How Comedians Can Monetize the Scroll and Get Paid

For many people in the comedy industry, TikTok still carries the same perception it did when it first topped the App Store in 2020.

Back then, the average length of the app’s 100 most viewed videos was just 15.6 seconds. The main reason being, the maximum upload length was 60 seconds. It would have been unthinkable to post footage of live comedy sets on there, as the prevailing wisdom was that this was an app for easy-to-learn choreography and bedroom musicians.

Then came the rise in popularity of “front-facing camera comedians,” and sketch comedy groups who had never performed in front of live audiences, but were routinely posting videos getting watched by hundreds of thousands of people. Still, a comic filming their sets was looked down on in a similar way to the gym bro filming their reps at the squat rack.

But with the inability to do live shows for much of 2020-2021, and the meteoric growth of Matt Rife’s social media presence, many stand-ups swallowed their pride and bought a tripod. However, they didn’t emulate some of the key aspects that differentiated Rife’s content. Beyond being an early adopter of the platform, Rife wasn’t just posting scraps; there was a lot of meat on those bones.

Some Quick Stats:

The truth is, TikTok has changed a ton, even since 2023. Over 1.5 billion people now use the app. And the maximum upload length has increased from 60 seconds to 3 minutes, to 15 minutes (!!), to an hour (!!!).

In fact, NYC-based comedian Emily Wilson posted her entire special, Fixed, on TikTok, where it received three times as many views as it did on YouTube. Her special’s performance broke the myth that TikTok is just for highlights. Viewers saved the full video, returned to it, and she still carved out a dozen additional videos within it to clip up and monetize separately.

Discoverability has also changed. Hashtags were recently capped at five per caption. The Creativity Program Beta rebranded as the Creator Rewards Program, a more favorable system for creators to earn money on their TikToks over 60 seconds long. Every third video is an ad (it used to be every sixth), and seemingly every fourth video features a “Creator” earning commission for every scented candle they sell. This is because TikTok Shop was introduced in 2023, enabling in-app shopping. Evidently, they grew tired of Amazon profiting off of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt. And now, this has extended beyond physical products and into ticketed events, as users can embed Eventbrite or Ticketmaster links directly into their videos.

If approached correctly, TikTok can be an extremely effective e-commerce platform. And yet so many comedians are still posting snippets, valuing quantity over quality, while wondering why they’re neither growing their following nor selling more tickets. TikTok in 2025 isn’t just a place where people follow you. It’s where they buy from you. And unlike the “Creators” peddling lava lamps, stand-up comedians are uniquely positioned to successfully set up shop with the jokes they’re already telling IRL. 

Let’s unpack some other takeaways.

THE PROMO IS THE PRODUCT

Stand-up is the only art form where the product is the advertising is the content. When comedians posts videos of themselves being funny on stage, they’re presenting the digital audience the exact same thing they’re selling live.

Unlike a consumer packaged goods, or CPG brand (say, Doritos) that has to pay the social media platform for views on their traditional advertisement, a stand-up comic can not only gain substantial organic reach on a video they post without any costs, but they can actually earn revenue from their content via the TikTok Creator Rewards program.

These programs exist because TikTok wants to incentivize creators to continue making great content so other users stick around and watch more “actual” ads. But the truly unique thing about a stand-up comedian, as opposed to YouTubers who constantly “But wait, there’s more!” you throughout their video to bump up the average view duration, is that there’s no need to deviate from the actual content to sell something. The whole video is a subliminal ad for your live shows.

Unlike Doritos, where watching an ad for Doritos is a categorically different experience than actually eating a Dorito, watching an “ad” of a well-shot stand-up comedy clip is pretty darn close to the real thing. And if a user is watching high-quality footage of a comedian being funny in front of a large room of people laughing, there is a baked-in social proof that suggests you are in the hands of a professional.This is Street Performer Theory at its finest: You’re far more likely to stop for a few seconds to watch a juggler on the Santa Monica Promenade if there are already 50 people formed in a circle around her, than if no one else was watching.

Crowds attract crowds.

LONGER, LONGER, LONGER

TikTok pays creators more for videos that are over one minute. The Creator Rewards Program has split into two systems: Standard Rewards and Additional Rewards. The former is based on watch time and completion rate, which are similar to what YouTube’s used for a decade. The latter rewards “well-crafted,” “engaging,” and “specialized” videos, according to their own website.

Longer videos give TikTok more room to sell mid-roll and end-roll ads. “Well-crafted” means 1080p and clear lighting. “Specialized” means niche and repeatable.The categories earning the highest payouts right now are in Education, Automotive, and Entertainment. And comedians fall squarely in that last one.

You don’t need to sell merch; you just need to hold attention for more than a minute. Luckily, that’s already what comedians do in clubs all over town, night after night. The Creator Rewards Program also bakes “search value” into its payout, in addition to advertiser value. So the easier your video is to categorize in TikTok’s D’amelio Decimal System, the more For You Pages, or FYPs, it will appear on.

“YO MAN, LET’S COLLAB”

If discoverability is one side of the coin, collaboration is the other.

TikTok quietly rolled out collab posts for verified users in May 2024. When two accounts co-post a video, it hits both audiences’ For You Pages simultaneously. This is how SNL got their most viewed TikTok ever, when a collab post with Ariana Grande hit 57 million views in 48 hours.

You’re already seeing SNL do this with last week’s season opener, collaborating with cast members like Veronika Slowikowska and Kam Patterson, who have massive audiences of their own on TikTok. This makes complete sense, and I expect to see them do this with other popular hosts, musical guests, and new cast members like Ben Marshall, Jeremy Culhane, and Jane Wickline.

Everything TikTok’s Creator payment system rewards is just jargon for high quality, entertaining videos. They’re paying handsomely for the kind of content most comedians already make, yet simply aren’t uploading to the platform. There’s no need to come up with some new on-the-street interview series, or buy a ring light, or write some new sketches filmed in your bedroom. If you’ve got terabytes of stand up footage collecting dust on an external hard drive, now’s the time to use it.

If you’re sitting on hour-long comedy specials where something funny happens every minute, you could be set for the next three to six months. And if you don’t already have something like this filmed, just bake the cost of hiring a camera operator and video editor into the estimated rewards you’ll bring in (a good shorthand is that 1 million views on a TikTok = ~$1,000), and the “advertisements” will pay for themselves pretty quickly, provided the material is shareable.

Because at the end of the day, you’re still selling an experience. Matt Rife and Morgan Jay’s videos have an undercurrent of, “Wouldn’t it be a blast to be at this thing?”.

TikTok is not the comedian’s enemy. And it’s not replacing the stage. It’s rewarding the people who already know how to hold one.

David Zucker is a digital marketing consultant, writer, and producer based in New York City. A former analyst at TikTok, his data-driven approach has helped individuals and brands within the entertainment industry grow and mobilize their audiences. His first client, Norwegian comedian Viggo Venn, went on to win Britain’s Got Talent after the two grew his TikTok following from zero to 600,000 in 60 days. David is also a producer and performer within Stamptown, the comedy production company behind acclaimed live shows and specials worldwide. He has spoken or performed at Just for Laughs, SXSW, the New York Comedy Festival, the Melbourne Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, and Moontower Comedy Festival. He also shares free advice for growing online audiences on his Substack, David Zucker’s Mailing List.

This story originated as part of Deadline’s Comedy Means Business newsletter, offering an in-depth look at the latest in the comedy business. Sign up here.