Rise of the creator economy – the democratisation of content creation

Virtually non-existent before 2019, the term ‘creator economy’ has been on a rocket-like trajectory in recent years. But what exactly is it, and how does it differ from the economies that exist around traditional creative industries like broadcasting and film? John Maxwell Hobbs investigates.

The creator economy refers to a new wave of independent content creators, including influencers, writers, artists, video creators, live streamers, educators, and more, who build businesses around their online presence, creativity, and community engagement. It's driven largely by platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, and Substack.

Latest Feature

IBC Accelerator: Agentic AI for live sports

With an eye on the future, this IBC Accelerator plans to move beyond isolated use cases and demonstrate how agentic AI can be applied across the full live media value chain, from automated production tasks to highlight generation, personalisation, and monetisation.

Read more
IBC2025 Innovation Awards

Innovation Awards: Stories behind Content Everywhere finalists

The Content Everywhere finalists in this year’s IBC Innovation Awards run the gamut across: a giant DTV+ implementation project in Brazil; the Premier League’s connected fan experience; and the AI-generated phenomenon Tilly Norwood. Fergal Ringrose, Chair of Judges for the IBC Innovation Awards, reveals why.

Read more
Favourites:

Registered users only: Login

Share this:
Other themes: