Deciding on a first budget is the hardest part of starting. Here's what the number does and what comes back.
A campaign starts at $1,000, the budget is only spent as clips settle, and whatever isn't spent can come back to you. The one thing that surprises people: the price you end up paying per 1,000 views is lower than the CPM you set, because clips keep collecting views after they've hit their payout cap.
The minimum
The first payment on a campaign is its budget, and it's at least $1,000. Top ups after that start at $100. Creators see the funded budget on every campaign card, so the number you fund is the first thing they judge a campaign by.
What the budget is
A pool. It sits on the campaign, and money leaves it as clips earn. A clip starts earning once it passes the campaign's minimum payout, whether or not you've reviewed it yet, and that amount is set aside from the pool while you decide. Reject the clip and the money returns to the pool. Approve it and it settles to the creator. Nothing is billed monthly, and a campaign waiting for creators costs nothing.
Fund the number you write. Creators see the funded budget, so a description promising more than the campaign holds works against you.
What a budget buys
Worked example. A clipping campaign funded with $1,000 at a $1.00 CPM, with a $200 cap per clip, once every dollar has spent:
A worked example
You funded | $1,000 |
Rate | $1.00 per 1,000 views |
Cap per clip | $200, reached at 200,000 views |
Views you paid for | Close to a million |
Views after a clip hits its cap | Not paid for, still counted, still yours |
What you paid per 1,000 views | Less than the $1.00 you set |
A clip that reaches its cap doesn't stop being watched, it stops earning. So a campaign's total views end up higher than the views it paid for, and the price per 1,000 views lands below the rate you set.
The cap works the other way too: set it very high and one clip that travels can take a large share of the pool. It's your lever for how much of the budget any single clip may claim. Setting it is covered in Which Pricing Model Should I Use?
When the budget runs out
The campaign pauses on its own. It stops taking new clips, it comes off Discover, and approved clips stop earning while it's paused. Money already set aside still settles to the creators it belongs to. Top up and all of it starts again on the same campaign, which is why topping up beats launching a second campaign: the creators who found you stay, and their clips keep earning.
What to watch, and when
Week | What to look at |
Week 1 | How fast submissions arrive, and what they look like. Read every one, including the ones you reject. Views compound, so the price per 1,000 views starts high and falls; read it as a trend from week two rather than against your target. |
Week 2 | Which hooks travel, and which creators have submitted more than once. If submissions are slow, raise the rate before you touch the brief. |
Around the third week | The top up decision, and what to change first if the numbers are not there yet. See Fund your account. |
Day 30 | Whether you can describe the winning hook in one sentence. See Your first 30 days with a campaign. |
What we don't promise: a number of views, a viral clip, a date, or sales. What you control is the budget, the rate, the brief and how fast you review.
Start with what you can learn from, and let the numbers decide the rest. Your first 30 days tells you what to look at each week.