How can I make money on TikTok in Germany?

TikTok itself pays out Creator Rewards and LIVE rewards. With TikTok Shop, the commission comes from the shop whose product you promote: according to the TikTok Shop creator terms (clause 11.1), you agree the payment and amount with that shop, and TikTok is not a party to that agreement. If someone returns the product, this can affect your commission (clause 11.2). TikTok can also invite you to its own campaigns with payments or rewards (clause 14).

According to TikTok, Creator Rewards needs 10,000 followers and 100,000 video views in the last 30 days, and TikTok Shop needs 500 followers in the EU country you apply for. What other platforms require is covered in the guide to follower minimums.

Say you are 24, have 80,000 followers in Germany and got 400,000 video views in the last 30 days. That covers the follower and view numbers for Creator Rewards and TikTok Shop’s follower threshold. Rewards are still only paid for videos that meet the criteria in the next section, you agree your TikTok Shop commission with the shop concerned, and for brand deals and affiliate links, brands and affiliate programmes decide what they pay. If you want to combine TikTok Shop with a storefront link in your bio, read the rules on redirecting traffic further down first.

The rules in this section come from TikTok’s Creator Academy article on the programme, which the German app calls “Belohnungsprogramm für Creator*innen”. In Germany you can take part if you live there and registered your account there, from age 18 and only with a personal account that has no violations of the Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. Business accounts and accounts of governments or political organisations are excluded. Ineligible content also includes copied or barely changed content, slideshow-only videos and profiles that contain personal or business contact details. TikTok doesn’t say explicitly if a shop link in your profile counts as business contact details.

Only qualified views count: at least five seconds of watch time, or at least 30 seconds for views from search. Several views from the same account count as one, paid views and views marked “Not interested” don’t count at all, and the view has to come from a country where the programme is available.

Rewards are only paid for videos that meet these points:

• It is your own original video and longer than one minute.
• It gets at least 1,000 views in the For You feed.
• It is not a Duet or a Stitch and was not made in photo mode.
• It is not an ad, a paid promotion or sponsored content.

In a LIVE, viewers buy Coins and use them to send you gifts. Under TikTok’s Virtual Items Policy, though, a gift does not transfer money to you, and virtual items such as Coins, gifts and Diamonds cannot be exchanged for cash. TikTok uses the type and number of gifts to measure your popularity in Diamonds, and Diamonds do not automatically entitle you to a payout. You have to be 18 to buy Coins or collect Diamonds.

Money only comes as a reward payment. Under TikTok’s Rewards Policy for the EEA, the terms of each rewards programme set out who can take part. For LIVEs, the policy lists factors including the Diamonds you collect, LIVE duration, new followers while you are LIVE, active members or subscribers of your community, the number of days you went LIVE, your league or ranking and the quality and safety of your LIVE content. Unless a programme says otherwise, you can no longer receive a reward two years after the day you first became eligible for it.

What counts as branded content is set out in TikTok’s Branded Content Policy (in force since 31 August 2026): content in which you promote a third-party brand in return for payment or another incentive. This explicitly includes content featuring products a brand gifted you, products you earn commission on through an affiliate link or promo code, and brands you have a business relationship with, for example as an ambassador. For such content, TikTok requires you to switch on the commercial content disclosure toggle. If content conceals a commercial relationship, TikTok’s Rewards Policy also allows it to reduce or withhold rewards.

In Germany, the recommendations of the Medienanstalten (state media authorities) apply on top. Their May 2025 guide treats TikTok videos under the advertising rules for broadcasting. If the product is the focus, a clearly legible permanent “Werbung” (advertising) overlay belongs in the video. If it only plays a minor role, a note at the start such as “enthält Produktplatzierung” (contains product placement) is enough, and for gifted products only if one brand’s products are worth more than €100 in total. Once you show a discount code, a discount offer or where to buy, the video or sequence counts as advertising, not product placement. A platform label on its own is only sufficient if it reads “Werbung”, “Anzeige” or “bezahlte Werbepartnerschaft” and the other requirements for recognisability are met. Affiliate links get an asterisk and an explanation right next to the link. Labelling something as advertising just to be safe, for example because a brand is mentioned, should be avoided.

For tax, the Hessian tax authority’s guide (June 2026) lists advertising income, commission from affiliate links and platform income such as money from creator funds as business income (Betriebseinnahmen). If you work as an influencer regularly and are paid for it, the guide says the tax office assumes income from a Gewerbe (registered trade). TikTok’s Rewards Policy states that you pay any tax on rewards yourself. Under the policy, payments under its rewards programmes are handled by TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited, a company registered in England. Check with your tax adviser what this means for VAT.

1. Age: according to TikTok, Creator Rewards, LIVE rewards and TikTok Shop all require you to be at least 18. For brand deals and affiliate links, brands and affiliate programmes set their own rules.
2. Account type: Creator Rewards is only open to personal accounts. With a business account, this route is closed.
3. Apply for Creator Rewards: go to your profile, the menu (☰) and TikTok Studio to find the programme and apply. TikTok says it gets back to you within three days.
4. Weigh TikTok Shop against your bio link: under TikTok Shop’s Content Policy (clause 4.9.4), content promoting TikTok Shop products must not send people to external websites or other platforms. Its article on redirecting traffic gives asking viewers to click a link in your bio that leads to an external shop as an example. The article advises against adding external links to your bio and says breaches can lead to penalties on the platform. For Creator Rewards, the rule on contact details in your profile also applies (see above). If you want to combine several routes, read these rules first.
5. Register a Gewerbe and get a tax number: according to the Hessian tax authority, if you work as an influencer regularly and are paid for it, you register a Gewerbe (registered trade) with your local trade office promptly and submit the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung (tax registration questionnaire) via ELSTER within one month of starting.
6. Set up labelling: switch on the disclosure toggle for every video you are paid for, that shows a product a brand gifted you, that earns you money through an affiliate link or promo code, or that features a brand you have a business relationship with. Add “Werbung” in the video when the product is the focus or you show a discount code or where to buy, and an asterisk with an explanation on every affiliate link.

wyrld fits the fifth route, the link in your bio. You paste the link to a product you use yourself. wyrld recognises the brand, name and variant, looks for the same item across more than 90,000 partner shops, including Amazon, and automatically creates the affiliate link for each offer it finds. You don’t sign up with networks yourself for this. Your community sees the offers with prices side by side and buys directly from the shop of their choice at no extra cost. According to Bitkom (2022), 65% of German online shoppers say the lowest price is a decisive factor when choosing a shop. You earn per click, per sale or both, depending on the shop, settled at the start of the following month with a self-billing credit note (Gutschrift), so you don’t write invoices to wyrld. You add a single storefront link to your TikTok profile; check your profile settings first to see if you can add a website there.

wyrld’s creator terms don’t require exclusivity, so as far as wyrld is concerned you can use your storefront alongside brand deals and other programmes. Their own rules decide if an external storefront link in your profile fits with TikTok Shop or Creator Rewards, as described above. If you work with a talent agency, it gets its own dashboard on wyrld and looks after your storefront with you. wyrld deducts an agreed commission share from your earnings in the monthly billing, and you each receive separate credit notes. Through wyrld Boost, brands also pay for campaigns that run across many creators at once, based on KPIs they set in advance. Taking part is your decision, and you label campaign videos as advertising. wyrld is free for creators, and its creator terms set no follower minimum. wyrld only works with businesses under § 14 BGB, Kleinunternehmer (small business scheme) included.