Forecast for the economy of creators: The forecast for 2023 -
The world of creators was full of viral moments in 2022: ChatGPT was introduced, The Corn Kid and Chrissy Wake Up were rerun (IYKYK), and Creators regularly graced our screens with something new to discover or laugh about. At the same time the market for creators as well as the businesses that fuel it, saw a number of changes. In the industry, there were numerous tech layoffs from players like Patreon, Thinkific, and Meta, and there was a 50% drop in the amount of funding available to companies that are based around creators. This has left many people wondering, what's next for the sector?
Going into 2023, companies operating in the market of creators will need to prioritize creator-first solutions that help solve the core issue around monetization.Before we dig into our predictions for the year and the most important creator starter pack for the coming year, let's take a look at our findings on trends in the creator economy in 2022.
Top creator trends in 2022
To get a pulse on the life of creators last year we surveyed creators on income, monetization methods, and social media use. Three major trends were identified:
- The majority of creators aren't making enough income to sustain their business full-time.
- Videos and the media platforms that support it are the kings of the hill.
- The majority of creators rely on third-party monetization as a way to earn money from their content.
Tendencies in the income
In the digital age, that can be in a flash and receive several brand sponsorships every day, people want to know how much creators are earning--especially amateur creators looking to determine if it's an option for a career.
We asked creators what they had earned from online sources in the past 12 months. Unsurprisingly, 42% of creators made more than $10,000,while just 9% of them earned more than $250,000. About 22% of the creators made less than $1,000from their content.
For creators who earned money from their content, YouTube with 23% of the market was the top platform where they made the majority of their income. TikTok was second in third place, followed by Instagram and in-person events.
In the past, YouTube was one of the sole social networks to offer ad revenues to creators via AdSense which is what explains its popularity with creators. But the payments are low as 97.5 percent of YouTubers aren't making enough to make it over the U.S. poverty line. In TikTok as well as Instagram, sponsored in-feed posts and videos for brand deals are typically much more profitable than the creator fund payouts which are too tiny for the number of creators that are on these platforms.
There are many ways for creators to earn revenue from their work, including direct commercialization (charging customers via their own tools/website or through an online platform such as ) as well as third-party revenue generation (brand advertisements or sponsorships for another company). We asked creators about what they used to monetize these types that they created content for: web courses including live webinars, coaching newsletters, podcasts, in-person events, ebooks, blog posts and social media posts. blog content. Creators can also choose if they offered the content types for free or didn't offer them.
At 40% the online course proved to be the top option to directly earn money from. For third-party monetization, coaching at 35% was the most sought-after. Finally, newsletters and blog articles ranked at 39%, which is the highest number of content types creators offered without cost.
Overall, third-party monetization was the most popular method for creators, such as getting sponsorships from podcasts or putting up an #ad on social media. This relates back to the truth that 60% of creators believe they rely on third-party monetization, such as brand deals to make money.
Trends in social media
Creators live and breathe social media as it's an essential audience-building and communication tool. With regard to platforms for social media, YouTube had the most creators using the platform at 77 percent. Facebook came in third with 72%, Instagram with 70% and TikTok at 62 percent. The least-popular social media site was LinkedIn with 27%. YouTube's popularity supports our previous results that YouTube is the best platform where creators make the majority of their creator-related income.
We'll talk about the social media users. There's rhetoric in the creator economy that to be a successful creator one must have hundreds or thousands, and perhaps thousands of followers. But, according to our findings, the majority of creators are just a few thousand followers on social media across every platform. About 35% of respondents reported following counts between 1,000 and 9,999 while 26% reported less than 1,000. The majority of creators fall at the level of micro-influencers (less than 10,000 followers) which is more beneficial and attractive for brands as micro-influencers have an exceptionally loyal and niche following with an increased engagement level.
We also asked creators which activities on social media they were involved in. In other words did they collaborate with a company on campaigns or even host an event live on a social feed? at 48% of the time, the most frequent task creators have reported was replying to comments and questions on posts and stories. In second place, 36% of creators said they developed digital products in order to supplement the influencer-based marketing they do. Engaging with your followers online is essential for all creators; responding to the comments or questions posted in posts is an excellent way to build a genuine brand , and increasing customer interaction.
Overall, these findings from 2022 show that people are constantly creating a wealth of material, particularly for social media. However, only the best few are reaping the most rewards.
Economic predictions of the Creator for 2023
There's been numerous predictions on what's going to happen to the economy of creators in 2023. There are hot new AI applications popping up, YouTube and TikTok going head to head to win the hearts of audiences, increased the burnout of creators, and perhaps, TikTok replacing Google as the new search engine.
But, the most poignant issue is that creators are becoming increasingly aware that relying on social platforms to earn money doesn't make sense. Even the most successful creators are starting to figure the shots. The influencer Hank Green revealed his earnings amounted to only $0.02 to $0.03 for every 1000 views on TikTok as well as the world-renowned influencer MrBeast stated that he earned less than $15,000 per year from TikTok despite the fact that his videos have racked up billions of viewers.
In 2023, creators will lean toward solutions designed for creators and strategies which allow them to make money from what their work is worth. Being a major player in the direct-to-creator market there are three main predictions for the new year:
1. The more creators are likely to own their online communities.
2. Creators will rely on social media as a traffic source, instead of an income stream.
3. The ability to interact with people live could bring back the full force.
It's been 3 years since the outbreak of the pandemic which will be a factor in 2023 when the return of in-person events fully. While events made a mini-comeback in 2022, attendees were lower as people chose to avoid the crowds with alternative options. In 2023, we'll see many more creators to hold in-person events whether that means gatherings, workshops or events that are live, such as retreats or classes. We found in-person events were an element of the top three ways that creators generated the largest portion of their earnings. It's expected that they will continue to expand the use of this method.
4. Creators will more often use AI tools to help run their businesses.
Unless you've been living under a rock for a while, you are aware that ChatGPT is now the dominant internet. It's a model that has been trained by OpenAI that can aid in content creation--long story short, you give a subject or question and ChatGPT can generate the text for you. And, (spoiler alert) the content is typically decent. Creators may begin to utilize programs like ChatGPT to assist them to increase and improve the quality of their work. This can help avoid burning out of creators.
The Creator starter pack designed for 2023.
Regardless of what happens this year Creators must ensure the security of their businesses with the right tools. If you're a creative looking to dive into this year, here's your best starter kit:
- Direct monetization tools- In order for creators to pursue their passions full time, plus earn what their content is worth, direct monetization is key. This is known as the direct-to-creator market. Instead of relying on third party sponsorships like ads or brand partnerships, creators must be at the forefront of business deciding the price of their own content. Creator-first tools allow creators to accomplish this by allowing direct monetization of digital products like courses, coaching podcasts, memberships and communities. They also help streamline your business so everything can be located in one place. creators have generated over $4.3 billion in revenues and manage all of it.
As we head into 2023, one thing's obvious: creators should remain in control in deciding what their content is worth. While social media will remain vital to building brand awareness and connecting with an audience those who depend solely on social media for their own business play a dangerous game.
The goal is to become a major part of the creator economy conversation. By presenting data-based research as well as anecdotes. We hope to help make the monetization of knowledge easier for all creators. We've found the majority of creators on who are full-time working on their online businesses earn over the six-figure mark..
Methodology:
The insights in this survey are first-party information. We sent out a survey to over 1,900 creators who are not using . We received 1,046 responses with a 95% certainty interval. Please note we cannot access email data from customers using an alternative service for marketing emails as well as we are not able to record the revenue figures for revenues or transactions that are generated outside of the platform. Data is provided to be used only for general research purposes. Each response is confidential and we don't share information about the individual's identity with third-party companies. For access to data or for a discussion about collaborating contact us at [email protected].