Creator economy predictions The 2023 forecast 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 on repeat (IYKYK) as well as, of course, creators graced our feeds daily with new things to know or share a laugh with. At the same time the market for creators and the companies fueling it, experienced a variety of shifts. The industry saw dozens of technological layoffs at companies like Patreon, Thinkific, and Meta and the 50% decrease in the amount of funding available to companies that are based around creators. This has left many people thinking, what's the next step for the creator-related industry?
As 2023 approaches, organizations in the creator economy must focus on creator-first solutions that help solve the fundamental issue of monetization.Before we dig into our predictions for the year and the essential creator starter packs for this year, let's first take a look at our findings on trends in the creator economy in 2022.
Trends for creators in the top 10 in 2022
To get a pulse on the lives of creators in 2013, we surveyed creators on the sources of income, methods to monetize and use of social media. Three major trends were identified:
- A majority of creators aren't making enough to pursue their creator business full-time.
- Videos and the media platforms supporting it are the kings of the hill.
- Most creators depend on third-party monetization as a way to make money on their works.
Income trends
In the digital age, that can be on the internet one moment and get numerous brand sponsorship opportunities the next, everyone wants to know what the creators make, especially amateurs looking to determine if it's possible to make it a viable career choice.
We asked creators to tell us how much they had earned from online sources during the past twelve months. It was not surprising that 42% of creators made $10,000 or lesswhile 9 percent of creators made above $250,000. The average is 22percent of the creators made less than $1,000from their creations.
Creators that earned money from their content, YouTube at 23% of the market was the most popular platform where they made most of their money. TikTok was second in third place, followed by Instagram and in-person events.
The past was when YouTube was one of the few social media platforms that give creators a share of ad revenue via AdSense which easily explains the popularity of YouTube among creators. But the payments aren't that great because 97.5 percent of YouTubers aren't making enough to meet their goal of crossing the U.S. poverty line. On TikTok and Instagram there are sponsored feed content and videos that promote brands are usually much more profitable than the creator fund pay outs, but the payouts are little for the sheer number of creators that are on these platforms.
There are many ways creators can monetize their work, including direct monetization (charging customers via their website or tools, or an online platform such as ) and third-party commercialization (brand sponsorships or ads to another business). We asked creators about what they used to monetize these types that they created content for: web courses, live webinars, coaching podcasts, newsletters online events, ebooks posts on social media, as well as blog articles. Creators could also select if they offered their content in exchange for a fee or didn't offer them.
at 40% the online course proved to be the most popular offering to directly monetize. Third-party monetization was the most popular. Coaching at 35% was the most sought-after. Then, blog and newsletter posts ranked 39% as the top kinds of content creators that are offered at no cost.
Cumulatively, third-party monetization was the most popular strategy of creators. For instance, getting sponsorships from podcasts or putting up an #ad on social media. This is in direct correlation to the truth that 69 percent of creators believe they rely on third-party monetization like brands to earn money.
Social media trends
The creators are a part of social media, as it's a vital audience-building and communication tool. With regard to social media sites, YouTube had the highest percentage of creators who use the platform at 77 percent. Facebook came in third with 72%, Instagram at 70%, and TikTok with 62 percent. The least-popular social media site was LinkedIn which was rated at just 27 percent. YouTube's growth in popularity is consistent with our research that found it to be the most popular platform for creators to earn the majority of their creator-related earnings.
We'll talk about people who use social media. It's a common belief 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 creators have under 10,000 social media followers cumulatively across every social media platform. Around 35% reported follower counts between 1,000-9,999 and 26% reported under 1,000. The majority of creators fall at the micro-influencer level (less than 10,000 followers) which is more beneficial and attractive for brands as micro-influencers have an extremely loyal and niche audience with a higher involvement level.
We also asked creators which activities on social media they took part in. Like, for instance, did they work in conjunction with a brand for a campaign or host an event live through a social feed? at 48%, the most popular task creators have reported was responding to comments and queries on stories and posts. In second place, 36% of creators said they created digital products in order to supplement their influencer marketing. Being connected to your online audience is essential for all creators. Responding to questions and comments on posts is a great starting point for building a unique image and increasing engagement with customers.
The overall results of 2022 confirm that content creators are constantly creating a wealth of material, particularly for social networks, however only the best few are reaping the most rewards.
Economic predictions of the Creator for 2023
There have already been plenty of predictions about what's coming to the creative economy in 2023. Hot innovative AI software appearing, YouTube and TikTok going against each other to gain over audiences, amplified the burnout of creators, and perhaps, TikTok replacing Google as the next search engine.
The most important problem is that creators are increasingly finding that using social media platforms for payment isn't working. Many of the most popular creators are starting to figure this fact out. Influencer Hank Green revealed that his income was only $0.02 to $0.03 for every 1000 views on TikTok the world's most famous influencer MrBeast said he made less than $15,000 a year on TikTok despite the fact that his videos have garnered billions of views.
As we move into 2023, creators will lean into creator-first solutions and methods which allow them to earn what their content is worth. Being a major player in the direct-to-creator economy space there are three main forecasts for the coming year:
1. Many creators will begin to control their own online communities.
2. Creators will depend on social media to be traffic sources, and not of income streams.
3. Connecting with audiences live will bring back the full force.
It's been 3 years since the outbreak of the disease in 2022, and the year 2023 is expected to see live events returning fully. Although events had a brief revival during 2022 event attendance was nevertheless down because people decided to stay home with alternative options. In 2023, we're expecting that more creators will host in-person events , whether it's meetups, workshops, events that are live, such as retreats or classes. We found in-person events were an element of the top three methods creators made the majority of their income with--it's inevitable they'll keep expanding the use of this method.
4. Creators will increasingly use AI tools to manage their operations.
If you've not been living under a rock for a while, you know that ChatGPT has taken over the internet. It's a model trained by OpenAI that can aid in content creation--long tales in a nutshell, give a subject or question and ChatGPT will generate the text for you. And, (spoiler alert) the text is usually decent. Creators may begin to utilize tools such as ChatGPT to assist them to increase the quality of their output and speed up their process. This helps to prevent creator burnout.
The Starter pack of the creator for 2023.
Regardless of what happens in the coming year creatives should fireproof their businesses with the right tools. If you're a creator rearing to get started this year, here's your most comprehensive starter kit
- Direct-monetization toolto allow creators to be able to focus on what they love full-time, and also earn the amount their work is worth, direct monetization is key. It is referred to as the direct-to-creator market. Instead of depending on third-party sponsorships like ads or brand deals, creators should be at the forefront of their business in determining the cost of their own content. Creator-first tools allow creators to accomplish this by allowing directly monetizing digital content like courses, coaching podcasts, memberships and communities. They also help 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 manage all of it.
In 2023, one thing is obvious: creators should be in the driver's seat in deciding what their content is worth. While social media will remain essential to establishing brand recognition and connecting with a target audience, creators who rely entirely on social media for their business are playing a dangerous game.
aims to be a key component of the creative economy debate. Through data-based findings as well as anecdotes. We hope to help make monetization easier for all knowledge creators. We've found that one-third of creatives that have a full-time online ventures earn more than six figures.
Methodology:
The data in this study come from first-party sources. We sent out a survey to over 1,900 creators who do not use . We received 1,046 replies with a 95% certainty interval. Please note we cannot access email data from customers using an alternative email marketing service, and we cannot capture revenue numbers for any revenues or transactions that are that is not processed through the platform. Data is provided used for general analysis only. Each response is confidential and we don't share information about the individual's identity with any third-party. For access to data or to inquire about collaboration, please email [email protected].