Analyzing the Creator Economy: Growth, Monetization & Engagement

Authors: Samprada Pradhan, Derya Ipek Eroglu

SUNY Campus: SUNY Brockport

Presentation Type: Poster

Location: Old Union Hall

Presentation #: 14

Timeslot: Session D 3:00-4:00 PM

Abstract: Today creators have a significant influence in the digital sphere, with their creativity and skills that help them reach and monetize social capital across various platforms. According to a 2022 survey, there are more than 300 million creators across nine large nations, including more than 85 million Americans. This accounts for a market valued at $104.2 billion. Youtube’s Creator economy alone has contributed over $25 billion to the U.S. economy in 2021, supporting 425,000 full-time jobs, as per an Oxford Economics study. To better understand content strategies and audience engagement, we analyzed the content of The Samir and Colin Show, which is a channel that interviews well-known creators to unravel hidden dynamics of the creator industry. We collected 53 hours of video transcription from interviews of 39 creators across various categories such as entertainment, tech, business, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, personal growth, comedy, pop culture, podcasts, talk shows, education, science, analysis, music, creative arts, gaming, esports, news, commentary, and social issues. Our focus was on their monetization strategies, upload frequency, and subscriber growth. This study aims to use text analytics techniques to analyze frictions in the creator market and explore relationships between different stakeholders of this landscape, namely creators, platform, sponsors, and audience perception. We develop a framework to gather data-driven strategies for different stakeholders.