The Truman Show of the 2020's

One of the biggest opportunities presented by social media has been the rise of the ‘creator economy’. From the dancing TikTokers to the travel bloggers and YouTubers who seem to be making loads of money by posting happy selfies in exotic places or creating videos on almost every conceivable topic, there are creators everywhere. If you have a camera, a laptop or a smartphone, you can also potentially become a creator.

?In India, the creator economy is riding a massive wave and when we look at the cumulative total of content creators on all platforms, it is estimated that there are no less than 80 to 100 million active ones in the country. Leading creators in India earn anywhere from a couple of lakhs per month to even one crore plus on platforms such as YouTube, and Instagram etc (Indian rupees). Those in the metros and Tier 1 cities earn more !

Says Varun Duggirala, Co-Founder of The Glitch and a highly respect podcaster of "The Advertising is Dead" fame, "The beauty of the creator economy is the ability to build media channels with a captive audience as an individual and then build physical and digital products that you can supply to consumers through those channels. This simple fact is disrupting not just how we create and consume content but also how we build businesses on top of the consumer funnel that content enables"

?While the creator economy is thriving in the country, the real reason for the financial success of the creators is the surge in the number of D2C brands. Creators are active on social media and each of the influencers on platforms like Instagram and YouTube etc., has a highly engaged and large follower-base. Thus, they prove to be a better option for D2C brands as a marketing channel compared to the major TV/film or sports celebrities that charge crores per ad. This rise of creator economy doesn’t imply that everyone should leave their jobs and become a creator.

Vijay Subramaniam, CEO of Collective Artists Network, who attracted a strategic investment by InMobi's Glance, provides his 2 cents on the partnership with Glance, "We are committed towards building a sustainable economy for creators, wherein they can become partners and entrepreneurs. This is an innovative partnership in our business and with Glance's scale and our large network this will provide a significant opportunity for the creator ecosystem"!

Adds Rohit Raj, Co-Founder of The Glitch and Chtrbox (acquired by QYOU Media) :

Why have one agency make something that sits for a month when you can have 100 creators build fresh content for every day of the month is the new mantra !The future for creators is going to be platform agnostic and centered around their fans who will move wherever they move to. Web 3.0 enables for this to happen and this economy will only thrive further when the revolution arrives.

On the contrary, what this growth indicates is the potential that new OTT, video sharing and streaming services can offer. Creator tools, production houses, SaaS companies and creator economy investors are definitely in for some good times in the years ahead. However, the creator economy is still evolving in India and the massive number of creators also indicates a fiercer competition for the monetization opportunities offered by social media and OTT platforms. Considering how even a 20-second reel on Instagram or a shorts video takes creators hours or even days to plan and shoot, one of the key concerns with creator economy is whether the earnings justify the effort for the tens of millions who don’t rank in the ‘influencer’ tier.

Time will only tell!