TikTok Tests More Live Subscriber Perks to Incentivize Sign-Ups

TikTok is looking to expand its perks that live-streamers can offer to subscribers, with a range of new options now being tested in the app.

TikTok first announced live subscriber perks two years ago, and has been steadily adding to them ever since.

At launch, TikTok offered three subscriber perks:

Subscriber Badges – A membership badge that’s displayed next to the subscribers’ name, and can be upgraded over time.
Custom Emotes - Exclusive reactions designed by the creators to use during LIVE sessions
Subscriber-Only Chat – To enhance community engagement with paying members.

As noted, TikTok’s been gradually adding to these options, with several new elements now in testing.

As you can see in these screenshots, posted by social media expert Ahmed Ghanem, there are now several new subscriber perks being tested, including performance requests, live shoutout prompts, Discord roles, gaming partnerships, and priority comment response.

The new features will provide more incentives to help drive subscriptions, and ultimately help live-streamers make more money from their in-app efforts.

Live streaming has been a big winner on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, with commerce streams, in particular, driving big response, and big money for the app. Douyin generated more than $US274 billion worth of in-stream sales 2023, compared to $US3.8 billion in total on TikTok, so you can see why TikTok is keen to drive more live-stream take-up, especially around product promotions.

Indeed, TikTok also now operates its own live-stream studio in Los Angeles, where creators are able to film content in a more professional environment. Which, again, replicates the approach that the company has taken in China, helping to facilitate live sales opportunities.

Subscriber perks are another element in this broader push, and while live-stream shopping isn’t gaining traction in the West as fast as it did in China, with a potential 100x sales increase on the line, based on its previous success, you can expect that emphasis to continue for some time yet.