Reports Video

Bridging the creator gap Monetising social video’s micro-communities

Sam Griffin and Ben Woods
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20,000 foot view:  The pandemic-induced boom in content creation has saturated social video platforms at a time when creators are battling a downturn in digital advertising revenues. These dual pressures of less exposure and dwindling financial returns have put pressure on mid-tier creators; the community that derives all their creator income from advertising, subscriptions, and donations, but have subscale audience to superstar creators. Mid-tier creators can fight back by forging groups that enable them to stand out above the waves, and to bolster their commercial clout and negotiation power. While platforms could perceive this as a potential threat, those that choose to empower mid-tier creators can gain a first-mover advantage over rivals when it comes to keeping creators happy.   

Key insights 

  • Platforms are            focused on nurturing early-stage and            creators, without providing mid-tier creators            the growth tools needed to            future stars 
  • Reappraising the            needs of mid-tier creators can            new revenue streams
  • The number            hours per week that creators            on producing content has grown                       in            2021 to            in            2022 
  • Mid-tier creators            marry their unique audience intelligence            their collective scale to provide            for mainstream marketers, which can            the top-tier creators
  • Social platforms            capitalize on communities’ feedback to            to help build features that            creators to better prosper and            motivated to stay on the           
  • As time            becomes more constrained post-lockdown, collaborative            tactics can consolidate users’ favourite            into one viewing experience

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Awesamdude, BadBoyHalo, Callahaniscool, Discord, Dream, DropsByPonk, Facebook Gaming, GeorgeNotFound, itsAlyssa, jschlatt, Ludwig Ahgren, Minecraft, Sapnap, Tarik Celik, Technoblade, The Dream SNP, TikTok, TommyInnit, Twitch, YouTube

Definitions: 

Early-stage creator: A creator who is making no income from creating or has made a small amount from the platform’s entry-level creator programs

Mid-tier creator: A part-time or full-time creator who derives all their creator income from advertising, subscriptions, and donations. They have no meaningful affiliate sponsorship, or platform deals. They have a substantial viewership but remain sub-scale to the biggest creators

Top-tier creator: A full-time creator who has an exclusive deal with a platform, or significant sponsorship deals, that supplement a large subscription, advertising, and donations income