Mad About Markets: Content creator economy breaking new barriers

There are now over 637 million smartphone users in India and that number is expected to reach 900 million by 2026. These smartphone users are spending an average of 4.6 hours per day consuming content.

Data consumption per smartphone in India is also the highest globally, at 15.7 GB per month and that is estimated to reach over 37 GB per month by 2026. All this with a low cost of data at just $0.68 per GB, which is well below the global average of $4.21. Lastly, more than 448 million Indians are active social media users and this number is expected to reach 650 million by 2026.

All of these numbers have led to the creation of something quite spectacular – the content creator economy.

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These shifts have enabled the rise of creators and knowledge professionals who - thanks to this increasing digitization - are now able to monetize their unique talents into full-time jobs as well. India today has nearly 80 million creators. These include content creators, video streamers, influencers, bloggers, creators on OTT platforms, physical product creators, and essentially anyone building a community around their niche. Total size of the global creator economy is pegged at $104 billion according to Kalaari Capital.

In India itself, the YouTube creator ecosystem contributed almost Rs 6,800 crore to the Indian economy in 2020 – this year was ravished by a pandemic - and in that YouTube itself generated more than 6.83 lakh full-time equivalent jobs in India in 2020, according to a report by Oxford Economics.

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Rohan Joshi, standup comedian, a writer who runs his own youtube channel, actor and a television presenter, Ranveer Allahbadia aka Beer Biceps - Ranveer is a social media entrepreneur, YouTuber, motivational speaker, leadership coach, and soon-to-be author, he is also the co-founder of Monk Entertainment (Monk-E) and Viraj Sheth, also an entrepreneur, influencer, the co-founder and CEO of Monk-E- which works with some of the most popular brands including Nykaa, Groww, Skillshare, GOQii and others shared their perspective in a CNBC-TV18 special show, Mad About Markets.