Payment Engine

ViewsBase automates the math behind creator payments. You set the deal terms, videos get tracked, and earnings are calculated automatically when videos finalize.

The Formula

Every video's earnings follow this formula:

earnings = min(views, cap) × CPM ÷ 1000

• views — the finalized view count (locked at finalization)
• cap — the maximum views that count toward earnings
• CPM — cost per mille (price per 1,000 views)

The min(views, cap) ensures creators are paid for up to the cap but never more, even if the video goes viral.

Worked Examples

Example 1: Under cap

• Views: 320,000 | CPM: $0.50 | Cap: 500,000
• Earnings: min(320000, 500000) × 0.50 ÷ 1000 = $160.00

Example 2: Over cap

• Views: 1,200,000 | CPM: $0.50 | Cap: 500,000
• Earnings: min(1200000, 500000) × 0.50 ÷ 1000 = $250.00
• The creator gets paid for 500K views max, even though the video hit 1.2M.

Example 3: Low CPM, high cap

• Views: 800,000 | CPM: $0.15 | Cap: 1,000,000
• Earnings: min(800000, 1000000) × 0.15 ÷ 1000 = $120.00

Deal Types

When you add a creator to a campaign, you set their deal terms. There are two types:

Single Rate

One CPM and one view cap. The simplest setup.

• CPM: $0.40
• Cap: 500,000 views
• Every video by this creator uses the same rate.

Best for: straightforward deals where the rate doesn't vary by content quality.

Tiered Deals

Multiple CPM tiers with different rates, caps, and requirements. You choose the tier per video based on content quality or audience metrics.

Example tiered deal:

When you edit a video's CPM in the Posts tab, a dropdown lets you pick which tier applies. The CPM and cap auto-fill from the selected tier.

Best for: creators whose content quality varies, or when you want to incentivize higher-quality posts.

How Tiers Are Selected

Tier selection is manual — you decide which tier applies to each video. This typically happens when a video moves to Pending CPM status:

1. Check the video's performance metrics (T1 %, engagement, etc.)
2. Open the edit dialog in the Posts tab
3. Select the appropriate tier from the dropdown
4. Save — the CPM and cap are applied, and the video finalizes

The Payments Tab

The Payments tab in the campaign dashboard provides a bird's-eye view of all creator earnings.

What It Shows

A table grouped by creator, with columns for:

• Pending videos/amount — videos still being tracked, with estimated (unfixed) earnings
• Finalized videos/amount — videos with locked earnings, ready for payment
• Paid videos/amount — videos already marked as paid
• Total earnings — sum across all statuses

Exporting

Click the copy icon in the top right to copy a formatted payment summary to your clipboard. The export looks like this:

## Ready to Pay
- @hazelviral (TikTok): 2 videos — $320.40
- @brianna.style (Instagram): 1 video — $93.45

## Pending
- @alexcreates (TikTok): 1 video — ~$22.50

## Total Outstanding: $436.35

Paste this into Slack, email, a spreadsheet, or your payment tool.

Payment Workflow

1. Review the Payments tab to see who has finalized amounts
2. Export the summary using the copy button
3. Pay creators through your preferred method (PayPal, wire, Wise, etc.)
4. Mark as paid — go to the Posts tab, select the finalized videos, and bulk-mark them as Paid
5. Verify — the Payments tab updates to show the paid amounts

ViewsBase does not process payments directly — it calculates and tracks amounts. The actual money transfer is handled outside the platform.