On TikTok, it’s difficult to avoid them: live videos, or live, have multiplied. Strategically pushed by the Chinese giant ByteDance among the creators and users of the social network, this part of the platform is as little known as it is essential to its economic model. According to a Senate report presented in July 2023, virtual gifts sent during live performances represented a turnover of 103 million euros for TikTok in France in 2022, far ahead of advertising revenue (62 million euros).
However, behind this financial windfall lies a complex ecosystem of approved agencies about which TikTok communicates very little. Designed as intermediaries between the platform and the videographers who work on it, these actors, also nicknamed “creator networks”, benefit from very specific rights: revenue sharing, visibility statistics, strategic advice, privileged access, etc. “If one of our creators is banned by TikTok, we have the ability to make a request that will be more easily executed than if they had gone through the application”develops Angélique Eka as an example.
Founded about a year ago, while TikTok was discreetly trying to establish this ecosystem in France, the Ekaa Agency, which the young woman manages, is today far from being the only one to occupy the market. Its competitors, of which there are several dozen in France, are called IngencyLive, Octopus Agency, Les Frérots de la vie, Live’Up, Sunlive and Maxim FR. They represent several thousand creators of varying notoriety, without their existence or their very particular functioning having until now really been brought to light.
Very useful agents
This galaxy is not invisible, however. It may be enough to have carried out a few live broadcasts on TikTok to be offered to join one of these networks. Regularly, videographers, agents or agency bosses promote their services on the platform with alluring videos. The ByteDance subsidiary also encourages its users to set up an agency via its website. To do this, candidates must ratify an agreement, the Livestreaming Services Agreement, which allows TikTok to build “partnerships” with these entities.
Live creators who join agencies also sign contracts, which oblige them to a minimum number of hours of live per month and to an exclusivity link for three years, explains Angélique Eka, who manages a herd of more than 600 TikTokers. In exchange, she continues, “we offer them training to improve visibility, we support them in purchasing equipment, we give them PDF files on what live is, what live matches are”these clashes between tiktokers during which the objective is to receive the most donations.
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