TikTok testing paid subscription service for users (details)

GEOFFREY MBUTHIA ENTERTAINMENT SUB-EDITOR

04 October 2023

• For the plan to be implemented to a larger user base, TikTok will have to see whether its pilot project is actually successful.

There are rumours afoot that Chinese-owned social media TikTok is testing a paid subscription service for an ad-free experience.

The mooted new service will allegedly have a monthly subscription fee that will cost ($4.99) Ksh740.52.

The company which made $9.4 (Sh 1,395,137,486,917)billion from ads last year is apparently doing the test pilot in an unknown market outside the United States.

For the plan to be implemented to a larger user base, TikTok will have to see whether its pilot project is actually successful.

According to reports, it is anticipated that the commercial version of TikTok will have further capabilities, such as monetization access.

Chinese business ByteDance introduced TikTok in 2014 as a short video-making and sharing software named Douyin.

The platform was then redesigned a year later as the business sought to design it for a global audience. In just a few years, the Chinese social media app has gone global, with over one billion users.

The app has gained the trust of young people all across the world by being the go-to source for intriguing short-form entertainment.

TikTok's plan comes at a time when X (formerly Twitter) has also announced possible plans to charge subscriptions to its users.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, said that putting up a fee would keep out automated accounts known as bots. The world's richest man and the CEO of Tesla said this during a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,

Currently, Twitter only charges users for its X Premium subscription program, which includes benefits like a verified account checkmark and is available for $11 (Sh 1,632) per month in the US for iPhones and £11 (Sh1,972) per month in the UK.