• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, November 27, 2024

I was recently asked why the creator economy has been riddled with companies that come and go, that had a great idea but failed in their ability to achieve scale.

It’s not a matter of leadership.  It’s certainly not a matter of funding.  The issue lies in the fact that the ad industry thinks very highly of itself -- while creators think literally nothing of the ad industry. 

Allow me to explain.

The fact is, there are many, many creators who are making six or seven figures a year without being integrated into ad-tech or mar-tech tools.  Even more important, these creators are not even aware of the existence of these companies, much less governing bodies like the Interactive Advertising Bureau  (which I am involved with) or any other groups.  We don’t provide them with anything of value, and our rules, regulations and norms are not that interesting to them.  At least, not yet.

The ad industry needs to listen first and offer solutions second.  While we think we know the challenges facing content creators in their efforts to work with brands, this is all a guess.  We think we know what they need because we’ve been doing it for a long time, but while we‘ve been establishing the rules of scalable, programmatic advertising, creators have been ignoring them and doing just fine.  They’ve created a multibillion-dollar industry in spite of not knowing what programmatic means, and they will continue to grow.  We need to dive in, ask questions, and seek to understand what’s going on before we attempt to thrust our tools and software into their hands.

The creator economy is quickly maturing.  Much of the content they create is extremely high-quality and very professionally done.  Brand advertisers love this, and are looking to get involved.  Some of the ways to be involved are native while others are more intrusive, and creators have an opinion on these.

In fact, creators are also the same audience that has been choosing to ignore the traditional methods of advertising that we’ve all relied on for years, and we should take that into account.  These creators, who also make up this new audience, should have a say in the models for advertising and monetization they will be using, and responding to, for years to come.  They have a stake in the game, so let’s let them have a say in the process to arrive at the destination.

This means catering to them without patronizing them.  The industry wants to do a creator upfront, but do the creators want one?  Do they even know what that means, and what it could look like?  Is it possible that an upfront would take on a completely different look and feel?

Do we need to keep using the term “creators,” or should we simply look at the levels of professional production and craft tiers based on that, rather that some archaic view of a creator versus a media company?

Most of the creators I know are in fact mini-media companies.  They are publishing books as well as videos.  They are sending emails and managing communities.  They do events.  These are not some 18-year-olds filming themselves dumping water on each other.

The creator economy is going to mature whether you’re ready for it or not, so why not welcome it and bring the creators into the fold now so they can help shape what the overall ad industry will look like for the next 20 years?