The Takeaway
There is no denying that Clubhouse is a pretty good platform. Even if it is new, it can attract many audiences, allowing creators to make a living within Clubhouse rooms. Once the platform already has monetization features, creators would definitely earn more and in an easier way.