Thoughts about creator economy:
- I think all these started from media/attention transformation. Before all these podcast, long/short video, streaming became easily accessible to everyone, people are being informed and influenced by TV, movies, shows, and newspapers which are produced by professional production company. They are professional but people can feel the sense of distance. Then, we have new form of mainstream media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitch, Tiktok, and Clubhouse, all of these apps highly influence new generations, like millennial and Gen Z. I really believe that everyone especially millennial and Gen Z is being influenced in some ways by influencers they are following on all kinds of platforms.
- Now, there are 50M people identified themselves as creators worldwide. This number will be growing for sure as working on something with their passion or try running some side hustle becomes mainstream. In this 50M people, 47M are long-tail amateur creators. Majority of them are still creating content in all kinds of platforms to grow the following base and try to be the next influencer. 2M+ are full-time creators. Majority of these 2M people are influencers, course creators, streamers, or top-tier creators on all platforms. they are selling fan engagement, online courses, newsletters, and merchandise.
- Currently, after all the influencers and ‘top-class’ creators got fame and money, people start helping the long-tail ‘middle-class’ creators. Patronage, subscription-based funding, tipping, gift, and donation all come in. It’s really interesting to see the trend. It’s nothing particular new. It’s basically digitalizing what people already done offline.
What are the current trends in this market?
- Creators as Business. As more creators think content creation is a new form of proud career, the trend turns to be ‘Creators as Business’. For whatever business, it needs tools to support the daily operation. So, all these tools and platforms emerged and more are being built.
- Content format is changing. Form beginning blogging -> microblog (Twitter)-> newsfeed with image -> image as main content (Instagram) -> long video -> live streaming -> short video -> real-time event feed (Clubhouse and Eventbrite). For Gen Z and millennial, majority of them prefer consuming content in a quick bite way.
- More creators start enhancing community and monetizing from their own audience by using all kind of these community tools or platforms. The Information and Signalfire capital put it in a more straightforward way: cult-driven culture. It actually makes sense because middle-class creators who want to engage fans and have steady revenue need to have a niche.
- Web3 on creator space. Social tokens help creators and fans claim ownership. NFTs for digital assets.