• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, February 7, 2024

What exactly is the creator economy, and why is it important?

The creator economy is a relatively recent term applied to an old idea.   For those of a certain level of experience, think back to user-generated media and you will have a point from which to analyze current trends.

User-generated media was all about the democratization of publishing and the promise that the Internet would enable anyone to make a site, post some ideas, and engage an audience.  Couple U-gen media with social media and the advent of the iPhone, and you have the creator economy.  It simply refers to the layer of content where anyone with a phone or a decent camera can create and distribute content quickly and easily.

For a while, the term people used for these folks was “influencers,” but that quickly became a term with a slightly negative connotation.  Influencers create a following and get paid to post stuff.  Creators are more focused on developing and generating content, likely with a regular schedule and a calendar, and they support their endeavors with a combination of advertising, sponsored posts and appearances.  They may even venture into writing, acting and other related channels.

At their core, creators are like publishers, while an influencer is like a spokesperson.

There is a pretty clear line in the sand for when people saw creators become as important as publishers, and that line is drawn directly over the bodies of millennials.  That’s the generation that latched onto creators as the new celebrities of the day.

My kids are in their teens, and they recognize far more creators than traditional actors.  This represents a pretty important shift in the culture because it demonstrates that major media outlets are absolutely threatened by what we used to call user-generated media.  Now we are past the tipping point, and we have generations who are consuming vast amounts of content from people who may or may not even have an LLC established.

Major media is threatened and knows it must compete, which is one of the reasons it’s so focused on streaming.  When you watch any show or sporting event, you’ll see the media company always trying to raise awareness of its streaming assets.  Maybe it’s because they think their margins are better there.  More likely, they know the audience they want to reach is streaming, so they need to be in that arena if they have any hope of gaining traction.

It’s also worth noting that even though the term has shifted from influencers to creators, influencers still peddle influence.  Truthfully, their influence is no different from your favorite musician or celebrity who appears in an ad, but they have a far more efficient way of getting ad dollars and conveying the message to their audience.  It’s a shorter distance from your brand through a creator to the audience than is it to go through a traditional network media conglomerate with your dollars and eventually arrive where the audience will see you.  Plus, creators have more flexibility.  Big Media is not exactly known for being nimble.

User-generated media was a super-hot topic for about three years, and then most people assumed it had died off.  It didn’t.  It just changed its own name, went in disguise, and re-emerged as the most important development in media since the advent of cable.

 The creator economy is going to continue to have a massive effect on the ad landscape. If you’re not paying attention, you’re about to get run over by it.