So what’s next? Guessing trends in the Digital Creator Industry *

*These predictions are purely in my humble opinion. One of the things that I love about this industry is that it changes and evolves so fast that there isn’t a chance for anyone to claim to be an expert. I’m not one. Just a very keen fan.

I was lucky enough to be invited to join a panel at Vidcon AbuDhabi last weekend with Jim Louderback along side people who’s opinions I massively respect; Katy Leeson, Rahul Pushkarna and Ricky Ray Butler. It’s a guilty pleasure to try and guess the trends coming down the track for the digital first talent and Influencer marketing world. In my eyes, it’s the most dynamic sector of the entertainment industry and I am looking forward to finding out the answers to our musings in the years to come.?

I’m also looking forward to focusing my attention on a few of these trends in the near future in the shape of new business projects I am helping or embarking on…more on that in posts to come…;-)

Trend??1?–?D2C Brands and social shopping

More quality and scalable 'direct to consumer' brands from Influencer founders.?

Some real value, over the last ten years, has been created by talent who have built something scalable, enduring and sustainable out of their, relatively sudden, internet fame. I personally am proud of the brands that’s have been built from scratch by talent on the Gleam Futures roster in the last decade, both as licences, and also as direct to consumer start ups. At Gleam we helped build numerous brands. Most of these brands exist today because their quality and provenance, far exceeded the limitations of the organic audience of the talent who founded or helped to launch them.?

We are not talking ‘merch’ here. One positive thing that has emerged from the last decade is the weakening of the strangle hold traditional retailers had on distribution. It has created a much more democratic trading environment for brands. In the same way only the best content creators survived the last decade, I think we will see the emergence of brands as digital talent. Brands that are properly invested in and have marketing plans behind them that don’t just rely on the organic audience of whichever influencer is hired to promote or partner.?

Trend??2?–?The rise and rise of subscription social media platforms.

The emergence and growth of subscription platforms to allow creators to fully engage with, much smaller but premium, audiences.??

In the previous decade; real value has been created by making premium IP for smaller but highly engaged sub audiences of the talent’s main A-Vod audience. The publishing division at Gleam Futures, ‘Gleam Titles’ is testament to this. When digital creators started publishing books in 2014 a new, more valuable, and protectable form of IP was created. It led to a whole new category for publishers, and a generation of talent on social media got to showcase their ability to write, ideate and imagine on a legacy platform like the printed page. The currency was no longer the millions of views the advertiser craved but now the thousands of books, and the original ideas within them, that the truly engaged audience craved.?

I think that the publishing revolution of 7 years ago was the pre-cursor to the success of platforms like OnlyFans, Patreon and Twitch. On these platforms creators engage with audiences in their hundreds or thousands, not millions, but, their content is more premium and has to warrant a subscription price. Here, the power of the advertiser is diluted and the audiences who are looking for specific niche content are served and corporate censorship is low. Talent, again (10 years after the start of this entertainment revolution), is hyper aware of what their most engaged and loyal fans want to see, because its only them that they are wanting to connect with. These platforms are daunting and some of them stigmatised, but, with support, bravery and protection, talent can thrive and find a solid income that isn’t dependent on advertisers. This purifies the relationship and therefor the content. Here on subscription powered platforms, the creators creates in a cross section of their passions, skills and talent, and what their most engaged fans love. We can also look off into the near future to see how this concept powers the rise of NFTs and super premium art online.?

Trend 3?–?Influencer events for fans and brands.

People are craving real life connection again and as a build on the trends above both brands and talent will connect IRL a lot more.??

Back in 2012 one of the only places where creators could commune, share ideas, talk about the future and actually meet each other in real life, was Vidcon. Since then Vidcon has become a global brand which serves to inspire and connect generations of both creators and executives in the industry.?

There are also numerous ‘influencer marketing’ shows and awards that service the agencies and brands who have bought into the power of this channel.?

What has been lacking is focus and celebration of pure grass roots talent and the amazing diversity of the creator space. Pioneers like Blogosphere and the Blogosphere awards founded by @Alice Audley are a superb example of how passionate the creator community is to celebrate itself and I believe there is a huge opportunity for credible event brands like Blogosphere to thrive in the next decade.?

Trend??4?–?The Independent Influencer.

A lot of digital first creators are also highly entrepreneurial. With the rise of more resource and experience to support the professional creator, will we see more talent ‘go it alone’ and build teams around them and their brands?

One big difference between traditional entertainment channels and social media platforms is that the creators or presenters of the content are often self starters. They have production skills as well as presenting skills. They, by their very nature, like to be in control of the content and images being broadcast. This breeds very capable entrepreneurs and leaders rather than just pure entertainers. While the marquee talent will always scale with the help of the management teams around them, independent approaches could be the foundations of many more influencer careers of the future. We should look forward to a time when a highly diverse and independent generation of talent have access to resources to be able to build an efficient and compliant career, manger or no manager. This is, after all, a self producing community and this community will only gain more efficient tools to grow.?

Trend??5?–?Deeper, more platform agnostic brand partnerships with talent.

This one has been on the cards for a while and it's about to truly come to life.

The line between digital talent and broadcast talent is getting fainter. In reality what isn't digital anymore? Having said that there is still a huge amount of value?in the mainstream fame and prestige of having a 'traditional' celebrity associated with your brand or campaign. The allure of an article in print or on TV is still powerful but there needs to be a way of attributing online sales channels to the coverage. I remain totally bullish on the fact that online sales will continue to out grow bricks and mortar retail, so brands will need to cater to both and perhaps build reputation (as well as drag along the traditional press fans) while making sure they are achieving clear and demonstrable digital ROI. I think there needs to be a talent solution that is perfectly blended between legacy media coverage, editorial and talent that also deploys the best in Digital First Talent. Each having their job to do in the overall campaign.

In conclusion.?

My strongest instinct is that the future for the digital entertainment and brand building world is going to be even brighter than its short past. As has been the case for a decade now; the quality ‘will out’. As advertisers get smarter about their buying habits and audiences become more decerning; I am hoping that some really brilliant new platforms, talent and brands emerge from the incredibly fertile beginnings we have been lucky enough to be a part of over the last decade. Bring it on.