With the rise of the internet, the world has witnessed a significant change in the marketing arena. The shifting media landscape has helped the marketing industry evolve, leaving behind TV stations, magazines, and newspapers as the traditional means of promoting brands and businesses.
As the internet and social media drew people away from traditional marketing platforms, the global economy also witnessed the rise of a new vertical: the content creator economy.
With the increasing need for brands to reach their audiences with engaging and riveting content, the need for stellar content writers became pressing.
This new vertical became an instant hit.
Seeing that content writers can enjoy incomes that reach from a few hundred dollars to a couple of thousands to remotely create content whenever and however they like, it is no wonder that so many people rushed to join the content writing wagon.
Enter the rise of the creator economy.
What is the Creator Economy?
The creator economy is an ecosystem where people create online content and get paid for it.
This can be virtually anything that goes up on the web: designs, blogs, online courses, tutorials, infographics, social media posts, articles, web copy, influencer outreach, videos, podcasts, etc.
The web virtually acts as a platform where people can showcase and monetize their skills and talents via their content.
Let’s break the creator economy into numbers to get a better idea of how massive it really is.
● The creator economy has an estimated worth of $104.2 billion.
● 46% of creators who have been working for more than four years enjoy an annual income of $20K.
● There are over 200 million content creators in the world today.
● European brands spent 1.3 billion euros on creator marketing in 2020 alone.
● The global influencer market surpassed $17 billion in 2022.
● At least 46.7 million creators actually consider themselves amateurs.
● 29% of U.S. children want to become a Youtuber/Vlogger when they grow up.
● In 2022 there were 51 million YouTube channels.
● 78% of influencers make more than $53 000 annually.
● 24.3% of all Instagram accounts have more than 100,000 followers.
Where Do Content Creators Make Money?
Content creators monetize their talent and skills by sharing content on various ad-sponsored platforms.
Money can be made through a number of different channels. For instance, some content creators make money through subscriptions. Others make money by skillfully partnering with brands, and others by charging for courses and podcasts. By connecting with their audience, content creators encourage their viewers/readers/listeners to purchase from the brands they endorse and market.
Which platforms do they pick to promote their content?
Social media platforms remain a favorite hubbub for content creators, and this is where they typically reside: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
According to creator economy statistics, the most favorite platform for monetization purposes is Instagram, followed by TikTok. YouTube ranks third. Usually, creators receive anywhere from 55% to 100% of ad revenue generated by their content, depending on the platform they choose and the content they make.
Where Does AI Fit in This Content Creation Formula?
AI has taken the world by storm, and it was only a matter of time before it reached out and entered the content creation arena.
Content creation plays a paramount role in the creator economy. However, creating valuable content that engages your audience and convinces them to convert is a challenging task. Nevertheless, stellar content creators make a lot of money, and not without good reason.
Pushing your prospects further down the sales funnel is a challenging task. It takes some skillful use of the art of persuasion to succeed in making people put their hands deep in their pockets. But as the global economy seems to be plunging, brands are very reluctant to pay content creators to do something that AI could do much faster and a whole lot cheaper.
As brands turn their attention to cheaper and faster content creation outputs, the content creator economy becomes severely disrupted. Of course, you might not think this disruption will have any significant impact on your daily life but let’s turn our attention to the numbers above.
Take a minute to reflect on this again.
● The creator economy has an estimated worth of $104.2 billion.
● There are over 200 million content creators in the world today.
And then compare it with this gloomy statistic:
What does this alarming data suggest?
Rise of the Machines: Is the Economic Impact Worth it?
As AI replaces human creators, the devastating economic disruption will be hard to ignore.
Cheap and fast generated AI content will leave a significant chunk of those 200 million content creators without work. At best, these content creators, full-time or not, professional or amateur, will see their income shrink. At worst, they will see their source of living vanish entirely.
So, what are we sacrificing at the altar of cheap AI generated content?
We are sacrificing human capital and their ability to make a decent living and contribute to the global economy.
As the ecosystem of the creator economy shrinks from $104 billion to $30 billion in a matter of 8 years, there is a lot more at stake than simply the jobs of 200 million content writers.
As the creator economy shrinks, the global economy will follow suit.
Gloomy prospect indeed, but if you are still not convinced, take a look at how your brand will suffer too.
How Does AI-Generated Content Affect Brands?
People are looking for meaningful content that adds value to their lives.
As the internet rose, brands made increasing use of new avenues to reach out to their audience.
Content creation allowed brands to find a new way to connect with their prospects, meet their buyers on their buying journey, push them further down the sales funnel, and build brand loyalty.
Connecting with humans is complex, and creating riveting content that baits and hooks are tricky.
But a task that human content creators can do a stellar job at, nonetheless.
AI, on the other hand? Not so much.
It takes a human to understand another human, and artificial intelligence cannot bond with humans because artificial intelligence is just that; artificial.
So, while brands choose cheap content, they are not simply sacrificing human capital; they are also compromising their connection with their buyers. And if their buyers can’t connect, they won’t buy.
So, while human content creators see their incomes diminish, brands see their profits shrink, and their sales drop.
And this is the price you pay for cheap AI.
So, What's The Conclusion?
The content creator economy is a valuable ecosystem that supports the global economy either directly by promoting brands and increasing sales or indirectly by increasing the purchasing power of content creators (through a significant source of income).
AI may be cheap and may be fast, but how cheap is cheap in the grand scheme of things?
Unfortunately, AI content creation will disrupt the content creation economy and have a tremendous cascading impact on all aspects of the global economy.
So, before you jump on the cheap AI wagon, do remember what the actual stakes are.
And by the way, Iris Mar Sol, an agency that 100% operates with human talent, are here to let you know that using actual writers for all your content needs is still the way to go in 2023.
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