The clipping economy grew its own vocabulary fast. Here's the working glossary — the terms as they're actually used, each defined plainly. Bookmark it; we link the deep-dive on every concept that has one.
The craft
Clip — a short vertical video cut from long-form source content, packaged for TikTok/Shorts/Reels.
Clipper — the person who finds, cuts, captions, and posts clips. The full job description.
Moment — the specific beat a clip is built around: one joke, one play, one line. Moments are clipped; topics are not.
Hook — whatever earns the first second of attention: a cold open, a text frame, a reaction-first cut. The pattern catalog.
Cold open — starting the clip inside the moment with zero setup.
Loop — an ending cut to flow seamlessly back into the opening, inflating rewatches.
Completion rate — the share of viewers who watch to the end; the algorithm signal that most decides distribution.
Safe zone — the screen region platform UI doesn't cover; where captions and subjects belong.
Hit rate — the fraction of your clips that meaningfully perform. The clipper's core KPI.
The marketplace
Campaign — a funded bounty: a buyer pays a pot up front and sets the terms; accepted clippers submit links and earn from it. Mechanics end to end.
Pot — the campaign's total budget, paid before the campaign lists. Pot remaining is live on every card.
Per-link bounty — the amount every verified submission earns regardless of performance (minimum $0.50). Pays for the edit itself.
Rate (per 1k) — what verified views earn, per thousand.
View gate — the minimum views before view-money starts; crossing it pays on all views from view #1. The math worked out.
Pitch / pitch card — your application to a campaign; daily pitch allowances are set by subscription tier.
Submission slots — the per-campaign cap on links per clipper (10/25/50 by tier). Rejected links burn slots.
Pot lock — the 90-day commitment on funded pots: the buyer cannot pull the money back after funding; clips already in keep earning.
Soft close — a campaign past its countdown (or manually stopped): no new pitches or links, but in-flight clips keep accruing.
Pay raise — owners can raise a live campaign's rates (never lower them); cards flash ⬆ PAY RAISED.
The money rails
Escrow — money held by the platform between payment and delivery approval; how direct orders stay safe for both sides.
Verification / trust pipeline — how view counts become payable: official-API readings and trust-gated confirmations; suspicious jumps freeze for human review. An unverified number never becomes money.
Payout hold — the short window between accrual and bank transfer (fraud clawback protection).
Wallet — a buyer's pre-funded balance; covers campaign pots instantly when sufficient.
Double-blind reviews — both parties review after an order; neither sees the other's until both submit (or the window closes).
The scene
Clip account — a dedicated posting account for a niche, grown from zero.
Niche / sub-niche — the content territory an account and clipper specialize in. Choosing one.
Season — the leaderboard's monthly competitive cycle; each season's #1 enters the hall of fame.
Streak — consecutive days with at least one submission; visible on the leaderboard.
Missing a term? It probably has a whole article — the blog index is organized by category.