What is the creator economy & how are startups fueling it? ??

New to this concept, first let’s understand,

What is a creator economy?

Until recently, “creators” only existed as professionals like authors, journalists, actors, musicians, etc. Then there was the rise of a new era, the rise of the creator economy.?

In simple words, The creator economy refers to a community of independent content creators (bloggers, writers, YouTubers, influencers, etc.) who follow their passion, build a following and monetize their skills. It is an ecosystem that focuses on bringing more meaning to these creators and empowering them to make a career out of it.

But there was a problem. ??

Without online platforms, many creators struggled to gather large followings, more importantly, monetize.

Social giants allowed individuals to amass large followings, but left them with few, if any, avenues for direct monetization. (YouTube was the exception, giving creators 55% of ad revenue rather than no revenue sharing at all. It’s paid out $30B to creators in the last 3 years.)

Then came some solutions. ?

Then came a wave of content sharing platforms from Instagram to category-specific blog sites such as Medium. Many of these category-specific platforms offered new monetization methods, such as subscriptions to specific creator pages in exchange for exclusive or first-access content

Today, there are a handful of ways creators monetize their online content.? Such as

?1) Advertisements?

2) Subscriptions?

3) One-Off Sales/Donations/Private sessions?

4) Influencer Marketing & Affiliate Marketing.

Image source: Inc42

Apart from the international platforms like Instagram, Youtube, Medium for monetizing, we have some Indian counterparts as well. To name a few-? MXTakatak, Moj, Josh, Chingari, Mitron, and more.?

How are Indian startups getting a piece of this cake????

With a shift in workplace policies and work from home flexibility, the creator economy has witnessed an influx of aspiring creators, passionate about their skills wanting to earn a little extra cash.

A lot of new startups have appeared that are capitalizing on each step of the creator work cycle, from content creation to off-platform monetization to audience management.

Startups like FrontRow and Unluclass are helping individuals to upskill themselves and become “creators”. These platforms use celebrities to mentor raw talent and guide them in the best way forward.

“Social media unicorn ShareChat and other players like Times Internet-owned MX Takatak believe that this growth of homegrown platforms has certainly made it viable for creators to make a living out of it as a full-time job. The top creators on YouTube, Instagram and other social platforms in India make somewhere between INR 1.5 Lakh per month to even INR 10 Lakh – INR 15 Lakh per month up to as high as INR 2 Cr per month, as per a recent report .”- Inc42

Really excited to see how this economy shapes in the next few years. Maybe it’s not too late to become a creator after all :)