Why ignoring creator wellbeing is a financial risk for the creator economy

Each day, millions of hours of video content are uploaded onto social video platforms. The stream of creative output is so vast that it can be easy to forget that behind each one of these videos there is often a creator putting in a significant amount of work. The intensity of this work can vary from a light touch 15-20 minutes of ideation and production to weeks of planning, filming, editing, and outputting. Despite the variation in time spent, what unites all creators is the hope that the result will generate viewer satisfaction and prompt repeat engagement.

However, not every video can be successful, and not every creator can succeed. For every example of a creator who has had a breakout success with a video amassing millions of views, there are hundreds – if not thousands – of creators fighting to grow and maintain engagement.

Why creator progression is key to the industry’s success

Having some degree of creator churn is expected, but this struggle will prompt some creators to quit.  This can be easily mitigated if there are enough new creators coming into the funnel. However, the creator economy needs a significant number of creators to stay the course and keep creating during difficult times even when engagement is not so forthcoming. This also means making creating content so compelling that consumers are willing to sacrifice time spent on other leisure activities to take part. Ultimately, what all creators want, alongside producing the best content they possibly can, is a sense of progression. The more progress creators make, the more likely they are to invest more time and money into producing content that aids the creator economy. Progression does not just mean audience growth, but a feeling that they are deepening the level of engagement with the community they serve. 

Overcoming creator economy pain points

MIDiA’s analysis of video creator wellbeing suggest that progression is becoming a systemic problem that needs close attention. When surveying video creators on their wellbeing, MIDiA found nearly a third were not enjoying creating content as much as they used to. Meanwhile, a quarter had considered quitting content creation over the past year. Delving deeper into the reasons why, nearly half of them blamed burn out from creating too much or a lack of progression on social platforms. This is being compounded by the fact that nearly half of creators have reduced their time spent creating over the past year. Among those who did, the main reason for the decrease was due to more time spent on work or other leisure activities.

These are pain points that companies operating with the creator economy cannot afford to ignore. Everyone within the industry – from brand managers and talent agencies to product and business strategists within creator tools companies and social platforms – must play their part in supporting creators with their wellbeing. A failure to do so will lead to one outcome: increased creator churn.

MIDiA’s upcoming report – Creator wellbeing | Optimising time and battling burn out – is designed to tackle these challenges head on. It breaks down the pain points and challenges facing video creators by role. These insights are married with recommendations on how creator tools and social platforms can alleviate these pressures to ensure the creator economy reaches its full potential. Only by accepting their responsibility to support creators with their wellbeing will creator tools and social platforms be able to reach MIDiA’s forecast of 1.1 billion creators globally by 2032.