Clipping campaign guides
Each guide answers one question: what clipping is, how to run a campaign, what it costs, what the FTC expects, and how clippers get paid. Every one of them stands on its own.
Plan a campaign
What a clipping campaign is, whether it fits your content, and how to run one.
- What is a clipping campaign?A clipping campaign pays independent editors to cut your long-form content into short clips and post them on their own TikTok, Reels and Shorts accounts. You pay a fixed rate per 1,000 verified views, out of a budget you set up front.8 min read
- How to run a clipping campaign, step by stepNine steps from source material to final report: check the content, pick one goal, write the brief, set rate, minimum and cap, choose a tracking window, open submissions, review clips, settle payouts and read the results.12 min read
- Clipping campaign brief template, with two filled-in examplesThe brief is the contract every clipper accepts before posting. Here is the field-by-field template, what each field prevents, and two complete example briefs you can copy: one for a podcast, one for an app.10 min read
- Do clipping campaigns work? What the view data actually showsClipping reliably buys views at a known price. Whether those views turn into listeners, installs or sales depends on the source content and on what you measure. Here is what one real campaign's distribution looked like, and when clipping is the wrong tool.9 min read
Budget and pricing
Rates per 1,000 views, caps, minimums, and how clipping compares with paid media.
- How much does a clipping campaign cost?You set the budget and the rate per 1,000 views, so the cost is known before launch. What changes is how many views that budget buys, and that depends on three settings: rate, minimum payout and per-clip cap. The math, with example budgets from $2,500 to $50,000.10 min read
- Clipping vs paid social: cost per view and what you get for itA TikTok or Meta ad buys an impression in a feed slot labeled as an ad. A clipping campaign buys an organic view on someone else's account. The price per 1,000 can look similar; what you are paying for is not.9 min read
- Clipping vs influencer marketing: what you pay for in eachAn influencer deal buys one creator's audience and endorsement for a fee agreed up front. A clipping campaign buys views from dozens of accounts at a rate agreed up front. Where each one fits, and how brands combine them.8 min read
- Clipping agency vs self-serve platform: who does whatAn agency runs the campaign for you and recruits its own clippers. A platform gives you the tools and an open marketplace of clippers, and you run it. What each one handles, what it costs, and the questions to ask before you sign.8 min read
Tracking and payouts
How views are measured, how clippers get paid, and what tooling to run it on.
- How to track views in a clipping campaignMost campaigns start with a spreadsheet and screenshots, and most of them outgrow it within one campaign. What has to be recorded for every clip, why a single reading at the end is not enough, and how automated tracking works.9 min read
- How to pay clippers: settlement, payout timing and recordsPaying clippers means turning view counts into payouts dozens of times, correctly, from a budget that must not overspend. How settlement works, when to pay, what to do when the budget runs out mid-clip, and what records US payers keep.9 min read
- Whop Content Rewards alternatives: how clipping platforms differClipping platforms look alike from the outside: a budget, a rate per 1,000 views, a feed of campaigns. They differ in who pays the fee, how views are verified, how payouts are settled, and what happens to budget left over. A side-by-side on those points.8 min read
Rules and risk
FTC disclosure, fake views, and who is accountable for what gets posted.
- Do paid clips need #ad? FTC disclosure rules for clippingA clip posted because a brand pays for its views is an endorsement with a material connection under the FTC's Endorsement Guides. It needs a clear disclosure, and the platform's own paid-content toggle is not always enough on its own.9 min read
- Fake views in clipping campaigns: how they happen and how they are caughtWhen money is paid per view, some of those views will be bought. How view fraud shows up in a clipping campaign, which signals give it away, what the FTC's 2024 rule on fake social media indicators changed, and what to demand from any platform you use.9 min read
For clippers
How clippers get paid, what they actually earn, and how to start.
- How much do clippers make? Pay per 1,000 views, caps and taxesA clipper earns the campaign rate times views, between the minimum and the cap, minus the platform fee. What that looks like per clip and per month, why most clips earn little, and what US clippers owe in taxes.9 min read
- How to start clipping with no followersYou do not need an audience to start clipping: campaigns pay per view, not per follower. The account setup, tools, how to pick a campaign by rate and remaining budget, and what gets clips rejected.9 min read