By Charles Haynes
The creator economy is maturing at an incredible speed. In 2025 we should expect to see a greater breadth of content creators having financial success, with those working closely with creators also benefitting, such as talent agencies and service providers.
As industries go, the creator economy is barely out of its infancy. Compared to a trade as august as making automobiles, the creator economy is still being fed by the choo choo train. For those of us on the inside, the progress has been nigh-on breakneck. There are still tantrums and demands to stay up late, but we’re all a lot less bleary eyed than we were 10 years ago.
In fact, the creator economy is predicted to represent nearly half a trillion dollars by 2027 and for many of us, this reflects the seismic shift we’ve all been experiencing. Uniquely, this growth is predominantly fueled by the millions of freelancers—professional content creators—who constitute the majority of the industry. In 2025, we’ll see creator success reach an inflection point.
Growing the creator middle-class
It’s creators who provide a litmus test of what’s possible in the industry. It’s not just the 0.1% of creator achievements, like MrBeast’s show Beast Games, or Logan Paul and KSI’s soft drink phenomenon, Prime. More broadly, it’s looking at the ‘creator middle-class,’ where the tide appears to have turned since Li Jin’s 2020 article documented the inequalities of the industry.
The tools available today allow even modest creators to monetise their audience to a greater extent than previously. They might not be household names, but through online courses, digital and physical products, and events, even small creators are defying the otherwise shrinking middle class.
Overall, we should expect to see more conspicuous and wholesale success from creators in 2025.
Fueling creator success
The wider creator economy has seen turbulence in recent years and those benefitting most from the increased competition have been creators. For a long time it was cheaper to be a larger creator: platform terms and service fees have penalised smaller operations. However, widening choice is leading to creators of all sizes retaining more of their margin.
We can expect this to bolster the breadth of activities we see in the industry in 2025, with a continued emphasis on products and services, as well as an ongoing interest in physical events. As we move further from the memories of COVID and creators better understand the power of their influence, events like conventions, workshops, screenings and large-scale community meet-ups will become more commonplace. This includes the likes of Nick Zammeti’s Makers Central that brings the YouTube maker community together each year; uncarley’s commentary-rich, hilarious Twilight screenings in Toronto; or, Thomas Heaton’s landscape photography treks—but these are just a few of many other examples.
This creates additional opportunities for talent agencies too.
Evolving talent representation
The creator economy is a broad church when it comes to talent representation. There are companies who work at scale and whose emphasis is on negotiating advertising deals and at the other end, boutique agencies who tend to specialise, representing a smaller roster but providing a broader range of expertise.
Whatever their flavour, if 2025 represents greater opportunity for creators, this means for talent agencies too. The challenge for those firms emphasising advertising sales, though, is that a client with more choice also has freedom to not choose what they’re offering. Because of this we may see some smaller agencies stretched thin or choosing to work both sides of the deal, representing both brands and talent in negotiations.
This might also contribute to a wider trend of mergers and acquisitions between talent agencies.
Shifting dynamics
The end of 2024 saw Night buying Bottle Rocket, Whalar buying Sixteenth and Underscore acquire-hiring End Card, all with very strategic purposes for the companies involved. We should expect to see this continue in 2025 with more founders looking for an exit as the industry matures and for others to see a merger as a means to realise what the market has to offer.
The market is also becoming increasingly saturated where representation is concerned. More frequently talent are already represented or represented at an earlier stage, making it harder for new entrants and slowing growth for incumbent agencies. Perhaps another reason to see more acquisitions as companies look to grow by other means.
These acquisitions also point to broader shifts in the industry, where three large, generalist agencies are acquiring genre-specific firms for their rosters, reputation, and expertise.
For many influencer marketers, 2024 marked the year where the emphasis shifted significantly towards making a return. The metrics for a creator’s success became much more tightly defined along commercial terms, rather than striking a balance with creativity and brand awareness.
With the value being placed on more niche and genre-specific rosters by larger agencies, perhaps we’re seeing an indication that entertainment-focussed creators are not providing the same return for marketers and agencies as they once were.
This might be further exacerbated by the low barrier to entry entertainment content creation represents, providing an opportunity for marketers to more easily find cheaper alternatives to established talent. An emerging channel producing high-speed footage of explosions is harder to compete with when compared to a gaming channel recording their computer screen.
Niche down
This year has the potential to be one where we feel rather than just talk about the power of niching down. It’s a phrase that has perhaps become trite in its repetition among creators, but it describes an opportunity present in digital media—if you want to gain success, become more specialised rather than aiming for broad appeal.
With the seemingly limitless potential for anyone to upload a video on any subject, audiences are empowered to enjoy whatever niche interest or subject they so wish. To the extent that larger agencies are willing to buy smaller firms to gain niche genre creators, and smaller creators are more able to hold on to the value they create, this advice might become more than just a truism in 2025.
Charles Haynes
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