To be clear, this wouldn't address your issue of adequately paying creators, which would still need to come from consumers via advertising or subscriptions at level 2. It would be more of seed funding, and a way to transition from L1 to L2 management of rewards without an abrupt cutoff of funding. In theory, if stakeholders were agreeable, the funding could even be unchanged at that point of transition. Such a change need not be seen as "getting rid of L1 rewards" so much as restructuring how they work and getting explicit buyin from stakeholders that they are worthwhile at any particular level.