Businessinsider.co.za | SA’s top TikTok stars by followers – and how much money they could be making per post

• Short-form social media platform TikTok has over six million local users.
• Some South African creators have built followings in the tens of millions.
• But how much money they make per sponsored post is based on engagement – and is a closely guarded secret by most.
• Here are SA's most-followed TikTok accounts – and how many hundreds of thousands of rands they might be making per sponsored post.
• For more stories, go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za.

TikTok has seen a meteoric rise around the world. The short-form video application recently surpassed three billion downloads, has shaped cultures, and made itself – and its top creators – a lot of money. It also has six million users in South Africa.

The most-followed account on TikTok currently belongs to Khaby Lame, who's built a following of 154.9 million essentially by posting his incredulous reactions to other videos. He recently overtook Charli D'Amelio, an 18-year-old who grew a following making lip-sync dance videos.

As global influence goes, though, most South African TikTok stars are still some way behind the top stars.

South Africa's most-followed TikTok user has about one-tenth of Khaby Lame's following, and most are languishing around the one million follower mark.

Even so, with followings in the millions, it leaves top local stars a lot of room to convert their likes and views into good money – provided they're capitalising to the full extent.

The top ten most-followed South African TikTokkers offer a strange mix of content. They include:

• A magician posting "tricks", sometimes blatantly displaying their solutions, and usually with actors clearly in on the script but pretending otherwise.
• A cosplayer who posts lip-synched dance videos in the same corner of a nondescript bedroom.
• A man who posts lip-synched skits to multiple random scenarios, usually where he plays all the characters.
• And a Capetonian who "spontaneously" reacts to other peoples' videos with one of a handful of unique expressions - in front of a green screen.

How TikTokkers make money

TikTok users make the most money by influencing people to buy products – either their own or a brand's – or by accepting "virtual gifts" from fans, usually in the form of payments.

There's also TikTok's Creator Fund, which pays qualifying creators based on views and engagement – but this is usually much lower than what creators can earn through direct brand deals.

How much these deals are worth is seldom disclosed and is open to speculation – and likely far higher in wealthy countries or with TikTok users who target demographics appealing to brands.

One TikTokker in the United States with 2.1 million followers told Business Insider he charges around R10,000 per sponsored post, and an average of R160 to R685 per day through the Creator Fund. While another, with about 200,000 followers, said she charges between R6,000 and R11,000 per sponsored post.

Although the amount brands pay per sponsored post varies, the axiom from other social media platforms still rings true for TikTok - the higher the followers and the more likes per video, usually called the engagement rate, the higher the price they can charge.

There are various tools to calculate this influence and engagement – problematically – created by marketing companies looking to woo influencers into their stable. They serve only as a very loose guide – but offer some insight into the potential value of likes and follows on TikTok in a Western market.

Yet only a handful of top local influencers are making commercial content, some more overt than others. In many cases, sponsored posts in South Africa aren't hard sells but product placement for global brands like Starbucks, Apple, and McDonald's. And many have little or no indication that they are sponsored posts.

Here are ten of SA's most followed TikTok accounts in 2023 - and a rough estimation of their possible earnings per post, according to Influencer Marketing Hub's Tik Tok money calculator:

• Wian Van Den Berg (@wian)

16.4 million

Average likes per video: 8,593

Engagement rate: 0.05%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R177,000

• Princess Sachiko (@sachi_hime96)

16 million

Average likes per video: 42,538

Engagement rate: 0.26%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R176,000

• Ryan Lombard (@ryanhdlombard)

10 million

Average likes per video: 565,806

Engagement rate: 5.63%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R108,000

• Tevin Musara (@superherointraining)

9.8 million

Average likes per video: 46,101

Engagement rate: 0.47%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R106,000

• Dean Schneider (@deanschneider.official)
  

9.8 million

Average likes per video: 1,009,523

Engagement rate: 10.30%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R283,000

• Shandor Larenty (@shandorlarenty)

9.6 million

Average likes per video: 19,234

Engagement rate: 0.20%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R104,000

• Bryan Kazaka (@bryankazaka)

8.8 million

Average likes per video: 19,607

Engagement rate: 0.22%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R95,000

• John-Marc van Wyk (@johnmarcvanwyk3)

8 million

Average likes per video: 6,644

Engagement rate: 0.08%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R86,000

• Crystal Greeff-Katsini (@crystal.g.katsini)

7.3 million

Average likes per video: 31,837

Engagement rate: 0.43%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R79,500

• Karl Kugelmann (@karl_kugelmann)

5.8 million

Average likes per video: 3,607

Engagement rate: 0.06%

Possible earnings per sponsored post: R62,500