Episode / season purchases
Spend credits on a clearly defined episode or season after a free preview.
For first purchases, ongoing series and completed works.
How creators earn.
How the platform profits.
Creators earn from their work. The platform targets modest content and Token margins, with advertising as an independent revenue source.
Review payments, revenue sharing and advertising before adjusting the model. Then return to the main briefing for the launch roadmap.
Start with audience payments →85% → 80%
Share after payment and transaction fees: first 12 months / afterward
Price parity
Generation targets like-for-like official pricing; margin depends on actual costs.
Start with two ways to pay.
Start with episode or season purchases and channel subscriptions. Subscriptions fund recurring releases; credits support individual purchases.
Creator / character subscriptions
Pay monthly for a defined channel catalogue and its updates. Included episodes do not consume credits again; exclusions are explicit.
For regular releases and returning fans.
Platform ad inventory
Advertisers pay for impressions or valid clicks. Net ad receipts belong entirely to the platform, outside creator content sharing.
Independent revenue; it does not automatically unlock paid content.
Defer an all-catalogue subscription until viewing attribution and allocation are tested. Coins represent spending credits; conversion, prices, preview length and catalogue coverage are set separately.
Split each content payment once.
This flow shares third-party content income only. Platform ad receipts stay outside this pool; originals have separate production costs.
- 01
Audience spending
Unlocks · subscriptions · tips
- 02
Determine distributable income
Deduct refunds, payment processing and transaction fees first
- 03
Creator 85% / 80%
Accrued earnings → withdrawal or creation
- 04
Platform 15% / 20%
Then cover playback, support and operations
How is a $100 payment split?
Assuming no refunds and $3 in payment and transaction fees: $97 net × 85% = $82.45 for the creator and $14.55 for the platform. At 80%, the split is $77.60 / $19.40. The platform still covers playback and operations.
Earnings and withdrawal
Settled orders become withdrawable earnings. Withdrawal is 1:1 with no second platform commission; any distinct payout-channel fee is disclosed separately; the same transaction fee is never charged twice.
Tokens and generation margin
Generation usage sales minus supplier, retry and fulfillment costs produce the generation contribution. Do not count top-ups or reinvested balances twice.
Ad revenue and acquisition cost
The platform keeps all net ad receipts without sharing them with creators. Traffic acquisition and promoter commissions remain costs; ad receipts are net of network fees.
Creator earnings = (content spending − refunds / chargebacks − payment processing − transaction fees) × 85% / 80%. Fees deducted before sharing are not charged again as platform costs. Tips use the same split in this example; promotion start and tip terms will be specified separately.
Advertising is the platform’s own revenue.
Ad placements on the home page, discovery pages and around free previews earn per impression or valid click. Creator content earnings are unaffected by advertising receipts.
- PV
Page views × average slots per page
- Billable impressions
After unfilled, unloaded and invalid traffic
- Platform ad receipts
CPM or CPC settlement; 100% to platform
CPM
Billable impressions ÷ 1,000 × net CPM
CPC
Billable impressions × valid CTR × net CPC
Example: 100,000 PV × 2 slots × 50% billable rate = 100,000 impressions. At an assumed net CPM of $2, receipts are $200. Alternatively, 1% CTR and $0.05 net CPC yield $50. These alternatives do not total $250.
Direct sponsorship can add revenue later. Remove sponsored inventory before estimating programmatic ads on those placements. More PV also increases playback and acquisition costs; update those assumptions alongside traffic.
Change the inputs. See what remains.
Monthly USD. Prefilled numbers are illustrative assumptions, not quotes or forecasts; the ad example starts at 100,000 monthly PV. Results are operating estimates before tax, financing, depreciation and individual withdrawal fees.
Ad receipts use CPM
Complete all fields with nonnegative numbers, percentages from 0 to 100, and whole-number counts.
Platform monthly operating estimate
Third-party creators: aggregate earnings
After generation spending in this example:
Aggregate, before creators’ own labor and marketing. Each creator earns from their attributable sales. All generation usage in this example belongs to this creator group.
View revenue and fee details
- Estimated billable impressions
- Estimated valid clicks
- Third-party content gross
- Content refunds / chargebacks
- Content payment fees (before split)
- Content payment and transaction fees total
- Third-party distributable income
- Creator content earnings
- Generation and original payment fees
- Content fee shortfall
Use either CPM or CPC for the same inventory, never their sum. PV means page views. Average slots reflect placement coverage; the billable rate combines fill, successful loading and invalid-traffic deductions. Unit rates are assumed net receipts after network fees. Payment fees are estimated on each category of gross sales and assumed nonrefundable. Third-party content payment and other transaction fees are deducted before sharing. Enter only fees not already included in the processing rate as other transaction fees. Generation and original payment fees remain platform costs. If refunds and fees exceed content sales, the current-period share is zero and the shortfall is a platform cost, not negative creator earnings. Originals use the same refund rate; their production cost is separate from third-party generation cost.
What China’s short-drama tools demonstrate.
IAP + IAA
Douyin’s short-drama player supports previews for paid and ad-unlocked episodes, followed by a recharge panel or advertising component.
Subscriptions and distribution
Kuaishou’s short-drama solution includes paid subscriptions and distribution, with short videos and livestreams as acquisition channels.
These official documents explain mechanisms and metrics. Citing ad metrics does not select that ad network. Validate conversion, contribution per purchase and repeat viewing before expanding paid acquisition.
Sources checked: 2026-09-16