• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Given YouTube's sharp ascent in the video world -- with few obstacles to even higher advertising revenue growth -- it's no wonder we are seeing these type of headlines: “Social Media Creators To Overtake Traditional Media In Ad Revenue This Year."

And it's not just YouTube, of course. Add in social-media businesses from the likes of TikTok and Instagram, and anything else in between.

WPP Media estimates content creators and distributors are expected to more than double their global ad take to $376.6 billion by 2030.

This year alone, these revenues from advertising, media/brand deals and sponsorships will increase by 20%.

Where does this leave ad revenue for "professionally" produced content for TV networks, theatrical films (in-cinema advertising), and print-based/digital magazines and news publications?

One belief -- at least for legacy TV-network based companies -- is that there is a strong need for better monetization of their "limited" advertising platforms, especially on streaming. All that means more direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses will also focus at least as much on the subscription piece of the puzzle coming directly from users.

This makes sense when it comes to the declining revenues TV networks are seeing from traditional pay TV distributors -- cable, satellite, telco -- in terms of retransmission and affiliate fees.

New consumer marketing efforts may change.

Future entertainment marketing may need to focus more on specific keywords -- such as “premium” (maybe not “professional”) -- when it comes to bigger brand platform video and TV businesses campaigns, especially in comparison to the wider video platform that is YouTube, where user-generated content is still a big piece of the action.

Consumers probably don’t need much guidance in knowing the difference between what “NCIS” is compared to, say, the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, compared to YouTube influencer “MrBeast.”

Still, hedging their bets, streaming platform owners for future media campaigns might need messaging to existing users that their pricier advertising-free option has some greater unrealized value.

Should they emphasize the word “premium” more? Right now, choices include Netflix (ad-free) at $17.96 a month,  Disney+ at $15.99, HBO Max at $16.99, and Prime Video at $11.99.

Those executives may like the comparison -- a cover of sorts -- that the new streaming ESPN is at a sky-high $29.99.

Better still, The Disney Bundle -- Disney+, Hulu, and new ESPN ad-free -- is at a healthy $44.99.