TikTok’s Lucrative Secret: Creator Rakes in 6 Million Won in Just 4 Months, But at What Cost

The growth of ‘TikTok Lite’, which was launched domestically in December last year, is scary. However, there are concerns that this may be the result of excessive ‘cash compensation’. Some argue that it should be viewed as a corporate activity to attract users, with events that pay out more cash the more friends you invite, but there is a lot of criticism that it is a ‘SNS version of a multi-level marketing scheme’.

According to the industry on the 26th, TikTok Lite offers a ‘Friend Invitation Round Event’ for a limited time. In the first round, an invitation link is sent to two friends, and if those friends sign up and complete attendance checks and other missions for 10 consecutive days, 90,000 points will be awarded. In the same way, if you invite 3 people in the 2nd round, you will receive 150,000 points, and if you invite 4 people in the 3rd round, you will receive 200,000 points. If you complete all rounds, you can earn a total of 440,000 points.

Separately from this, an event is also in progress where both the inviter and the invitee will receive 40,000 points if the simply invited friend checks attendance for 10 consecutive days. Additionally, events are being held, such as 5,000 points for attendance 10 times and up to 3,135 points for watching videos every day for 10 days. TikTok Lite also holds regular events that provide up to 360 points per day for watching videos, 600 points for watching 40 ads, and 40 points for clicking ‘Like’ on videos. Once you have accumulated 5,000 points, you can exchange them for cash. Payco and Naver Pay transfers and exchange with various coupons are also possible.

Thanks to these cash rewards, TikTok Lite profit verification continues in online communities. Usually, the amount is around 2 to 3 million won, but there was also a case where a profit of 6 million won was generated in 4 months. This user said, “I accumulated rewards by inviting friends, and was able to make a profit of 6 million won through daily attendance checks and missions.”

Thanks to aggressive marketing, TikTok Lite achieved rapid growth. When it was launched in Korea in December last year, MAU (monthly active users) was only 160,000 (based on Mobile Index), but it exceeded 310,000 in January this year and exceeded 3 million in May. Last month, MAU recorded 4.58 million, and is expected to surpass the main channel, TikTok (4.66 million).

Some are concerned about TikTok Lite’s excessive cash support. In the case of friend invitation events, it is pointed out that a kind of ‘multi-level system’ is applied to attract users. Some analyzes say that ‘cash’ is not appropriate as an element of ‘network externality’ (a phenomenon in which service value increases as the number of users increases). Shin Min-soo, a professor at Hanyang University’s Department of Business Administration, said, “The network externality of a platform does not come from excessive cash compensation. To have a network externality, there must be a connection with use, but money has no concept of connection and has clear limitations (as it is a temporary element).” He said.

On the other hand, some say that this is a normal corporate strategy and should be viewed as the ordinary app tech activities of users. Kim Young-gap, a professor of information security at Sejong University, explained, “(TikTok Lite’s marketing is) a legitimate strategy for the company to secure users by launching a new service,” and added, “It is good for users because they can make money, and there is no illegal part.” He said, “However, there are concerns that abnormal and unethical methods may be used in the future when TikTok Lite must also make a profit.”

Reporter Seunghan Kim winone@mt.co.kr