creator economy

Patreon competitor Fanfix launches ‘SuperLink,’ a link-in-bio platform aimed at Gen Z creators • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 18, 2022Posted in content creators, creator economy, link in bio, SocialNo Comments

Fanfix, the Patreon-style platform focused on Gen Z, announced today the launch of SuperLink, a standalone monetization-focused link-in-bio platform that displays a creator’s Fanfix page. Fanfix previously partnered with various link-in-bio companies, including Koji, Beacons and Hoo.bee. However, the company says many of its creators requested Fanfix build its own version of the feature. It adds that 90% of its referrals come from link-in-bio links or swipe-ups from Instagram and Snapchat. More creators are looking for a way to connect audiences across all their social media platforms and, of course, promote their paywalled content. SuperLink is free to use, and 46% of ad revenue goes to creators. For comparison, YouTube Shorts reportedly plans to give its creators 45%. “Fanfix has grown to 10 million users so quickly by focusing on monetization and putting creators first. Fanfix has helped thousands of creators monetize their passions and turn content creation into a sustainable career. We are taking these same philosophies to our new products,” said co-founder Harry Gestetner in a statement. “By launching these new features, we will be further shifting the balance of power back to the creator, and subscribers will have even more benefits to joining their favorite creators’ membership clubs. Platforms have taken advantage of creators for so many years, so we are thrilled to launch the most monetization-centric, creator-first link-in-bio on the internet.” Major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are often criticized for dismissing the wants and needs of influencers. Founder and CEO of Patreon, Jack Conte, has been open about his disdain for Facebook and Instagram, Meta-owned platforms that mitigate “the relationship between the creator and the subscriber,” he said. In August, Meta got a lot of flak for making changes to emphasize algorithmic curation on its two platforms. While rival TikTok’s algorithmic approach helps creators gain followers quickly, the money-earning part isn’t so easy. The launch of SuperLink comes as Linktree, a behemoth in the link-in-bio space, announced its “Payment Lock” (currently in beta) feature yesterday, which lets visitors access a purchased document. The company has other monetization solution tools like Linktree Marketplace, a tipping feature, as well as a “Request Link” for visitors to pay for requests like personalized videos. The service currently has 23 million users, but Fanfix tells ZebethMedia, “We plan to eclipse LinkTree within 12 months.” Fanfix is Gen Z-focused and is for clean content only. It targets audiences around the ages of 13 to 24 years old. Some notable influencers on Fanfix include social media influencers Cameron Dallas, Madi Monroe Brooke Monk, Anna Shumate, and more. It currently has over 9.6 million registered users (including two million monthly active users and 2,000 creators) — impressive growth for a one-year-old company. Founded in 2013, rival Patreon had a total of only 100,000 registered users within a year of launching, which included 50,000 fans (aka patrons) and 15,000 creators. Image Credits: Fanfix Fanfix says that it has processed hundreds of thousands of transactions to date and individual creators are earning millions of dollars on the service. The platform is very selective about which creators it accepts– they must have 10,000 followers across their social media accounts and fit with Fanfix’s “brand image.” Creators won’t get accepted if Fanfix doesn’t think they’ll convert. Creators can charge fans whatever they want for membership, but the minimum monthly subscription cost is $5. One downside is that Fanfix takes a 20% commission fee, letting creators keep 80% of earnings. For comparison, Patreon charges a monthly fee that ranges from 5% to 12%, depending on the subscription plan. The platform launched in August 2021 and was co-founded by Harry Gestetner (22) and Simon Pompan (23). Shortly after the launch, they brought Dallas — a 28-year old creator with millions of followers — on board. Simon Pompan (left) and Harry Gestetner (right) SuperOrdinary, a growth partner and marketing expert, recently acquired Fanfix for eight figures, marking its first investment in the creator space. Fanfix notes that its creators will benefit from SuperOrdinary as the company provides access to a portfolio of over 140 consumer brands, including Farmacy, OLAPLEX, The Honest Company and more. Soon, Fanfix creators will be able to collaborate with SuperOrdinary and sell products in their online storefronts. Fanfix has launched multiple monetization features. In March, Fanfix rolled out a pay-to-message feature, “Tip-to-DM,” letting fans chat with creators by paying anywhere between $3 to $500. According to Fanfix, the top few hundred creators earn thousands of dollars in messages. In general, the feature has generated around seven figures, which accounts for half of the company’s revenue. Plus, Fanfix plans to keep adding new monetization features to the growing platform, such as one-to-one calls and personalized videos, as well as venturing into podcasting and gaming. In December, Fanfix will launch a livestreaming capability for creators to put a paywall on their streams and offer additional perks to followers, like live podcast episodes, Q&As, and more. Fans will be able to watch livestreams of their favorite creators, chat in real-time, and tip creators any amount. Earlier this month, Patreon finally launched a native video feature, however, it has yet to launch livestreaming.

Patreon adds a long-awaited native video feature • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Apps, creator economy, PatreonNo Comments

Patreon creators can now upload videos directly to the platform. After hyping it up for a full year, Patreon Video will roll out to eligible creators on Patreon’s Pro and Premium plans. “We’re just so excited to see what creators do with this,” Patreon CPO Julian Gutman told ZebethMedia. “I think it’s going to free them up to kind of go back to producing the type of content that they want to produce, not what the algorithm wants.” This offering helps creators ofter more incentives for their fans to turn into paying subscribers. Image Credits: Patreon Previously, creators would share exclusive video content with their paid subscribers through unlisted Vimeo or YouTube links, which can easily be leaked and reach an unintended audience. But Patreon Video will give creators more control over their content while also creating a more seamless user experience for fans. The product has a built-in promotional tool, allowing creators to choose a portion of the video to make public as a preview — if viewers want to see the rest, they’ll have to subscribe. “We know that the way creators prefer to share their Patreon is to share some value to their fans, not just say, ‘Hey, I’m on Patreon,’” Gutman said. “So we’re really excited about this preview feature. During the beta, we’ve seen creators use it quite successfully to grow their memberships, and we’re really excited to scale it out.” Creators’ uploads can be any length, and unlike many other platforms, there won’t be ads (Patreon in general doesn’t have ads, since it’s supported by subscribers). They will also have access to data like total views and average view duration, as well as insights into how many people are viewing the non-paywalled previews. Image Credits: Patreon For now, Patreon creators on the Pro and Premium plans will be able to upload 500 hours of content for free. But Gutman told ZebethMedia that by 2024, Patreon plans to transition this offering into a paid feature. As of now, the company has not yet worked out the pricing model. “Once we launch pricing, we will let creators know and they’ll have six months to still use the 500 free hours,” Gutman said. “It’s really important to us to be transparent in terms of what the long term plan is on video.” If successful, this product could offer an additional, strong revenue stream for creators. In beta, podcasts like “Dungeons and Daddies” and “Ladies & Tangents” used Patreon Video to supplement their public audio content with behind-the-scenes video clips. This added revenue could be crucial for Patreon, which laid off 17% of its staff, or 80 employees, in September. CEO Jack Conte explained the layoffs by saying that Patreon was reducing its investment in the areas it cut — operations, recruiting and internal support functions — in order to increase investment in engineering, product and design. Gutman told ZebethMedia at the end of last year that the company’s goal for 2022 was to double its staff size. Despite the layoffs, Gutman said this plan has gone well, echoing Conte’s sentiment about expanding those key departments. Patreon Video will be available on desktop and the iOS and Android apps; at launch, it will support Airplay on Apple devices, with Android Chromecast coming soon. The Patreon mobile app will also support picture-in-picture viewing.

YouTube’s ad revenue is declining, but creator economy experts aren’t worried • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in creator economy, Google, Jellysmack, Social, YouTubeNo Comments

The social platforms that power the creator economy might seem like they’re starting to slip. YouTube’s quarterly ad revenue declined 1.9% year over year, per Google parent company Alphabet’s quarterly earnings report this week. Overall, Alphabet missed analyst estimates, earning $69.1 billion in revenue, about a billion dollars less than expected. For many YouTubers, ad revenue is a significant source of income, with members of YouTube’s Partner Program earning 55% of ad revenue generated on their videos. So, a decline in ad revenue could be cause for alarm. Still, creator economy experts are prepared to weather the storm. Digital services that make their money through advertising have faced intense headwinds in recent quarters. Between the overall macroeconomic downturn, global uncertainty around the war in Ukraine and major changes to Apple’s iPhone software that makes it more difficult for advertisers to track users, social media platforms aren’t posting great numbers. Russia’s invasion has also introduced new policy complexity for social platforms, which have been forced to navigate a delicate geopolitical situation while also serving as essential news gathering platforms over the course of the war. Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Snap and Meta all halted ad sales in Russia, and Russia blocked some of these apps and websites as well to block information about Ukraine. According to Amanda McLoughlin — CEO of Multitude Productions, an independent podcasting company, and longtime online creator — this decline in revenue is expected. “This is a really normal reaction by companies to any type of uncertainty in the world. Advertisers are overcorrecting to the specter of a recession by slashing budgets. If a recession actually hits, we’ll probably see ad spending bounce back faster than you’d expect. Uncertainty is much scarier than reality for companies,” McLoughlin told ZebethMedia. “This just happened in early lockdown; ad spending disappeared in March, April and May of 2020, but rebounded once we settled into the new normal (economically).” Like YouTubers, podcasters leverage advertising to support their creative endeavors. McLoughlin had previously written in the Wall Street Journal that when much of the United States went into lockdown in March 2020, she fretted for the future of her company, as well as her ten friends and collaborators who relied on their podcasts for income. She found that offering fan subscriptions was a more consistent source of income than advertising. “Direct audience support had always been part of the way we made our living, but I was stunned to see a surge in new Patreon supporters during those first few months of the pandemic,” McLoughlin wrote. “Even as so many of us were cutting back on expenses, there were dozens of people making supporting creators a new priority. Those supporters kept us going — and more than a year later, they are still here.” YouTube’s ad revenue stats do not include revenue from subscription services like YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. On YouTube Premium, subscribers can watch videos without ads. But YouTube shares some of the subscription fee with creators to compensate for any lost ad viewership. So, an increase in YouTube Premium subscribers could be a small factor in this decline in ad revenue. Jim Louderback, the former CEO of the YouTube-focused creator conference VidCon, pointed out some reasons for this less-than-stellar report in a LinkedIn post. He wrote, “The rise in short-form swipable viewing, led by TikTok, has eaten into time spent with YouTube’s traditional long-form content. Marketers are shifting dollars from Instagram and YouTube to TikTok — and Shorts isn’t ready yet to significantly arrest that.” YouTube Shorts, the company’s TikTok clone, is poised to give TikTok a run for its money, though. Next year, creators will be able to earn ad revenue on short form YouTube videos, an important step that TikTok has not yet taken. It’s a new way for short form creators to make money, but it’s an opportunity for advertisers as well. A number of creator-focused startups like Spotter, Creative Juice and Jellysmack rely on YouTube ad revenue as part of their own business models, which help expand creator businesses. Jellysmack president Sean Atkins isn’t too concerned about YouTube’s ad revenue decline either. “Cyclical moves in advertising might cause short-term discomfort, but the underlying opportunity for YouTube and creators will have staying power far beyond the near-term economic challenges,” Atkins told ZebethMedia via email. “We’ll also see savvy creators, who have invested in multiple platforms beyond YouTube, finding advantages during this period with diversified revenue streams.” McLoughlin agrees, pointing to this moment as a reminder for creators to never rely too heavily on one platform to pay the bills. “This should be another reminder for creators to diversity your revenue streams and allow your audiences to support you directly,” she said. “People have much better judgement than companies, and your audience will come through when ad dollars don’t.”

Is MrBeast actually worth $1.5 billion? • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in creator economy, Media & Entertainment, MrBeast, YouTubeNo Comments

Whenever YouTube superstar MrBeast crops up in business or tech headlines, you’re guaranteed to find a slew of bewildered comments: Who is this guy, and why is a YouTuber such a big deal? Am I old if I don’t know who this is? Why is he younger than me, yet makes so much more money? Is this dude actually giving people free islands, or is he full of it? If you don’t know who MrBeast is, that’s fine. That just means you probably aren’t on YouTube that often, or that you’ve never wondered what happens if you put 100 million Orbeez in your friend’s backyard. But let me ask you this: Have you heard of Cribl, Snapdocs, Sayo Bank or fabric? I haven’t either, those are just some names of companies worth more than $1 billion that I pulled off Crunchbase. According to Axios‘ sources, MrBeast — the 24-year-old whose name is Jimmy Donaldson — is trying to raise $150 million for his business, valuing it at $1.5 billion. It might seem hard to imagine how a content creator’s business can be worth that much, but the North Carolina resident has built an impressive empire. With 109 million YouTube subscribers, MrBeast runs the fifth most subscribed channel on the platform, and he’s the top earner among U.S. YouTubers. Across his five other channels, he’s amassed another 82 million subscribers — and that’s not even counting his three Spanish language channels, which have about 33 million subscribers combined. YouTube is one of the most profitable platforms for creators, because you can earn 55% of ad revenue as a member of YouTube’s partner program. But MrBeast has expanded his business beyond the realm of social media — he has leveraged his brand to open up MrBeast Burger, a ghost kitchen food chain, and a snack company called Feastables, which raised $5 million this year at a $50 million valuation from 776, Shrug Capital and Sugar Capital. But MrBeast’s business model isn’t as straightforward as making videos and raking in ad revenue. His uploads, which center on extreme stunts and competitions for cash prizes, cost an obscene amount of money to make. Last year, his 25-minute “Real Life Squid Game” video required a whopping $3.5 million to produce, including more than $456,000 in prize money. For comparison, the nine-episode “Squid Game” series cost Netflix a total of $21.4 million, averaging out to about $2.4 million per hour-long installment. A few weeks ago, MrBeast said that he spends $8 million per month on his businesses. Just last September, MrBeast told the creator-focused YouTube channel Colin and Samir that he spent $4 million every month. That’s a big jump. Some companies reach unicorn status (a valuation above $1 billion) before even turning a profit. Yet Forbes estimates that MrBeast made $54 million in 2021, so he’s already proven to VCs that they can bet on him to return their investment. “The videos get views even if I don’t upload, so if I really wanted to, I could just live off of the money that the views made,” MrBeast told Insider. But if the 24-year-old wants to grow even more quickly and turn a larger profit, then venture capital funding might actually make sense. MrBeast has already taken funding on a smaller scale from companies like Jellysmack and Spotter. Jellysmack uses AI to maximize top creators’ cross-platform growth in exchange for a revenue cut; Spotter gives YouTubers large sums of upfront capital in exchange for revenue from their back catalog. But as one of the most successful content creators in the world, MrBeast can go even bigger with venture capital. But is going bigger always better? MrBeast’s business model is like a snake eating its own tail — no one is making money like he is, but no one is spending it like him either. He described his margins as “razor-thin” in a conversation with Logan Paul, since he reinvests most of his profits back into his content. His viewers expect that each video will be more impressive than the last, and from the outside looking in, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before MrBeast can no longer up the ante (and for other creators, this has led to disaster). So, if MrBeast’s business really is a unicorn — I’d wager it is — then he has two choices. Will he use the cushion of $150 million to make his business more sustainable, so he doesn’t have to keep burying himself alive? Or will he keep pushing for more until nothing is left?