The media cartographer and expert spoke to ttvnews following his panel on the first day of Natpe Global, about how the Creator-sphere has grown to become the dominant content force in today’s media landscape and how it can work with mainstream media to multiply earnings and audiences.
*By Luis Cabrera, from Miami
We’re living in a world where the newer generations of digitally native consumers are drawn to social platforms for entertainment, news and all types of content, making the Creator-sphere the place to be when it comes to reaching large audiences and monetizing content.
But where does this leave traditional media? Should they consider themselves beat by the likes of Mr. Beast and Joe Rogan -who depending on who you talk to helped determine the outcome of the US presidential election-, or rather join forces with them as a way to double their content’s potential and reach?
Speaking on the first day of Natpe Global in Miami, media cartographer and provocateur Evan Shapiro presented the panel “The great media debate: Are creators greater?”, proposing a spirited debate on what the most relevant and dominant content force is today and going forward: the Creator-sphere or Legacy Media.
“I think it’s crucial that mainstream media understand that probably one of the best distribution platforms will be the Creator-sphere”, Shapiro began in conversation with ttvnews following the debate.
“The new Comcast is YouTube. The new Bell Media is YouTube or TikTok. If you’re leaving your content off of those platforms, you’re leaving audience and revenue on the table, and that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense”, he explained.
On the creator side, the media expert believes that once they’ve established a presence in the social realm, it only makes sense for them to step onto the world of mainstream media. “For a creator, the idea that they would build a following in the Creator-sphere and transfer that following to mainstream media, is a really great “Yes, and”. The idea of working in both ecospheres and monetizing your content and following in both places, is great”.
Shapiro shared notable examples of this trend, such as YouTuber Jake Paul breaking Netflix with his fight against Mike Tyson, or the platform acquiring Sidemen and Mrs. Rachel off of YouTube as well. “The 100 million dollars Dude Perfect just got as an investment in their studio or Dax Shepherd making an 80 million dollar deal with Amazon… there is a tremendous amount more success”, he said.
“Arguably Joe Rogan, who is also a creator, decided the last presidential election”, he emphasized.
This growth in the Creator-sphere has led to ad dollars making an extreme shift towards the social space. “68% of the world’s advertising goes to three companies, Google, Meta and Amazon”, Shapiro explained. “Meta will sell more advertising this year than all of television in the world”.
“Ad dollars are headed towards the Creator-sphere fast. The share of mind with people under the age of 35 are spending so much more time on socials. To avoid the Creator-sphere is to avoid Millenials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who are digitally native consumers and will control the world”, he summarized.
