Clipping has grown into its own corner of the creator economy: someone pulls the best 30 seconds out of a long podcast or stream, posts it on their own account, and the clip travels further than the original ever did. Now X wants that whole process to happen inside its app, and it says both the person who makes the clip and the creator who made the video can get paid for it.
According to Net Influencer‘s Dragomir Stojkov, X has launched a native clipping tool that lets users cut a moment from someone else’s video and repost it with their own commentary, with earnings from the clip shared through the platform’s Original Content Rewards program.
Fixing the download-and-reupload problem
Allegra Jacchia, X’s Head of Creator Product, announced the feature on Nov. 9. “Until now, clipping on X meant downloading videos, editing them using outside tools, and reuploading,” she wrote, as quoted by Net Influencer. “Original creators often didn’t get credit, and even when a clip went viral, they didn’t earn from it.”
As Digital Trends‘ Rachit Agarwal explains, the old way meant saving someone’s video, trimming it in a separate editing app and uploading it all over again, often with no credit and no money going back to the person who made it. Under the new system, every clip carries a “Clip from” label that links to the source video and opens it at the exact timestamp where the clip begins.
The official @XCreators account summed up the pitch this way, per Mashable‘s Olivia Tauber: “Everyone wins when great moments travel. Clipping is one more step toward making X the best place to create, grow and earn.”
The rules of the clip
Making a clip works a lot like reposting. Agarwal walks through it: tap the Repost icon on a video, choose “Clip video,” drag the trimmer handles to pick the moment, tap “Next,” add your thoughts and post.
And there are limits. Clips have to run between 5 and 60 seconds, and they can’t take up more than 30% of the original video. Only pre-recorded videos at least two minutes long can be clipped, so a two-minute video gives you up to 36 seconds, and only videos longer than 3 minutes and 20 seconds can be clipped for the full minute. Livestreams can’t be clipped yet, though Jacchia replied “It’s coming :)” when asked. Net Influencer reports that, according to X, the 30% cap is meant to leave viewers a reason to go watch the original.
The tool is live in the X app on iOS and Android, with web access to follow.
Who gets paid
Here’s the catch: both people have to be enrolled in Original Content Rewards to earn anything. According to Net Influencer, engagement on a clip counts toward the clipper’s earnings the same way as their other posts. The original creator’s earnings from clips are calculated the same way as earnings from embedded reposts of their content, and they’ll show up in regular payouts starting with the first payout after launch.
What X hasn’t shared is an actual rate. Mashable notes that X’s clipping rules don’t list a flat rate. For comparison, Tauber points to the clipping market that already exists off-platform, where podcasters, streamers and marketers recruit clippers through Discord servers and marketplaces like Whop. Marketers told Business Insider earlier this year that those campaigns typically pay $1 to $4 per 1,000 views, Mashable reports.
Clips also don’t count toward X’s Video Kickstart Bonus, the invite-only program we covered here earlier this month.
No opt-out, for now
Creators who don’t want their videos clipped are out of luck for the moment. Net Influencer reports that creators can’t currently opt out, and that X says it is working on a setting to turn clipping off. If a creator deletes the original video, all clips of it are removed too.
Jacchia framed the launch as part of a bigger push. “Our goal is simple: make X the best place for creators to create, grow, and earn,” she said, adding that this means “making sure that when someone clips their video, they get the credit and a share of the earnings.”
The takeaway
For creators who post long videos, every clip now comes with a built-in link back to you and, if you’re enrolled in Original Content Rewards, a possible cut of what it earns. For clippers, it’s a way to earn without downloading anything. The open questions are the ones that matter most for your wallet: how much a clip actually pays, and when you’ll get to decide whether your videos can be clipped at all. If you post long-form video on X, being in the rewards program now decides whether someone else’s viral clip pays you or not.
Featured image: original illustration.
