“The Creator Economy is maturing,” eMarketer Social Media Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg told Jim Louderback during a session at the 2024 NAB Show.
“The need for content is at an all-time high right now, and creators have really become an important source of content for a lot of brands,” Enberg said.
“And we’re seeing that not only in affiliate marketing, but things like content licensing, and boosting, which are all things that marketers are leaning more heavily into right now.”
Although sponsored content remains the top revenue stream (followed by ad revenue sharing and creator funds, considered platform payouts) for content creators on social media, Enberg said “alternative revenue streams… are growing the quickest.”
These primarily consist of “direct audience monetization tactics” such as “tipping and gifting, merchandising and subscriptions.”
As of 2024, Enberg said, not only have creators “changed how people spend their time online” and began to “indirectly” sway consumer purchases “through influencer marketing,” but they are now “also directly changing how we spend our money.” She said, “That has a lot of implications for the economy at large.”
According to Enberg, “We’re entering this era of more curated experiences and content and products — and creators really are at the forefront of that. And consumers are choosing to spend their money with them.”
Speaking to marketing trends in particular, Enberg noted that marketers are increasingly investing in creator marketing. She cited 16% growth on social media spend alone and said that portion “is going to continue making up the majority of creator revenue streams for the foreseeable future.”
What’s Happening With Rev Share
While YouTube continues to be one of the best places for creators to monetize, Enberg predicted the other platforms’ “hesitancy” to “roll out really robust revenue sharing programs with creators” will eventually need to be overcome if they are to remain competitive in the Creator Economy.
But that’s not to say that she can’t sympathize with the executives who are pumping the brakes on bigger payouts. Enberg says one reason is that short-form video content is notoriously difficult to monetize. “We’ve seen that over and over again in their earnings, because those ads are displayed in between videos,” she says, referring to Meta’s and TikTok’s balance sheets.
However, Engberg said, “This is certainly not an excuse, but it is a reason. Because when it’s hard to monetize those videos, it’s harder to attribute as well. And it’s harder to share that money than with creators.”
That’s not to say monetization is impossible. “We saw YouTube rollout ad revenue sharing for shorts. They figured out a way to do it.” She pointed out this will likely “put a lot more pressure on” TikTok to follow suit.
Louderback noted that “TikTok has 14 different ways that creators can get paid, but none of it is very significant.”
Enberg agreed: “We’ve seen a lot of different problems with their monetization tactics. I hear all the time that it’s a headache for creators.” But she said “TikTok and Twitch actually are leading in tipping and gifting and driving a lot of the growth there,” even as YouTube remains the dominant source of platform payouts.
“Things like tipping and gifting are our low hanging fruit,” Enberg said. “And we’ve seen that that opens the door to monetization for a lot of creators.”
According to Enberg, “The next era for them is figuring out how to make these campaigns measurable, to drive more performance that they can track and target.”
Obviously, these experiments aren’t being done purely for the creators’ benefit. Enberg said, “I think the tipping and gifting part, for TikTok in particular, is really smart. Because it’s teaching their users to make purchases and very small sums on the platform, in order then to drive more social commerce, particularly from brands.” She explained it’s likely part of training consumers to use TikTok Shop.
Shoppable Content and Creator Product Lines
“We’re seeing so much more content on social media and on digital channels, really, overall, becoming shoppable. And I think creators are going to play a really big role in that,” Enberg said.
However, she admitted, “I’m not as bullish on live-stream shopping as some people are.”
On the creator side, Enberg said one of the primary ways they are exploring brand expansion “is by launching their own products.” But she doesn’t expect this strategy to work for everyone. “Not every creator is MrBeast.” Nonetheless, “We’re going to see a lot more of it, and consumers are biting.”
Other Influencer Marketing Trends
“Because the market has matured so much, marketers have gotten a lot smarter in terms of how they’re spending their budgets,” Enberg said, noting that this is actually happening in tandem with increased allocations.
Marketers, she said, are “looking to optimize their campaigns. They’re already working with established creators who they have relationships with.” Brands have begun to recognize the importance and benefit of long-term creator relationships, she said.
This strategy “lessens the risk” for brands while appearing more “authentic to consumers,” Enberg explained.
But that also means new creators are competing more intensely for fewer deals, adding yet another incentive for creators to diversify their revenue streams.
“Affiliate marketing is actually something that I’m expecting to see a lot of growth this year and going forward,” she said. “And one of the reasons for that is the optimization of campaigns for marketers, but also because it’s another great way for creators to get their foot in the door.”
“We’re seeing that creators realize that refusing one of those deals is like leaving money on the table. But they also can’t make a living off of that,” Enberg said of the increasingly common practice.
In general, she said, “Social media overall is just taking up a bigger role” in marketing campaigns. Additionally, “what’s happening on social media really is determining a lot of brands’ and marketers’ strategies.”
AI and Creators
Regarding the subject on everyone’s mind (the impact of generative AI), Enberg said, “Ultimately, I think it’s a tool that is going to help marketers and creators.”
For now at least, research indicates “consumers still aren’t completely receptive to AI,” she noted. That means “people still want that human connection, which creators are really good at. But I do think in every industry, people with AI skills will end up replacing people without AI skills. So it’s a time when it’s really important for creators to really fine tune and read up and hone their AI skills in order to stay competitive.”
As mores continue to change, Enberg said, “The most important thing is for brands and marketers to speak to each other about the use of AI. I still don’t think it’s talked about as much as it needs to be as…you’re doing your deal negotiations and talking about content creation.”
She remains optimistic about at least one way generative AI is likely to change content: “I’m so excited about the idea of globalization that AI provides the translation and really getting this content in front of other audiences in a way that we really couldn’t even think about about a year ago, two years ago.”
Watch the full conversation in the video below:
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