Jun 12, 2026
There are plenty of ways to make money online, but one fast-growing side hustle has been gaining attention on social media: clipping.
Clipping is the practice of taking longer pieces of content, such as podcasts, interviews, livestreams or songs, editing them into short videos and posting them en masse on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, often with the help of AI tools.
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For 25-year-old Emrah Bayraktar, clipping started as a way to earn a little extra cash while juggling several part-time jobs, including making sandwiches at Subway, cleaning cars and working overnight shifts in a warehouse.
At first, the earnings were modest. Bayraktar recalls seeing a notification that he had earned $12 from one of his clips.
“Then two weeks later, I made two-and-a-half thousand dollars, and I thought, ‘Maybe I could just quit my jobs and go all-in on this,’” he told NPR.
Here’s why more people are cashing in on clipping and what aspiring side hustlers should know.
How clippers get paid
The appeal of clipping is simple: it offers a way to earn money with little more than a smartphone, an editing app and an internet connection.
Most campaigns pay clippers based on views. According to NPR, rates can range from 50 cents to $25 per 1,000 views, depending on the content and the company behind the campaign.
That earning potential is a big part of what’s attracting side hustlers. According to a 2025 Bankrate survey, the typical side hustler earns a median of $200 per month, making the prospect of earning hundreds or even thousands of dollars from viral clips especially appealing.
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For some creators, those earnings have become substantial. Bayraktar now runs a network of roughly 40,000 freelance clippers and operates a YouTube channel where he teaches others how to break into the industry.
As clipping has grown, so have the payouts. Business Insider reported that some top-performing “elite clippers” are now offered monthly retainers ranging from $500 to $1,500 in addition to performance-based pay.
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The social media strategy behind clipping
For companies, the appeal comes down to cost. A billboard advertising campaign from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands or more in prime locations. By comparison, according to Business Insider, some clipping campaigns pay creators between $1 and $4 per 1,000 views, allowing brands to reach large audiences at a fraction of the cost.
“Clipping makes it so you have a higher chance to be featured on these phones, instead of someone driving past your content on a billboard, it’s now someone swiping past it as they scroll,” Anthony Fujiwara, co-founder of clipping agency Clipping told NPR.
The trend has become so mainstream that mega-popular YouTuber MrBeast launched his own clipping platform, Vyro. It connects creators and brands with users willing to make and distribute clips, allowing participants to earn money based on the views their videos generate.
Why some people are skeptical and concerned about clipping
Not everyone is convinced clipping is a harmless side hustle.
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One concern is that the practice can make content appear more popular than it really is. When hundreds of people post versions of the same clip, social-media algorithms may interpret that activity as a genuine surge in interest and push the content to even more users. Unlike traditional advertisements, many clips appear to come from ordinary users, making it difficult for viewers to know whether a post is part of a coordinated marketing campaign.In some cases, the consequences can extend beyond inflated view counts.
A recent New York Times investigation documented how streamer Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, known online as VitalyzdTv, falsely accused Akash Singhania, who ran a vending-machine startup, of being a child predator after luring him to a meetup with a decoy during a livestream. At one point during the encounter, he turned to the camera and said “perfect clip.”
Although Vitaly later acknowledged the mistake, apologized and removed the original broadcast, clips of the confrontation had already been reposted across social media by creators hoping to capitalize on the viral moment. According to the Times, one company paying people to clip Vitaly’s content even asked creators to delete their videos. But by then, the footage had already spread widely online.
Singhania’s family received harassing messages and prank calls, and clips of the false accusation continued circulating even after the original video was taken down.
The same financial system that allows creators to spread content quickly can also make it much harder to rein in false or harmful information once it starts gaining traction online.
More traditional side hustles such as tutoring, freelance work, pet sitting or delivery driving may not come with viral success, but they offer a way to earn extra cash without depending on algorithms or internet outrage.
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Victoria Vesovski is a Toronto-based staff reporter at Moneywise covering personal finance, lifestyle and trending news. She holds degrees from the University of Toronto and New York University, and her work has appeared on platforms including Yahoo Finance, MSN Money and Apple News.
