Byte Reveals Details For Its Partner Program For Creators & Launches First Brand Campaign
Photo: Byte
Two years after making his initial announcement, Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann finally launched Byte, the unofficial follow-up to Vine last week (January 24th). According to Sensor Tower, it has been downloaded 900K times already. Similar to Vine, Byte lets users shoot and upload six-second looping videos.
Less than a week after launching, the app revealed details for its highly-anticipated Partner Program via its community forum.
Initially, the program will be invite-only for U.S.-based creators. Byte will proactively reach out to creators, however, those that are interested in being part of the program can apply via a Google Form for consideration.
Creators! We have initial Partner Program details for you. Key points to follow in the next few tweets, or just read here: https://t.co/aeHojBPicQ
— byte (@byte_app) January 31, 2020
Program benefits:
*Monetization via rev share
*Direct contact
*Experimental features
*Meet & greets, byte apparel, and more
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Creators accepted to the program will be able to monetize their content as well as receive other benefits such as direct communication with the Byte team, early access to experimental features, Byte apparel, and much more.
Below is a breakdown of all of the benefits:
Monetization: Participate in revenue share and get compensated for your bytes.
Direct contact: Text or email us to chat about anything creator-related you’re thinking about.
Experimental features: Get access to features we’re testing and considering introducing. We’ll seek your feedback as well.
Opportunities: Meet & greets, byte apparel, etc.
Byte will take a “bracket approach” in an effort to optimize payouts to creators. Every 120 days, it will establish a Partner Pool, which will be paid out in four-30 day installment periods. Every 30 days, Byte will calculate the total viewership for creators’ posts that are made within that specified time period. Based on their total viewership, creators will be placed into a Viewership Bracket, which will determine how much they get paid.
The money that Byte pays out to creators will come from ads. However, they won’t be pre-roll, in-feed ads or ads based on retargeting. Instead, Byte says it will rely heavily on brand campaigns that “celebrate creativity and community, just like the features and programs we build.”
Over the weekend, it actually launched its first brand campaign with Nike called Self Hail Mary, which featured creators “throwing” a hail mary to themselves.
byte's first ad campaign is live and we did it with @nike. i'm *really* proud of our collaboration. the creative is amazing and nike‘s focus on movement and fun is a perfect fit for our first step into this world pic.twitter.com/I34iRGFFvS
— dom hofmann (@dhof) February 1, 2020
During the pilot period, 100% of the ad revenue will go to all of the creators. But, this will eventually change down the line. A majority of revenue will go to creators, but Byte will use some of the funds for operations and business-related expenses.
Insights & Analysis:
With TikTok’s hold on the short-form video landscape growing tighter every day, it’s going to be a challenge for Byte to become a serious competitor. While both of the apps are very similar in what they offer users, Byte is looking to differentiate itself from the Chinese-owned app through its creator-first approach.
With details of its Partner Program now revealed including direct monetization for creators, it’s clear that this isn’t just a marketing scheme. Byte not only wants to collaborate with creators and get feedback and ideas on the app, but it wants to reward creators who are creating engaging content. This is its best chance at battling TikTok. Despite TikTok’s success, it has struggled with providing creators with ways to monetize. TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio have been able to generate money through brand sponsorships, however, there currently isn’t a way for creators to monetize directly on the app.
If Byte is able to consistently get major brands like Nike to see value and run campaigns on the app and ultimately utilize those funds to pay out creators, it could potentially pull some of TikTok’s stars and their respective following to the platform. Even if that happens, Byte still has its work cut out to catch up to TikTok and its 800 million users.
So far, I’ve loved the moves that Hofmann and Co. have made since launching the app. The creator-first approach and the transparency that the Byte team has provided over the last few days have been quite refreshing.
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SOURCE: Byte
