Opinion: Here's what's #Trending in the $100 billion Global Creator Economy

Jag Chima, IPLIX Media talks about the Global Creator Economy and how its clout is increasing by the day. He also gives insights on the top trends that he believes will dominate the content creation industry in the coming time.

Gone are the days when all we needed was food, water, and shelter to survive. Nowadays, social media, OTT, and content consumption have been added to the list. None of us can imagine our lives without these things as they’ve become pivotal to our existence. Owing to this, the global creator economy has grown exponentially. The pandemic, in fact, aided significantly in its growth. In 2021 itself, it roughly became a $20 billion market. It is further estimated to grow to a $104.2 billion market in 2022 as more people join this industry.

Investors and venture capitalists have caught wind as well. They have started investing money into creator-focused enterprises and even influencers' personal businesses. Year over year, $800 million in venture capital has been invested in these creator ventures, making it one of the fastest-growing industries in today’s day and age. By virtue of this, innovation is taking place at a rapid scale and new trends are emerging on daily basis. In fact, to such a great extent that it’s difficult to keep track. Therefore, with my experience of 10 years in this industry, I’ve identified the top four trends that I believe will dominate the content creation industry in the upcoming year that all of us should keep a close eye on-

• Virtual influencers gaining prominence: They're rapidly gaining prominence in the influencer marketing ecosystem. With more of them springing up on Instagram every week and driving creative content, more brands are lining up to collaborate with them to participate in this new-age form of marketing. The most popular virtual influencer globally is Ludo Magaluf. In my opinion, this trend is definitely here to stay as it offers innumerable benefits for all the stakeholders with very limited limitations.

• Celebrities wanting to become digital content creators: It is an undeniable fact that these days a lot of content creators are more influential than celebrities among Gen-Z and the millennial population who spend a lot of time-consuming online videos. This realization has struck them as well. Therefore, rather than considering social media as a part-time project, they are now investing time, effort, and money to build their internet personas. This trend is similar across celebrities in all fields- from actors, and sports personalities to entrepreneurs.

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• NFTs and Metaverse bandwagon: When the global creator economy is merged with NFTs, innumerable opportunities arise. With NFTs, artists can take control of their work and finances and they are no longer dependent on third-party intermediaries. Thus, a variety of monetization alternatives open up for them. Owing to this, NFTs are gaining popularity across the globe, from artists, creators to brands- everyone wants to join this bandwagon. Recently, the famous Indian singer Daler Mehndi marked his presence by purchasing land in the Metaverse in India called the ‘Balle Balle Land’. The land also features a store that will sell merchandise and royal products as both NFTs and physical goods that will be delivered to consumers' doorstep. Instances like this just mark the initial phase of NFTs.

• Changing monetization models: Monetization models for content creators have drastically evolved over the years. They are now no longer restricted to brand associations, and in fact, they go way beyond. For instance, creators are now earning via multiple revenue streams like launching their own brands, selling their own merchandise, hosting sessions and workshops, and the list goes on. There are many examples of creators who’ve successfully launched their own brands in the past year like Tech Burner (Overlays clothing), Juhi Godambe (Arabelle), Parul Gulati (Nish Hair), Siddhi Karwaa (Unfurl studio) just to name a few. On the other hand, brands like Instagram are also constantly innovating themselves to be more creator-friendly by launching features like direct selling (operational in a few parts of the world at the moment). These models are further expected to evolve to provide more authority to content creators and thus, reducing their dependability on brands.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am confident that if the scale continues to be, the global creator economy might become one of the biggest industries across the globe in the next few years with technology playing a prominent role in the future. Therefore, the year 2022 surely is a defining year for the industry.

This article is authored by Jag Chima, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media.