How you earn
How a subscriber's payment becomes your earnings, and how you get paid.
In short
- The money shared is what the subscriber actually paid, minus Stripe's fee and any tax.
- It is split between publishers by the time the subscriber spent with each one.
- You keep 70% of your share. The platform keeps 30%.
- Your balance is transferred to your Stripe account once it reaches $30 and your payout setup is complete.
1. What's available to share
Each subscriber has one membership. For every paid billing period, we save the amount actually received, after Stripe's processing fee and without tax. This is the "pie" to share.
For example, suppose the membership costs $10 USD and no tax applies. The Stripe fee figure below is an example, not a quoted rate.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Subscriber pays | $10.00 |
| Stripe processing fee | −$0.60 |
| Available to share | $9.40 |
The pie always follows the real payment:
- With tax: a $12 payment that includes $2 tax and a $0.65 fee shares $12 − $2 − $0.65 = $9.35. Tax is never publisher revenue.
- With a discount: a $5 payment with a $0.45 fee shares $4.55, whatever the usual price is.
2. Split by time
The pie is divided between the publishers the subscriber visited, by how long they spent with each. Then the 30% platform fee comes off each publisher's share.
Say that billing period covers exactly one calendar month, and the subscriber visited three websites:
| Publisher | Share of time | Share before fee | Platform fee (30%) | Publisher earns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your website | 50% | $4.70 | $1.41 | $3.29 |
| A news website | 30% | $2.82 | $0.85 | $1.97 |
| A blog | 20% | $1.88 | $0.56 | $1.32 |
| Total | 100% | $9.40 | $2.82 | $6.58 |
The fee is taken once, here. Transfers don't deduct it again.
Creators and the creator share
Creators publish on platforms they don't control, such as YouTube. Those platforms keep showing their own ads. So each subscriber chooses how much of a creator's time-based share the creator keeps, using the Creator share setting.
- It ranges from 0% to 100%. The default is 50%.
- It applies to all creators that subscriber visits.
- Money a creator doesn't keep goes to the websites that subscriber visited, in proportion to their time there. Websites the subscriber excluded get none of it.
- If the subscriber visited no eligible websites, it goes to the shared pool (see below).
- Website shares are never reduced by this setting.
Example: a subscriber spends equal time on one website and one creator.
| Creator share setting | Creator gets | Website gets |
|---|---|---|
| 100% | 50% | 50% |
| 50% (default) | 25% | 75% |
| 0% | 0% | 100% |
Percentages are of the pie, before the platform fee. The setting is not a fixed payment per minute. Creators can still receive shared-pool money when it is set to 0%.
Billing periods and calendar months
Earnings are calculated per calendar month. When a billing period spans two months, its pie is split by how much of the period falls in each month.
For example, a $9.40 pie covering January 16 to February 16 spans 31 days: 16 in January and 15 in February.
- January gets $9.40 × 16/31.
- February gets $9.40 × 15/31.
Each month's amount is then split by that month's recorded time.
Checkout currently offers monthly billing only. If annual billing is added, the same rule applies. A $97 annual pie would be spread across the whole year, not paid every month.
When a subscriber visits no one
Some subscribers don't open any publisher's content in a month. Their money doesn't disappear. It goes into the Unattributed Revenue Pool, which is shared equally among all eligible publishers.
- The pool is shared per publisher account, not per website. Running more websites doesn't earn a bigger slice.
- An account is eligible if it has at least one Observed or Active integration.
- The pool also receives money left over after subscribers' preferences are applied.
- There is no guaranteed pool payment. It depends on what is left each month.
Getting paid
- Keep an earning integration. Integrations marked Observed or Active in Websites & creators can earn.
- Reach $30. Smaller balances carry forward to the next month.
- Set up payouts. Once you reach $30, open Earnings & payouts. Enter your contact email and country, then complete Stripe's onboarding.
- Receive a monthly transfer. Your balance is transferred to your Stripe Express account.
A transfer puts money in your Stripe balance. It doesn't send it to your bank. Your Stripe account uses manual bank payouts, and Zero Ad Network doesn't start bank withdrawals for you. Contact support if you need help reaching transferred funds.
Reaching $30 doesn't guarantee an immediate transfer. Stripe onboarding must be complete, and your account must be able to receive transfers.
What stops earnings
- Removing an integration stops its new earnings. Money it already earned stays payable.
- A moderation restriction also stops new earnings. Previously earned balances stay payable.
- A removed or restricted integration doesn't start earning again because someone visits. It needs to be restored by an administrator.
Closing your account forfeits unpaid earnings
When you close your account, all earnings not yet transferred to Stripe are forfeited and stay with the platform. This includes balances under $30 and pending or failed transfers.
Money already in your Stripe account stays yours, even if it hasn't reached your bank. Wait for your final transfer before closing your account.
Fine print
- Rounding. Calculations keep fractions and round each publisher's total to the cent. Examples may differ from your statement by a cent.
- Excluded publishers. Subscribers can exclude a publisher from their direct funding. That publisher can still receive money from the shared pool.
- Settings timing. A subscriber's creator share and exclusions are read when the month is calculated, not saved per visit.