READ MORE: Generative AI’s Impact on the Creator Economy: 75% of Marketers Plan to Increase Investment (Hello Partner)
The creator economy is taking off, fueled by technological advancements making content creation tools more accessible to non-professional users, and coupled with a craving from consumers for more user-generated content. Generative AI tools in particular are helping creators leapfrog technological hurdles traditional workflows present, and now creator agency Billion Dollar Boy has revealed its latest research, which explores the implications of generative AI on the creator space.
Billion Dollar Boy teamed with Censuswide for its extensive study, which surveyed 4,000 consumers, 1,000 creators and 1,000 senior marketing pros in the UK and the US. The report, “AI as a Creative Muse: How Generative AI is Influencing the Creator Economy,” found that the creator economy continues to be a leader in adopting new technological developments, revealing the widespread use of generative AI and the substantial impact it is already having on the sector.
Jack Shute, writing for affiliate and partner marketing platform Hello Partner, takes a deep dive into the report, noting that one of the most striking revelations is “the exponential growth in investment in generative AI creator content.”
Among the report’s key findings: One-quarter of consumers have used generative AI to create social media content, while 92% of marketers have commissioned creator content that has been designed in part of fully using generative AI. What’s more, Nine out of 10 creators have used GenAI to create content, and 91% use generative AI at least once a week, and a full two-thirds of creators who haven’t yet used generative AI plan to use it within the next 12 months.
“This surge in adaption,” writes Shute, “is driven by the remarkable effectiveness of generative AI creator content, with 70% of marketers increasing spending on it in the past year, and an additional 70% planning to increase spending further this year.”
Billion Dollar Boy co-founder Thomas Walters, who also serves as CEO in Europe, explains that GenAI adoption in the creator economy is indeed high but not just in terms of creator-led content.
“We’re seeing it deliver meaningful impact on client outcomes, alongside increased scalability, efficiency, and agility — key attributes in a world where the demand and expectation for content, trend reactivity, and effectiveness for brands is increasing,” he says.
The report also tracks perceptions surrounding generative AI, with three-quarters of marketers and 69% of creators indicating that it will positively disrupt the creator economy. Consumers, on the other hand, still retain some skepticism, with 34% agreeing that AI will positively disrupt the creator economy, while 18% anticipate a negative impact.
Creator output and overall ROI is expected to be enhanced by generative AI, the report finds, stemming from the belief that it will provide a boost to the quality and diversity of creator-led content. There’s also a perception that GenAI content drives better engagement, with 78% of creators reporting enhanced engagement when using it. This is supported by the two-thirds (65%) of marketers who say they are willing to pay more for creator content that uses AI compared to traditional creator content.
Becky Owen, global chief marketing officer at Billion Dollar Boy, says the survey results reveals a strong appetite for generative AI in the creator economy. “The consensus is that [generative AI] is improving the quality and diversity of creator content — supported by strong performance results — while also providing efficiencies and solutions.”
However, she adds, “concerns about the misuse of the technology mean brands and creators must implement it responsibly and intentionally.”
The report also addresses other key challenges and concerns, as Shute notes.
“Four in five creators believe generative AI will lead to a rise in the number of content creators (79%) and a rise in the quantity of creator assets produced (86%). These could lead to creator-marketer tensions, as marketers have higher expectations that creators for generative AI’s potential to alleviate workload and lower expectations around pay increases.”
Overwhelmingly, Shute says, consumers, marketers and creators (87%) also support clearer regulation of GenAI.
“However,” he caveats, “while transparent content labeling was among the top two concerns for consumers and marketers, it was the second least important for creators, raising concern as three in five (61% [of] consumers are unsure whether or not they’ve engaged with generative AI content.”
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