An influencer with nearly 14 million followers breaks down what he earns from TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat

When food creator Wasil Daoud wakes up, he's already thinking about the ingredients and steps needed to film his next TikTok video, and who he can distribute the meals to. 

Daoud started creating content in 2015, at age 13, by filming YouTube videos. Most of the videos were humorous skits, but he began to seriously pursue a career as a creator when he joined TikTok in March 2020.

"I knew I wanted to be a content creator for the longest time, and I was watching other friends do it back then and was like why can't I?" the 21-year-old told Insider. "I was just obsessed with videos and anything that would make me laugh when I was a kid, so I focused on comedy."

His first few TikToks were skits that he filmed with his close friends, trying to make his audience laugh at the way his family coexisted.

"My Middle Eastern roots were a huge reason why I first went viral," he said. "People who were a part of the community could just relate to the family dynamic and loved the exaggerated scenes."

In 2021, he pivoted his content to food  —  his videos now focus on him cooking meals in large portions and handing them out to people without proper housing. 

He posts videos he says are "outrageous with food," where he gathers a lot of food ingredients together to make a meal. At first, most of the meals he prepared weren't edible; ketchup was food coloring, and glue and seasoning were different colors of sand he mixed together. He started in 2022 using real ingredients, which allowed him to donate the meals.

Today, Daoud has almost 14 million followers across Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook. His primary platform is TikTok, where he has about 12 million followers, but he's started posting more long-form content and Shorts on YouTube and recently landed a Snap show.

Most of his income as a creator is earned through brand deals, where he posts sponsored content on TikTok in exchange for a negotiated amount. He declined to share how much he earns through these paid partnerships but has also monetized his social platforms through ad-revenue sharing programs.

He's earned roughly $23,350 directly from YouTube, Snapchat, and Facebook in the past seven months, from January to July 2023, which Insider verified with documentation he provided. Even though most of his online audience is from TikTok, he earns very little directly through the platform; this year, he's only made $300.

Daoud earns money directly from platforms' ad-revenue-share programs

Daoud earns money directly from YouTube and Facebook through ads for long-form content. Since TikTok is his primary focus, he films and uploads those videos first and then repurposes his content for other platforms — like other TikTokers who are switching to YouTube have done. It's helped turn YouTube into his biggest source of income directly through a social media platform.

"I was monetized for long-form on YouTube a while ago, but I wasn't making money because I didn't film those longer videos," he said. "The Shorts bonuses changed everything, that's how I earn now." 

Daoud also stresses how critical Facebook has been as a source of income, saying a lot of people in this industry, including creators, don't know how lucrative it can be. The money he's earned directly from Facebook so far this year is only around $100 less than what he's earned from YouTube.

"A lot of people think it's dead, but it's not," he said. "My content always pops off there."

With the help of his manager and creator-growth company Jellysmack, Daoud also landed a show on Snapchat. Unlike stories, these Snap shows, which are typically three to five minutes long, don't expire and are also promoted on Snapchat's Discover feed. Creators like Daoud earn a cut of the revenue from ads that appear in the content.

"I made money immediately through the first episode and it was wild," he said.

Giving out food has become a huge part of his content

After moving to Los Angeles, California in 2021, Daoud started noticing many unhoused people when he ventured outside his high-rise apartment building.

"You don't really see that many people on the streets in New Jersey, not like how it was in LA," he said. 

He pivoted to filming himself cooking large meals with real, fresh ingredients — like using 80 pounds of dough to make around 200 homemade pizzas — and distributing the food that wasn't eaten to people without housing. He said he always asked unhoused people he met for their verbal consent to film them.

Since then, he's moved back to New Jersey and is fundraising to donate meals through a crowdfunding platform called Angelink. His followers can donate money through the link on any of his social media profiles.

"I never want people to think I earn so much money that I'm out of touch with reality because I'm trying to give back as much as I can," he said.