On average, more than 40 percent of users tip social media creators $5 to $10 in 2013, says a new report from The Influencer Marketing Factory. This is a significant growth from 17 percent in 2021.
The Creator Economy Report 2023 highlighted that TikTok and YouTube are the top favored and top earning platforms at a relatively even rate in 2023. About 26 percent of creators say TikTok and YouTube are their most preferred platforms as they earn the most here. YouTube has consistently been the top platform for tipping creators with 29 percent of users favoring the platform in 2021 and 26 percent of users favoring the platform in 2023. The report says the majority of content creators interviewed make between $50K and $100K per year.
Content creators are looking for new methods to earn revenue as monetization program shift on top social apps. They are turning to release merchandise, selling exclusive content, and starting their own brands as a means to diversify and stabilize their income streams. Content creators, as per the report, are self-advocating for better monetization, platform features, and accessibility. The content creator economy has been around for more than a decade and seasoned content creators have a greater gauge of resources they need to be successful. Top platforms have responded to content creators’ demands by amending their community guidelines and monetization programs to create more opportunities for them.
Aaron DeBevoise, CEO & Founder of Spotter, believes the creator economy stands at an inflection point. He said sustainable revenue streams have allowed creator economy entrepreneurs to reinvest in their enterprises, increase production value, hire teams, and build thriving businesses. DeBevoise expects the next phase of growth to be fueled by community, knowledge, and creator-specific tools.
Sima Gandhi, Co-founder, and CEO of Creative Juice, described creators as the next generation of small businesses. But she said many creators lack access to capital and business tools to help them reach their full business potential. “Just as better editing software and cameras enabled reduced the barriers to entry around content creation, we believe there’s an opportunity to make it easier to set up a creator business.” Gandhi pointed out that the entire creator economy is growing, with larger amounts of advertising and platform money each year. “This means that the big creators are growing, but importantly, so too are mid to longtail of creators that make the creator economy vibrant. We’re excited about our role in making the creator economy a core part of the global economy.”
According to The Influencer Marketing Factory, the Creator Economy includes the Influencer Marketing Industry valued at about $21.1 Billion by the end of 2023 and hundreds of new social startups. This brings the total Creator Economy value to over $104.2 Billion and counting. The Influencer Marketing Industry has increased by approximately 53 percent in value since 2021. The report noted that creator-led businesses are booming in the e-commerce industry due to creators’ vast expertise in digital marketing campaigns, brand-building, and connecting with their audience.
Alessandro Bogliari, Co-Founder & CEO at The Influencer Marketing Factory, said there is a shift from an initial idea that influencers and content creators were only able to sponsor brands’ products, to actually seeing them becoming solopreneurs or even creating companies with employees, creating their own product lines, promoting their own services, co-creating new features in collaboration with companies, brands and social media. “This results in a greater diversification in revenue streams and new opportunities for content creators to come over the next few years.”
The executive outlined that some influencers and content creators are even being hired by brands because of their creative mindset and their strong relationships with target audiences of potential buyers.
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