“Big win! Brand X ketchup is going to reduce their sugar by 22%! Unlike other companies like Brand Y which chose to send a legal notice to silence critics…,” said creator Revant Himatsingka in a recent video, where he applauded Brand X for reducing sugar content in its product by 20%, implying “tens of millions of Indians are going to eat slightly healthier”.
Himatsingka is one in the sea of Indian creators who has built a certain recall for himself because he is the David that took on a Goliath. Indeed, India is set to have the largest base of social media content creators globally this year, with the number set to cross 100 million, according to a report by influencer marketing firm Zefmo.
The revenue numbers are mindboggling. YouTube’s creative ecosystem alone contributed over Rs 10,000 crore to the Indian GDP and supported more than 750,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the country in 2021, the Google-owned company said last year. But while creators are seen as catalysts of change by their consumers, they face a fundamental challenge — how to monetise their “product”.
As per a Kalaari Capital report, creators with 10,000 to 10 lakh followers earn between Rs 15,000 to Rs 2 lakh per month. Those with over 10 lakh followers may earn anything over Rs 2 lakh, and some even cross Rs 50 lakh a month.
Kunal Sawant, business head at INCA, GroupM’s creator marketing solution says, “There is a sea of influencers in India but 80% of influencer money still goes to the top 10% of influencers. Content monetisation is a major challenge especially for nano and micro influencers, who make up 80% of influencers in India.”
The big plus for smaller creators is the fact that brands today are looking to collaborate with influencers who don’t always have huge following but rather offer greater engagement. Sawant says that this opens up opportunities for influencers of all sizes to monetise their content, as long as they have a reasonably engaged audience.
Prateek Bhardwaj, a 30-year old, full-time content creator on short-video platform Moj with 3.4 million followers, says that once creators build a loyal fan base, they can explore various revenue streams. “This could be brand partnerships, advertising, merchandise sales or even direct fan support like virtual gifting,” he remarks. He adds that creator authenticity and substantial engagement are key, especially when working with brands.
Future-proof career
Experts agree that identifying and creating content consistently, especially when competing with millions in the same business, can cause serious stress. Aside from creating content, they need to drive differentiation, engage with fans and followers and often tackle negative feedback. This can be overwhelming.
Improvisation and innovation are imperative for creators to stay relevant in an always evolving ecosystem, says Rohit Varma, founder of communication and branding agency, Narrative. “Brands are no longer looking at just the number of followers. Engagement is a very crucial metric, so it is important for creators to present themselves as strong social personalities, with opinions backed by data,” he says. Varma also stresses the need to be platform-agnostic, considering that platform algorithms can change, or even cease to exist. Case in point —several successful TikTok creators had to start afresh after the platform was banned in India back in 2020.
The TikTok ban really underscored the uncertainties that come with the creator business. But, Tusharr Kumar, COO at Only Much Louder Entertainment, argues that content creators are powerhouses of the new media space, and that a creator’s career is definitely sustainable. “It is one of the most future-proof careers you can be in. What people must realise is that not everyone is going to become a mega-creator or an internet sensation, and that’s okay. We have in no way reached any saturation point,” says Kumar.
Considering that a number of creators are on Instagram today, Paras Sharma, director and head of content and community partnerships at Meta, says that the company is invested in supporting creators with innovative features to express themselves, connect with communities and build a business with content. “Reel editing features, multiple links in bio and collaborative collections are some of our recently launched tools to help creators,” says Sharma. Meta also extended Meta Verified to India recently, enabling creators to build communities.
INCA’s Sawant points out that a few successful creators have built on their social media success to make an appearance in movies, TV commercials and OTT series, while some even launched their own brands, thus demonstrating growth potential.
That said, a creator’s job is not all glamour and fun. At Meta’s recently held IGUxIndia, a product education workshop for Instagram in Mumbai, Kareema Barry, a 25-year-old creator who shot to fame online during the pandemic, discussed the challenges that confront creators. She pointed out that for creators whose work resides on social media, it is challenging to separate work and personal life, considering they chronicle much of their own lives on these platforms. Barry has been upfront about how overwhelming a creator’s journey can be.