Like, share, subscribe: India’s vast and complicated creator economy

Explore India’s booming creator economy, the rise of influencers, D2C brand success stories, and the challenges creators face in monetizing their influence.

You can’t escape the algorithm. Almost everything we do today is influenced by the social media personalities we’ve developed and the algorithms that we’ve steadily built over the years. In the last decade, several social media companies have surfaced and disappeared—some of them have sustained and become the large players we know today like Meta, X, while others like MySpace and Orkut have been left behind in the proverbial internet dust.

And as these platforms evolved, so have the people who have been using them. Being a social media influencer—someone who makes their living through social media by amassing a large following on a social media platform—is a legitimate career now. The average monthly income for influencers can range from ₹20,000 to ₹2 lakh, with some top-tier influencers earning significantly more based on their reach and brand collaborations. For a quick comparison, an average data analyst can make about monthly salaries ranging from ₹45,000 to ₹55,000, in India. For startups, influencers are a great way to build trust and credibility for their brand. Today, consumers trust influencers word over the word of a celebrity when it comes to brand endorsements. One study found that 37% of consumers trust influencers more than brands themselves, making influencer endorsements particularly powerful.

Popular reality TV shows now often carry some element of the creator economy as a subject matter of their shows. For instance, Amazon Prime’s most recent show The Tribe was centered around an influencer agency which took models from India to find audiences and brands in the US.

With the business case for understanding the creator’s role in the economy understood, let’s decode what’s happening in space.

The creator economy market segmentation

Access to the internet and digital means has democratised this process for many people in the country. “Video has no barriers… it is empowering a bunch of people to put themselves out there,” Sanket Shah, CEO and Co-founder of InVideo told WeWork Labs in a recent episode of Upstart.

(Side note: We did a whole podcast episode with Sanket about the creator economy, if you’re interested you can watch the whole episode here.)

Overall, India has an estimated 2.5 to 3.5 million content creators across various social media platforms, encompassing all categories from Nano (under 1,000 followers) to Mega influencers (over 1 million followers). Within this, beauty & makeup and food & beverage influencers account for the largest influencer base taking up 15% and 20% of the pie respectively. Other categories that take up the rest of the pie are Technical gadget reviewers, travel vloggers, fashion bloggers, and fitness to name a few.

What conversely, the creator economy has done—particularly at the nano and micro level—is empower people who would otherwise struggle to find an audience. A report by Meta suggests that micro-influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers have as much influence as driving festive purchases as macro influencers when it comes to motivating consumers to make purchases. A report by FICCI also found that there has been a 10x increase in demand for influencers with a regional focus, as it helps brands reach consumers in these spaces.

So what are the things that click within this vast ocean of the creator economy?

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The bright spots

Creators that have built their brands based on their core niches have largely been able to diversify their presence beyond their platforms and into real, viable businesses. For instance, Alicia Souza, an art creator on Instagram, was able to sell about 10,000 units of her own calendars and planners with her illustrations, indicating a strong demand for her products.

Indian influencers are taking a cue from their global counterparts and launching products that are closely aligned with their own brands. For instance, Kabita’s Kitchen–a prominent food creator on YouTube–launched her own line of spices named Kabita’s Kitchen Masala Mix. The brand is available in three variants – Sabzi Masala, Pav Bhaji Masala and Chicken Masala, priced at Rs 330 and available on Amazon.

“Within the space of creator economy what works is D2C and something that is niche to the creator,” says Sahiba Bali actor and social media influencer with over 641k followers on Instagram. “For example, if a popular creator known for their food and recipes launches a cloud kitchen or a restaurant it is likely to be more successful vis-a-vis a lifestyle or fashion influencer who comes out with a generic line. I believe it’s only fruitful when it's within their expertise and realm of what they do.”

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The WeWork Labs take

The creator economy in India possesses significant potential but is still in its early stages, lacking the scale and influence seen in other global markets. While there is an increasing demand for creators, various systemic challenges hinder their ability to transcend platform limitations and achieve lasting success. A primary obstacle is the difficulty in monetizing and scaling their ventures. Indian creators frequently find it hard to convert their influence into sustainable, profitable businesses. In contrast to creators in the U.S. and Europe, who can effectively utilize tools, sponsorships, and independent brand-building strategies to generate substantial income, Indian creators navigate a fragmented ecosystem. This situation is exacerbated by market saturation, particularly among direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, making it increasingly challenging for creators to stand out. That being said, the opportunities to innovate remain and it will take a combined effort of creators, followers, and other stakeholders to make this a reality.

(Image credit: Pexels)