Vijay Subramaniam explains if the creator economy prepared to face the heat

By Akshay Acharya

Mumbai, March 1 (SocialNews.XYZ) The digital space has indeed exploded in the past few years with many global players entering India - the biggest liberal consumer market.

One may think of China as the biggest market but it's neither liberal (given everything is controlled by the government in the surveillance state) nor it's the biggest anymore as India has overtaken its neighbour in terms of population.

Evolution follows revolution and the streaming content is no different. While the initial years of Internet revolution saw the rise of long-format content, the short-format of reels and other similar platforms have played a key role in shaping the contours of the creator economy.

IANS recently spoke with Vijay Subramaniam - Group CEO and Founder of the Collective Artists Network group and discussed the roadmap with regard to the creator economy with new elements like global recession, artificial intelligence and Indian 5G expansion on the horizon.

Vijay feels that "short-format content is going to rise in popularity even further."

He told IANS: "With platforms either aiming to enter the zone or having already entered it like Youtube Shorts, short-format content is here to stay. Creators will need to innovate with short-form content. This does not mean the long format will disappear. In fact, we may see these lines blur."

With regard to the content, flash fiction will play a significant role in the bigger picture as Vijay commented: "Creators like Bhuvan Bam contributed to the popularity of this style and audiences continue to favour it. Flash fiction will give birth to different styles of short-format content, and we can hope to see more creators adapting it in their own way."

Vijay spearheads the platform Big Bang Social, which aims to streamline India's largely unorganised creator economy using a tech-first approach.

When asked how the platform will streamline the creator economy, he said: "For creators, it has helped with enhanced monetisation opportunities, helping them upskill and refine their content experiences. It has benefited brands by providing data insights and advice on strategy. The whole idea was to elevate the way brands and creators interact and we can confidently say today we have been able to work on superior experiences through this upgrade."

With the simultaneous expansion of 5G and fast approaching global recession, many changes are anticipated but stable creators will have nothing to worry about. As they say content is the king and the content which clicks with masses at large will rule prime.

"By increasing content consumption, 5G will essentially raise demand. Stable creator brands who have seen success through entrepreneurship need not be worried."

However, the flow of money will get affected in the face of global recession as it will lead to withdrawal of marketing budgets.

Vijay further mentioned: "It could mean that the brands realign how they allocate budgets and assign a larger portion of their budget to influencer or creator channels. In this scenario, creators who build thriving communities will be preferred both by the consumer and the marketeer. Along with investing in verification, creators will need to work on strategies to maintain their communities."

After menial jobs, AI seems to be taking over the creators' profile as well, case in point: ChatGPT. Do things look uncertain for creators in the near future?

Vijay doesn't think so. "While it's still early to say, AI will help elevate the quality of work in the content and entertainment space. Peripheral tasks like data collection, accounting or even content idea prompts will help content creators get a jumpstart. Brands will also get data through AI. The idea that AI will replace humans is redundant in this space. Even virtual influencers created by AI need human input to run them," he concluded.

Source: IANS