People over a certain age will remember the evenings spent flicking through TV channels in the vain hope of finding something interesting to watch.

There was usually nothing interesting available, and we would often end up staring emotionlessly at the TV screen, ‘watching’ a show that frankly bored us to tears. There was just no other option other than watching something we had pre-recorded or switching off and doing something different altogether.

The internet has changed all of that. Easier access to content has increased the demand, and the amount of available content has increased to meet that demand.

We now have brands like Netflix alongside the traditional big movie makers and TV channels to meet the demand that has emerged.

There are also many smaller businesses and personal brands producing vast amounts of content for us to enjoy. A lot of these businesses are very small, and surprisingly many are one-person teams.

Technology has made it possible even for amateurs to create their own content without the need for a huge budget and technical know-how.

What Is The Creator Economy?

Even if you have not heard of the creator economy, you have likely encountered it in some way. It is likely that you have experienced it weekly, or even daily.

Simply put, the creator economy is what you are probably thinking it sounds like – an economy created by creators.

In this case, the creators are not large media or TV companies but everyday people, many of whom have a basic ‘studio’ set up in their bedrooms.

One thing the creator economy helps to overcome is the misconception of what people are worth.

For example, somebody who needs a job might find themselves in a job paying just $10/hour because they have no other choice; they need to make an income.

Is a person really worth just $10/hour? Of course not!

But people are forced to accept that little because they have a stark choice: That or nothing.

Despite this, many of them still have valuable skills to offer. It’s just that there’s not enough demand for those skills.

Thanks to the creator economy, fewer people are forced to accept low paid jobs because they can’t find anything else that fits their skills.

How Does The Creator Economy Work?

The principle behind the creator economy is quite simple. Create something and use that thing to make money - to make your own economy.

What you create is up to you and it could be something like funny videos, a blog, vlog, music, yoga classes, ‘how to’ videos… the list is endless.

You then publish the content by distributing it on one of the various creator economy platforms that are available such as YouTube, Instagram, Clubhouse, and TikTok.

One way the internet changed everything is that it opens up content to a far larger audience. For creators, this meant that they could start focusing on finer niche audiences.

In the past, content needed to appeal to a wider audience if it was able to generate enough money to make a profit. Today’s creators, however, only have to focus on a tiny fraction of the public and they can still gather huge audiences.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

There have always been creators profiting from their talents. Even before TV there were authors, actors, and playwrights creating content for consumption by the masses.

With limited demand for content, however, opportunities were thin and only those at the very top could make it. Even the introduction of the internet didn’t bring about the creator revolution immediately.

To begin with, access to the internet was limited and the bandwidth allowed for little more than the ability to (slowly) open a page with text and a few images.

The early internet was used more for information than anything else; offering very little in entertainment value.

YouTube made it easy for just about anybody with a computer and internet connection to make their own channels. Amateurs were sharing videos of just about anything.

Their interests, their passions – anything they wanted to. With the wide reach the internet gives us, even the nichiest of niches could attract large audiences.

Let’s not forget about another development that came on the scene at about the same time as Facebook and YouTube – smartphones.

People can now access the internet from just about anywhere and they can watch whatever they want. Watching content became much more of a private thing than sitting around the TV with the family regardless of whether or not you were interested in the show.

It was now a lot easier for people to watch what THEY wanted to watch, rather than some generic family show.

It wasn’t before people started creating a wide range of content, with just a couple of examples below.

Example #1: Smosh

It wasn’t long after YouTube was launched that we saw a prime example of how everyday people can use the creator economy to create a career for themselves.

Smosh is a YouTube creators channel that was launched by two friends in 2005 – just a few months after the platform launched. The duo started uploading comedy sketches that they created themselves and their work soon became very popular.

The company now has 7 channels focusing on sketches, cartoons, and gaming, and they also have channels in Spanish and French.

Smosh is now a group of channels that has almost 46 million subscribers and has had 14 billion views. And all this started with two friends who were just having a bit of fun. Indeed, they did not intend to post their videos online until friends convinced them otherwise.

Example #2: Ryan’s World

Ryan’s World is an example of how somebody just needs an idea without necessarily being especially gifted – with no offence to the creators of the show.

It is such a simple idea that countless people around the world must be thinking “Why didn’t I think of that first?”

The creators of Ryan’s world were not the first to think of the idea but they were probably the most successful. They now have more than 28 million subscribers and their videos have been viewed a total of 45 billion times.

Example #3: Influencers

You can’t talk about the creator economy without mentioning influencer marketing because it is almost synonymous in many ways.

An influencer is somebody who can, well, influence people. Many are famous people who are influencers even if they don’t intend to be.

Take Lady Gaga, for example – if she was to wear a dress made by a particular brand, that brand could expect to see a considerable and sudden boost in sales.

But it’s not only superstars that can be influencers. A lot of people have used social media, particularly Instagram, to build a brand, attract a following, and become influencers in their own right.