The term creator isn’t all that dissimilar from the term athlete. It’s a truth Colin and Samir have illustrated time and again: Like athletes, no two creators are the same—they’re operating at different levels, under different standards, and for different audiences. Like athletes, many creators identify as such even if it’s not their full-time gig.
And most importantly? Like athletes, all creators are individuals with both unique talents and unique challenges. Russell Wilson probably couldn't beat Serena Williams in a tennis match, and Ryan Trahan probably couldn’t pull off Emma Chamberlain’s Architectural Digest masterpiece. Like the label athlete, the label creator is one word to categorize millions of lived experiences.
But just as universal truths exist on the field or court, there are universal truths that shape the creator economy despite its multitudes. That’s what we’re here to talk about today—after covering the ins and outs of this industry for well over a year, we’re breaking down the problems we see that unite creators from all walks of life. And importantly, the strategies we predict will solve those problems in the coming years.
And a quick programming note if you’re new here: Hi, we’re The Publish Press. Welcome! The Publish Press is powered by Colin and Samir, YouTubers who have been creators for over a decade since they graduated college in 2011 and started making videos about lacrosse. While the sports metaphors seem to have stuck, Colin and Samir have expanded their coverage to something a little more compelling—you: the full-time creators, the part-time creators, the aspiring creators, and the creator support systems.
We at the Press say we’re “by creators, for creators” for a reason: In spending the last decade in this space, Colin and Samir (and by extension, us too) have seen it all. Incredible resilience, creativity, and all the major highs and lows along the way.
That’s what we’re talking about today, with the future generation of this industry in mind. The goal of this report is to start conversations around the problems creators face and to open the dialogue to offer solutions, guidance, and insights to both industry players and would-be talent. It’s about helping creators and the creator-adjacent push forward—and it starts now.
We’re in uncharted territory. There’s never been more opportunity concentrated in the creator economy. In fact, there’s so much opportunity that it can feel as if the possibilities are endless.
That can lead to a complicated perception that, as a creator, you can always do more: You can make another video, get more views, and gain more subscribers. As Airrack said on The Colin and Samir Show, “you are only capped by your willingness to work.”
But in that endless well of opportunities lies a troubling trend: The Paradox of Permission, as Colin and Samir like to call it.
What is the Paradox of Permission? A fundamental element of the creator economy is that it’s permissionless; anyone has the ability to hit publish. Anyone can make what they want, when they want, on their own terms. It’s empowering.
But it’s also daunting. Because there’s always more to do, it often feels as if creators never have (or give themselves) permission to take a break. And as those creators transition from hobbyists to full-time media makers, they have to deal with deadlines, ad deals, expenses, etc.—none of which typically spur creativity.
Still, the pressure remains to keep hitting publish, whether you’re inspired or not. We’ve seen this lead to a seemingly endless cycle of publishing and uploading that comes with the territory as an independent creator. By the time you’ve published one piece of content, you’re already working on the next. Your work overlaps and your space for mental breaks or big-picture thinking shrinks.
In February, when Emma Chamberlain announced on her podcast that she’d be taking a break from YouTube, she shared, "I was on this hamster wheel of creating weekly videos. Not a week has gone by where I have not thought about YouTube. When something is that all-consuming—burnout is inevitable."
Burnout isn’t a new concept, especially to the entrepreneurs reading this. But for creators, the possibility of burnout is exacerbated by the nature of the product they're producing—high quality content. As entrepreneurs whose product is art, creators don’t just need a strong work ethic to succeed—they need creativity and newness and inspiration that can be daunting.
For many creators, the decision to upload or not is a decision that can have implications in the six figures. And it’s amplified when you have a team to pay, a rent bill due, and throngs of “next big thing” creators uploading faster or more than you.
Burnout is a big problem. But it’s not unsolvable.
Seasonality exists in most creative industries. Musicians write an album then go on tour. Filmmakers shoot a movie then promote it. Television directors make a season’s worth of episodes then release them. All periods of creative input have a start and an end date.
That works for a reason, and we predict creators will follow suit by adopting seasonal frameworks to replace the perpetual upload cycle we’re stuck in today. Already, some of the biggest creators are publishing with less frequency:
MrBeast has only uploaded eleven videos this year.
On The Colin and Samir Show, Ryan Trahan explained why he cut down to two videos per month: “When I thought, ‘How do I keep coming back season after season?’ and part of that is just slowing down the pace. Because if I can make these videos with love and passion, it’s gonna translate. If it's once a week, I'm gonna be on a treadmill that I cannot sustain. If I wanna do this for 20 years, I have to slow down the pace. And right now, that’s two videos per month.”
Seasonality is also Colin and Samir’s plan—fewer uploads, but better content. Quality over quantity is the future of their channel. They’ve cut down from multiple uploads a week to one upload a week, and they’re actively working on making the show seasonal.
While it helps creativity, it can also be better for business. In a seasonal framework, brands will be able to sponsor “seasons” of content, perhaps 6–8 episodes during which the creator and audience establish a common understanding of a start and end date.
We already see this with incredibly commercially viable shows like Hot Ones as well as with independent creators like Michelle Khare, who shared her approach on The Colin and Samir Show: “I make full pitch decks to brands for our entire slate [of episodes] because we…have so much information on what we’re filming in advance.”
This planning allows her to command higher rates from partners and build integrations that are in line with the partner’s expectations and match her content standards.
Consistency will always be valuable, but consistency isn’t just measured by sheer volume. It manifests in the quality of your content and the passion of your community. Lately, we’re hearing more about building sustainable models of consistency. Creators are thinking about more than just the next video; they’re thinking about the next decade, exploring what a long-term career can look like.
We believe this shift will usher in the next chapter of the creator economy.
A creatOr’s potential is capped by tHeiR
most precious and
fiNite resource: thEir Time
Prediction: Creators who’ve been around the block have already come to the realization that they can’t do it all alone. Since cloning themselves isn’t an option (...just yet), one of the easiest opportunities creators have is to squeeze more value out of their existing content. Plus, forming the right strategic partnerships is becoming an absolute must to maximize the impact of their work and build a sustainable career as a creator. Creating content takes a ton of time and effort, so it’s crucial to get the most out of what you make.
That’s where companies like Jellysmack come in: Jellysmack helps creators get more out of their content and solves their biggest pain points with tech-powered solutions.
Through its signature Creator Program, Jellysmack has partnered with hundreds of creators like MrBeast, NasDaily, PewDiePie, and Bailey Sarian to expand their distribution across multiple platforms—without any extra work (or cost) from the creator. Using their powerful proprietary technology, Jellysmack reworks a creator’s content to optimize, distribute, and promote it across multiple social platforms—increasing the creator’s reach and scaling their revenue.
Jellysmack’s comprehensive infrastructure also includes financial backing and original content production, offering more opportunities for creators to grow. Looking ahead, Jellysmack will continue to expand both domestically and internationally to help the world’s top creators burst through the limitations set by their own lack of time (and the absence of cloning technology) and fully unlock their growth potential.
Curious what they can do for you?
Most creators today are pressing publish for more than just the fun of it. Creators we speak to are certainly moved to make something unique, but many are also being moved to build businesses. The next iteration of the global economy will surely include the creator industry right up there with sectors like tech, B2B marketing, machinery, and retail.
Creator-led businesses are changing the global business landscape—but that change won’t continue without growing pains. Creators we speak to almost always lament the same thing: Hiring is among the biggest challenges in this industry. (It’s why we’ve started featuring job openings from creators in our new Creator Moves section in our Tuesday newsletters.)
But hiring is necessary for growth: As a creator’s business becomes more sophisticated and picks up steam, they need producers, editors, designers, and operators to help bring their ideas to life and capitalize on their opportunities. Simple job descriptions—but not so-simple jobs to fill.
That’s in part due to an outdated interpretation of the agent–manager–talent relationship made popular in the entertainment industry. By and large, most traditional manager and operator roles today are still structured for the talent they were initially built to serve: film stars, recording artists, and the like.
Creators have adopted that model without many modifications even though the needs and nuances of a creator are vastly different from those of, say, Ryan Gosling.
While Ryan’s agents might prove their utility by sourcing new opportunities, their services would be far less valuable for a creator—because creators are usually flooded with opportunities in their inboxes and DMs. Those creators don’t necessarily need an Ari Gold. They need operational and strategic support to organize, evaluate, and negotiate the influx of inbound deals. Someone who can say no when necessary. Someone who can drive the creator and even their growing team toward the larger vision and focus.
Knowing that their needs are different from traditional entertainment media’s, creators rarely feel excited by the standard 15–20% collective cut agents or managers typically expect. It’s a lot of revenue to shave off their top line for not actually getting the support they may need the most, especially considering that creators have to operate like scrappy startups—hiring a team, paying rent, accruing expenses, and always scaling their business.
As Dan Runcie, founder of Trapital, put it, “If you want to know where trends are heading, follow the music industry. It’s first to get disrupted; its artists are early innovators. Musicians influence mainstream culture.”
And we think they’re influencing the creator industry, too. Recognizing how much the traditional model leaves on the table, creators will take a page from the modern musician’s playbook to reshape the standard talent relationship structure.
We’ll explain: In a recent investigative video, Vox found that artists who broke on TikTok are capable of striking more favorable deals with record labels—some even at a 50/50 revenue split as opposed to the traditional 85/15.
Why? Artists who’ve carved out a name for themselves on TikTok have already done the hard part: finding an audience. That gives them leverage in negotiating with management.
Second, a mindset shift is at play for creators right now—instead of leaning on outdated models that rely on external agents and managers who often represent multiple clients, creators are gravitating toward building their own media companies that they own and operate, with teams they hire, put on salary, and incentivize themselves.
Thomas Brag of Yes Theory explained the reasoning behind hiring their first Head of Operations on The Colin and Samir Show:
With that, we predict more job postings for in-house roles like Head of Operations, President, and Executive Producer. What those jobs might look like:
A head of operations or executive producer should support the creator in building out business functions beyond YouTube (or whatever the creator’s platform of choice is).
For example, Yes Theory has launched a new YouTube channel connected to their apparel line, Seek Discomfort; a card game called Spark, and a new Snapchat syndicated show. They also just produced their first feature-length documentary paired with a worldwide theatrical tour. All of those new projects need business minds and skilled operators to reach their fullest potential.
This is an empowering shift for creators, one that opens up opportunities for creatives, media operators and leaders, and more—who will build alongside creators for the long-term.
The pandemic was a right-place-right-time catalyst for the creator economy: People were stuck at home with time on their hands. Relationships with work shifted majorly. Traditional Hollywood entertainment was put on pause. Ad dollars flooded into new avenues of spending. The TikTok For You Page made the lean-back experience (where only the best content rises to the top) the norm. A new cast of characters caught our attention, and followings were built lightning fast.
These are all good developments as far as we’re concerned. The more creators the better. But the details are important here—because all of these new creators can’t all make a living on the FYP.
What we’re seeing: Not enough creators have mapped out their path from short-form audience-building to business-building.
Consider short-form vertical content—its distribution power is unmatched, and it’s catapulted tons of creator careers since 2020. But because attention is currency and short-form content grabs it in bits and pieces, often without full attribution to creators, short-form wasn’t necessarily built with the DNA for long-term monetization.
FWIW, YouTube did recently announce a monetization plan for Shorts that will see a new revenue share paradigm pay creators for their short-form content. But the general consensus from creators: Short-form content alone still isn’t enough to sustain a real income stream.
At the end of the day, relying entirely on short-form vertical content to build an audience can create challenges for creators. The audience relationship tends to be more shallow on short-form than it is for longer-form content. And even if that short-form audience is massive, can it sustain a living or a career?
Maybe not. We’re already seeing creators with significant followings unable to make meaningful income from their content. Even top-tier creators like MrBeast and KSI have called out TikTok for their measly payouts. While some positive developments have been made, like YouTube moving away from a creator fund model toward a revenue-sharing model, we’ve yet to see short-form monetization take off in earnest.
You can’t go to college and major in Creator (yet). All those creators who’ve built major followings on TikTok or IG Reels have audiences—but they might not have the strategic guidance and business expertise to transition into becoming long-form or career creators.
Until short-form content can be rewired to support more full-time creator careers on its own, we predict that this problem will be solved in three ways: by mentors, by companies, and by creators themselves.
Mentors: Mentorship can be major, and we expect to see more educational content businesses, like Colin and Samir’s, providing creators with insight into the creator career path.
Companies: We’re encouraged by how many are springing up with the purpose of helping aspiring creators through education. There are the course-oriented businesses like CreatorNow, Nas Academy, and Ali Abdaal’s Part-Time YouTuber Academy, all backed by creators who provide courses and community to aspiring creators.
Determining what counts as a “real” recession is up to you, your therapist, and the macroeconomic powers that be. We won’t split hairs over whether today’s economy is really in a recession, let alone how bad that recession might be. But we will say this:
The economic vibes are decidedly off. From inflation to supply chain issues to a labor shortage to interest rate hikes—things have shifted. People have less optimism and less money is up for grabs today than there was just six months ago. That doesn’t mean these economic circumstances are permanent, but it does mean that creators could face more uncertainty in the months ahead—especially in comparison to those pandemic boom times we mentioned before.
While the impact of an economic downturn isn’t unique to creators, it certainly impacts them uniquely. Already, we’ve seen some brands (and their marketing budgets) clam up. Consumers might think twice before hitting “buy now.” Building a media business from scratch means overcoming new challenges.
But those challenges won’t be insurmountable—and the creators, both big and small, who want to make it through to the next economic cycle can and will. Here’s how—
Why make one prediction when we can make three?
First: Creators who focus on fundamentals will thrive no matter what the latest inflation print says.
The threat of a recession will force businesses of all kinds to get back to basics. Here’s the approach we expect creators to take in order to adapt:
Taking a granular approach to finances: getting scrappy and being smart about what’s outsourced and what’s done in-house.
Doubling down on what’s already working: fewer new product launches and more going deep on what works.
Keeping a realistic pulse on what’s going on: with your audience, your advertisers, your talent pool. Things are going to change quickly.
This playbook doesn’t have to be particularly complicated, and that’s in part because of the nature of the creator industry.
Consider this: Macroeconomics factors might force a change in individual and family budgeting—maybe consumers will become less likely to buy things they don’t need off an Instagram ad. But a recession is unlikely to make most digital media consumers unfollow their favorite creators.
Second: The smartest marketers will read the room—and adjust budgets accordingly.
The prevailing logic has always gone like this: When brands are forced to tighten the proverbial belt, marketing dollars tend to go first. For creators who are largely ad-supported, that shift in marketing budget might directly impact their brand relationships, term sheets, and bottom lines.
But think back to when the last sustained, major recession ended. It was June of 2009. Instagram wouldn’t be founded for another year. TikTok was just a twinkle in ByteDance’s eye. YouTube was where you went to watch “Muffins” and “Potter Puppet Pals” and not much else. And most notably—traditional advertising would dominate digital ads for another decade.
Today, advertising is a far cry from the multi-million dollar deals for primetime slots on network TV that dominated in the aughts. As digital media have splintered into smaller, more precise bits centered around community (and the notion that quality > quantity), advertising has also evolved.
Today, successful ad campaigns aren’t about sheer volume or reach—they’re about a brand’s messaging finding the right person at the right time in the right place. And no better instrument exists for facilitating that connection than digital media creators who’ve built brands around a like-minded community—especially during a (maybe) recession, when dollars need to be optimized for follow-through.
Marketers will begin to understand that specificity is the key to continued advertising success in a downturn, and creators who can offer that specificity via a niche audience will weather the economic storm—and keep their revenues steady.
Third: Creators will adapt, like they always have.
Creators have adaptability baked into their DNA. Whether it’s evolving to meet the changing whims of an algorithm or morphing to grow up alongside their audience or even switching strategy to make it through a recession, change is part and parcel of the creator industry.
We’ll leave you with some advice: Rely on the knowledge that you’re capable of rolling with the punches—and recognize that your creativity isn’t limited to what you publish. Extend the curiosity and originality that got you here to forge the path that will get you where you
want to be.
Illustrations by Garrett Golightly
Because you’re armed with something a recession cannot strip away—
