Tools for the creator economy

Not too long ago, content creation was informal, experimental, and often treated as a side activity rather than a serious profession. Today, that hobby-led activity is a legitimate career option. It has developed into an organised, high-frequency, constantly active ecosystem where creators function similarly in many ways to independent media outlets, creating regularly, developing communities, and monetising their influence.

In previous years, the biggest stumbling block for the creator ecosystem in India was not the lack of creativity or talent, but simply accessibility – accessibility to tools, gadgets, platforms and even the Internet. That has changed today. Smartphones have bridged the gap between creating and publishing, allowing creators to reach the world even from a single device. According to a study, titled “The Content Rush: Inside India’s New Always-On Creator Economy,” 83% of creators rely on their smartphones as their primary device for content creation.

The same report reveals that creators in India are often consistent and create regularly, with 75% of creators publishing at least weekly. What’s more, ease of access has democratised content creatorship. Creator growth is no longer metro-city centric. Tier II and Tier III cities are major drivers of creator growth in the country. This results in a remarkably high volume of output in vernacular languages.

But this flow of content from various parts of the nation has posed a new challenge to the creator economy. As content creators generate more content than ever before, the challenge that confronts them is less of creativity, and more of infrastructure. Storage and backups have gained greater importance and can emerge as potential choke points. Almost 65% of mature creators now cite storage and backup as a primary bottleneck, which marks a shift in the ecosystem from talent constraints to system constraints.

Additionally, creators focus on delivering high-quality content and high-resolution photos/videos. As a result, multi-gigabyte output is becoming increasingly common even amongst smaller creators. While short-form videos may be the entry point in the content ecosystem, creators are often seen building their niche with long-form content once they get comfortable with the concept. According to the same research, between 22 and 25% of creators generate 5 to10 GB worth of data on an average every day.

To get into a workflow that is systematic and dependable, one must pay close attention to creative velocity. This can be defined as the speed at which a creator can ideate, produce, and publish. Fast creative velocity depends heavily on reliable systems which is now the hidden edge for creators. A lost file, corrupted video or snail-speed file transfer are no longer small technical glitches but can even damage one’s creative confidence.

This is why flash storage such as high-speed and high-capacity microSD cards, pen drives, and portable SSD are emerging as lifelines for creators. Reliable tech equipment can be the edge for content creators. Fast and reliable storage solutions may be the very foundation on which the edifice of the creator economy in India rests. Being creative is not going to be enough; it will need to be combined with the right infrastructure, of which flash storage is a critical component.

The writer is vice president of engineering at Sandisk

Disclaimer: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of Financial Express.