Forecast for the economy of creators The outlook for 2023 -
The world of creators was full of viral moments in 2022. ChatGPT made its entrance as did it was the year that Corn Kid and Chrissy Wake Up played on repeat (IYKYK), and Creators graced our feeds daily with something to learn or share a laugh with. In the meantime the market for creators and the companies that support it, saw a number of changes. There were a lot of technology-related layoffs by players such as Patreon, Thinkific, and Meta as well as an approximate 50% drop in funds for companies that are based around creators. Many are in the dark about what's to come for the sector?
As 2023 approaches, organizations operating in the market of creators must focus on creator-first solutions that help solve the main issue surrounding monetization.Before we get into our key predictions and the essential creator starter packs for this year's calendar, we'll first examine the creator trends we discovered in 2022.
Trends for creators in the top 10 from 2022
For a better understanding of the lives of creators in 2013, we conducted a survey of creators about income, monetization methods as well as social media usage. Three main trends were observed:
- The majority of creators can't afford for them to run their own business full-time.
- Video content and the platforms that enable it rule supreme.
- A majority of creators use third-party monetization as a way to generate revenue from their work.
Trends in income
In the digital age, where you can go on the internet one moment and get multiple brand sponsorship offers in the next, everybody wants to know what creators earn, particularly amateurs that are interested in determining if this is a feasible career path.
We asked creators what they had earned from online sources during the past twelve months. Unsurprisingly, 42 percent of creators earned at least $10,000while only 9% of creators made above $250,000. About 22percent of the creators earned less than $1000from their work.
Creators that earned revenue from their content YouTube with 23% of the market was the most popular platform where they made the bulk of their earnings. TikTok was second in third place, followed by Instagram as well as in-person events.
The past was when YouTube was the few social media platforms that share ad revenue with creators through AdSense which easily explains its popularity with creators. Still, the payouts are minimal as 97.5 percent of YouTubers do not earn enough money to meet the U.S. poverty line. In TikTok as well as Instagram there are sponsored feed videos and posts for brand deals are typically much more profitable as compared to the creator fund payments, which are tiny for the number of creators who use the platforms.
There are many methods creators can earn money from their content including direct commercialization (charging customers through their website or tools, or platforms like ) and third-party commercialization (brand advertising or sponsorships to another business). We asked creators about what they used to monetize the following forms of their content. These included online classes, live webinars, coaching newsletters, podcasts, in-person events, ebooks, social media posts, and blog articles. Creators can also choose to offer these types of content for free or didn't offer them.
With 40% of the participants the online course proved to be the most popular option to directly earn money from. Third-party monetization was the most popular. Coaching at 35% was the most popular. Newsletters, as well as blog posts ranked 39% to be the most popular type of content that creators could offer at no cost.
Overall, third-party monetization was the most common method for creators, such as getting sponsorships from podcasts or posting an #ad on social media. This is in direct correlation to the truth that 60 percent of creators claim they depend on third-party monetization such as brand deals to make money.
Trends in social media
The creators are a part of social media as it's an essential tools for communication and audience building. When it came to social media sites, YouTube had the highest percentage of creators who use the platform at 77 percent. Facebook came in second with 72% followed by Instagram at 70%, and TikTok with 62 percentage. The least popular social media platform was LinkedIn at 27%. YouTube's growth in popularity is consistent with our findings that it's the top platform where creators make the bulk of their creative income.
Let's talk about social media followers. There's rhetoric about the creation economy and to be a successful creator it is necessary to accumulate hundreds of thousands or even million of fans. In our research findings, the majority of creators are just a few thousand social media followers cumulatively across all platforms. About 35% of respondents reported following counts between 1,000-9,999 and 26% said they had under 1,000. The majority of creators fall at the level of micro-influencers (less than 50k followers) that can prove better and more appealing to companies since micro-influencers enjoy an exceptionally loyal and niche following with an increased levels of engagement.
Also, we asked creators about the actions on social media they took part in. Like, for instance, did they work in conjunction with a brand for an initiative or organize a live video event on a social feed? With 48% of the votes, the most popular task creators have reported was replying to comments and inquiries about stories or posts. In second place, 36% of creators said they created digital products as a complement to the influencer-based marketing they do. Engaging with your followers online is a non-negotiable for creators. Responding to comments and questions on posts is a great starting point for building a unique brand and improving customer engagement.
Overall, these findings from 2022 confirm that content creators have been busy creating tons of content, particularly on social media. However, only the best few are reaping the most rewards.
Economic predictions of the Creator for 2023
There's already been a lot of forecasts about what's coming to the economy of creators in 2023. There are hot new AI software appearing, YouTube and TikTok going in a battle to win over audiences, amplified the burnout of creators, and perhaps, TikTok replacing Google as the next search engine.
But, the most poignant elephant in the room is creators are finding out the use of social networks to get paid doesn't work. Many of the most popular creators are starting to figure the shots. The influencer Hank Green revealed the amount of his earnings was $0.02 to $0.03 per 1,000 viewers on TikTok the world's most famous influential MrBeast claimed he earned less than $15,000 per year from TikTok despite the fact that his videos have garnered billions of views.
As we move into 2023, creators will lean towards solutions that are creator-first and that allow them to earn what their content is worth. As a leading player in the direct-to-creator market there are three main forecasts for the coming year:
1. The more creators are likely to own their online communities.
2. Creators can count on social media as traffic sources, and not of an income stream.
3. Connecting with audiences live will make a full comeback.
It's been 3 years since the outbreak of the pandemic, and 2023 will see live events returning with full force. Even though events saw a slight revival in 2022, event attendance was lower since people chose to avoid the crowds with hybrid options. As we move into 2023, we expect that more creators will host live events in person, be it meetings, workshops, online classes or retreats. In-person events have been an element of the top three ways that creators generated the largest portion of their income with--it's inevitable they'll keep expanding the use of this method.
4. Creators will increasingly use AI tools to run their businesses.
If you've lived under a rock, you are aware that ChatGPT is now the dominant internet. It's a model trained by OpenAI that can aid in content creation--long story short, you choose a topic or inquiry and ChatGPT can generate the text for you. And, (spoiler alert) the content is typically decent. Creators are likely to begin using software such as ChatGPT to aid them in increasing the quality of their output and speed up their process. This helps to prevent the burnout of creators.
The creator starter pack for 2023
Whatever happens during the year ahead creatives should fireproof their business with the appropriate devices. If you're a creator rearing to get started this year's business, here's the best starter kit:
- Direct monetization tool- In order for creators to pursue the things they enjoy full-time plus earn what their content is worth direct monetization is crucial. We call this the direct-to-creator market. Instead of depending on third-party sponsorships, such as advertisements or brand partnerships, creators should be at the forefront of their business deciding the price of their own content. Tools that are geared towards creators allow them to do just that through the direct monetization of digital goods like courses, coaching podcasts, memberships, and communities--plus, helps simplify your business, so that all of it is in one central location. Creators have generated more than $4.3 billion in revenue--and they keep all of it.
As we head into 2023, one thing is evident: the creators must be in the driver's seat in deciding what their content is worth. While social media will remain crucial to build brand awareness and engaging with audiences but creators who solely rely on social media for their own business play an unwise game.
aims to be a key element of the creation economy discussion--through data-supported findings as well as anecdotes. We hope to make the path to monetization easier for all knowledge creators. The research we've conducted has shown that one in three creators with whom we are full-time working on their online business make over six figures.
Methodology:
The data in this study come from first-party sources. The survey was sent to more than 1,900 creators we don't use . We received 1,046 responses that have a 95% confidence interval. We are unable to access the email addresses of customers who use another email marketing platform as well as we are not able to record revenue numbers for any transactions or revenue generated outside of the platform. The data we collect is intended used for general analysis only. Individual responses are confidential, and we don't share the identity publicly or with any third-party. To access data or to inquire about collaboration you can contact [email protected].