Getting paid to watch TikTok? It might actually be happening

While TikTok may be an extremely popular iOS and Android app in the US, it’s not quite as popular in Europe. In fact, the company’s growth in Europe has slowed down to the extent that it is willing to fork over money to convince more people to start watching its videos.

According to a report from The InformationTikTok is preparing to launch a new app in Spain, France, and other countries. It will be a rewards app that provides monetary incentives for watching videos, getting friends to sign up, and performing other actions. These users will reportedly be able to redeem gift cards or get digital tips they can give to their favorite creators.

The ultimate goal is to attract new users beyond teenagers as growth “has been stagnant” in the EU with people 18 and older. TikTok has over 1 billion active users, but as the report states, the app is currently installed on only 13% of Android devices in Europe. Comparatively, Instagram is on 37% of devices, while Facebook boasts a healthy 59%.

ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, also plans to launch the new app in Germany and other EU countries in the second quarter of 2024. This rollout comes after the initial launch in Korea and Japan, which occurred in 2023. Based on the initial launch, TikTok learned that its rewards app was “effective in stimulating growth.” Since that launch, Japan’s user count reportedly jumped up by more than 2.5 million.

Internally, this rewards app is called Coin App, but the public knows it as TikTok Lite. You might be a little confused since there is already a pared-down version of the TikTok app that shares the same name. To avoid this confusion, the company is reportedly planning to rename the rewards app to something else.

As for how the rewards app works, it’s said to operate fairly similar to how the normal app works. It will have a feed and users will be able to share and comment on the videos they watch, as well as upload their own content.

It’s unclear if or when the rewards app will come to the US. Given that TikTok could be banned in the US, it wouldn’t be surprising if the new app never makes it to US shores.