For the last couple of years, you haven’t been able to escape hearing about the “creator economy.”
At first it was merely annoying, as if it were a new thing. The label was new, and so was the sudden interest from venture capitalists who previously had no interest in individual content creators.
And yet, things already seem to have tamed down in that department. According to subscription service The Information, the creator economy is going through a shakeout:
Tech companies focused on creators are laying off workers, shelving products and curbing perks such as cash advances for online influencers. Funding for U.S. creator startups in the third quarter sank 53% from the year-ago period, the third straight quarter of annual decline.
But the big platforms require fresh creator chum to survive:
Companies like TikTok and Instagram “are dependent on creators,” said Casey Adams, co-founder and co-CEO of MediaKits, which provides software for creators to build résumés and media kits. Creators are “the fuel that continues to increase all their top line in terms of users, watch time, revenue and advertising dollars.”
So the platforms need creators, but real creators don’t need the platforms. Which is why I’ve made the case for the last couple of years that the “creator economy” dates back at least 17 years to the beginning of commercial blogging.
But maybe it’s not the same thing at all. Tune if for why and what it means.
Episode Links:
Subscribe to 7-Figure Small
Or search for “7-Figure Small” wherever you listen to podcasts.