C21 Events held a one-day festival in King’s Cross on Wednesday dedicated to the creator economy. The sessions featured speakers from big brands to social media companies to the content creators themselves. We identified a handful of themes that were discussed throughout the day and what they mean for the continuous digitisation of TV.
Traditional Media vs. The Creator Economy
Many of the panels featured traditional media broadcasters like the BBC and ITV and their involvement in a digital world. George Cowin, CEO of Cowshed Collective said collaboration between the two can be a huge win: it’s just a matter of figuring out how to work together. A digital agency can bring the talent and traditional media brings the TV experience like format, he said. Cameron Sim from Sky Sports said that there’s a “mindset shift” of watching content through a creator lens versus traditional sport viewing with pundit and tactical analysis. He said they shifted their game coverage to include content creators on field to impact the younger audiences.
Content and Consumption
As in any sector, and especially in a creator economy where anyone and everyone can participate, getting actual viewership and building a base is key. Content creator Brogan Tate said that she did that through not focusing on one niche only but a few like travel, home, and style. She experiments with different niches within already established ones in a video and it’s a low-risk way of testing it to her audience. Content creator Taz Alam said she has three pillars of content: hero content, engagement, and community. Woody, of the Woody & Klein duo, said that they consider YouTube like Netflix now and that long form content is fine now.
Brogan agreed stating that 56% of her audience is watching her content on a big screen.
Beyond Advertising
While advertising is always a key source of revenue for content creators and platforms, there was a lot of chatter about how to monetise beyond advertising. This was most often discussed in the form of brand deals. Content creator Brogan Tate said that her brand deals are her biggest income stream as she doesn’t do merch or subscriptions. Contrarily, Taz said that merchandising is a big thing for her, but the type of merch she’s selling has evolved rapidly (from merch around her likeness to positive messaging where the brand isn’t front and center). Woody (whose subscriber base is over 50 million) said that the advertising is still their biggest source of revenue with brand deals also helping, but they’re looking to potentially add subscriptions. He said they will only do this if they can add value in such a proposition that differs from their current one.
Content Discovery
Content discovery is an area of focus talked about time and again in more traditional media (and increasingly in the FAST and AVOD space where there’s so much content floating around) so it was interesting to hear panelists discuss how they tackle this issue. Tik Tok Entertainment Partnerships Amy Johal said that 53% of users find a new show, actor, or film from Tik Tok leading to a wider content discovery than just the videos on their feeds, which are a blend of user-generated content and brands. Georgia Catt from BBC Studios said that with so much content out there, good storytelling can get lost, and platforms should take care to balance between authentic vs. sensationalist content.
At Create London 2025, many raved about the diversity of the panels, the breadth of topics discussed, and the outlook and future of the dynamic and exciting creator economy.
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