Races: shared prize pools, per-post rates, and views caps

A Race pays creators at a configured rate from a shared prize pool. Multiple creators can earn from that pool. It is not a competition where only the first creator to hit a personal target wins.

Per-post and per-LIVE races

The race builder offers three combinations: video + per post, LIVE + per session, and video + views. Set the total prize pool and amount paid for each qualifying item. It does not offer a GMV race, a photo-carousel race, or a mixed-content race in this configuration flow.

Example: a $1,000 pool paying $20 per qualifying video funds 50 videos across participants. A creator with five funded qualifying videos earns $100, subject to any per-creator cap.

The builder requires the pool to be a multiple of the per-item amount for this mode. If you set a per-creator cap, it must fit the pool and the per-item increment. A LIVE race counts qualifying sessions rather than paying for every minute of streaming.

Views races

Set the total pool and the payment rate shown as per 1,000 views. Cruva calculates the corresponding per-view value; the rate is not paid once per video regardless of its view count.

Example: at $2 per 1,000 views, 12,500 qualifying views have a $25 value before caps and available-pool limits.

Two optional limits control concentration:

• Maximum payout per creator: caps that creator's total earnings in the race.
• Maximum earnings per video: the creator-facing configuration expresses the cap as money. Cruva converts that amount to a maximum number of counted views using the rate. This limits the contribution of an individual video rather than capping the creator across all videos.

Example: at $2 per 1,000 views with a $20 maximum earnings per video (equivalent to a 10,000-view cap), one video with 50,000 tracked views contributes at most $20. If the creator has a $30 payout cap, additional videos can only bring that creator up to $30. The remaining shared pool can constrain the amount further.

Use the views/content options the builder offers; do not assume that a per-LIVE posting race also pays for LIVE views. Tracked view counts come from TikTok Shop and can differ from the public counter.

Rate and cap validation

The total prize pool and selected rate must be positive. For a per-post/per-LIVE race, the pool and optional maximum per creator must be multiples of the per-item rate, and the creator maximum cannot exceed the pool.

For a views race:

• The rate per 1,000 views cannot exceed the entire prize pool.
• An optional maximum payout per creator cannot exceed the pool and must be a multiple of the rate per 1,000 views.
• A video's configured maximum earnings cannot exceed the creator maximum, if set, or the total pool.
• Blank optional caps leave that extra cap off; the shared pool still applies.

Example: a $3-per-1,000-views race can use a $30 creator cap. A $31 cap is not a multiple of that rate. A $40 per-video maximum is incompatible with a $30 creator maximum. If the form refuses to save, check these relationships instead of assuming the view count is the problem.

The form's maximum-earnings input is a currency amount, not a place to paste the desired number of views. At $2 per 1,000, enter $20 to cap one video at the value of 10,000 views.

How the shared pool is allocated

Qualifying content is considered in posting order, using the video posting time or LIVE start time as applicable. It is not prioritized by the time someone clicked Submit content link.

Each eligible item receives its calculated value up to the remaining pool and applicable creator/content caps. Later content cannot earn money that the pool has already allocated. TikTok data arriving later can affect the calculation, so live progress is subject to reconciliation.

The available-post limit or budget exhaustion can stop new manual submissions with a “Race is full” message. Budget exhaustion can also pause a campaign. Inspect the pool and campaign status before advising a creator to retry.

Hide the budget from creators

This hides the creator-facing prize-pool progress display. It does not make the pool unlimited, remove first-come allocation, change creator caps, or stop budget-based pausing.

A configured prize pool is a reward-allocation limit, not a deposit into your payment balance. You still fund and release cash through Creator payouts.

Why a post earned less than expected

Check product/date/content eligibility, disqualification, the rate unit, tracked views, per-video view cap, per-creator payout cap, and the remaining pool. An accepted manual submission does not reserve unlimited money while metrics are still unknown. See Missing content and date rules.