2025 will be a crucial year for Indian creator economy

1. Growth in meme marketing: 

With memes breaking all barriers and running the show as the marketing strategy for so many brands, in the coming year, analysts tracking the industry believe it will grow further. According to a report, meme marketing will become a ₹3000 crore ($360 million) industry next year. 2024 was the year of memes and meme marketing. Memes like viral Serbian song Moye moye hit 4.5 billion views in 2024 according to YouTube. Ganji chudail featured in so many ads for brands like YouTube, Netflix, Nykaa etc.

2. Growth in channel membership revenues:

Channel memberships have grown significantly for creators like Samay Raina, he told Mint. Posting viral exclusive content on memberships for example his show India’s got latent, is a great strategy to monetise content and YouTube and creators are expecting for this model to grow further next year.

3. Growth in creator led startups: 

This year, creator led startups like Flying beast’s Rosier Foods and Tech burner’s Layers have made their mark in their respective markets. Analysts expect this trend to continue further as creators look at diversification of investments and income streams and starting their businesses. Not just that, creators Flying beast and Tech burner told Mint that they will look for fundings after scaling up next year.

4. Rise of long form content: 

After intellectual properties like Samay Raina’s “India’s got latent” blew up, brands have started showing interest in sponsoring long form content like never before. This is incentivising creators to make more original long form content. Viewers showing interest and buying subscriptions for watching creators’ long form content further heightens the demand for it. Coming year, Ashish Solanki’s pretty good roast show will come back with its second season that would be sponsored, along with Samay Raina planning to upload a web series for his channel members, both, told Mint. Comedian Harsh Gujral and his team have rolled out a unique intellectual property, The Escape Room for confessions, meanwhile Samay Raina, Rohan Cariappa and Seedhe Maut have announced a rap show called The SoundCheck in the coming year.

5. More creators moving into the entertainment sector: 

Creator talent management agencies have started strengthening their ties with broadcasters and production houses promising social media talent a ticket to big screens. Some have already started offering roles in advertisements and web series.

6. Brands hiring in-house content creators for strong social media presence: 

Realizing the power and importance of social media and content creation, many brands have started investing in and hiring in-house content creators for their social media pages. This trend is set to grow with more brands joining next year.

7. Indian content creators collaborating with other creators globally: 

After Carryminati’s collaboration with Mr Beast’s, followed by the world’s biggest creator and his “gang” flying into India and launching their brands, a gateway for global collaborations has been opened. During their visit, Mr Beast, KSI and Logan Paul have shot content with a bunch of Indian creators which is yet to be released. Heads of influencer marketing companies believe there will be a rise in global collaborations for content creators creating high budget content together going forward.

8. Rise of AI influencers: 

After the launch of AI influencers like Influencer Marketing Firm Collective Artist Network’s Kavya Mehra and AI firm Avtr’s Naina and Virat, India is witnessing a revolution in content creation and influencer marketing. Brands like Ajio, Joyalluka’s etc have already started using ai to generate models for their advertisements. This is poised to increase further.

9. More financial products for creators: 

After the launch of financial services like prepaid cards by fintech Wyld and Giga by HDFC, next year, creators are expecting more from the BFSI sector. Looking at the cybersecurity threats, social media insurance is one of the most anticipated services for creators. Dedicated professional wealth management is also one of the financial services creators are looking to subscribe to next year.

10. Rise of tier II-III influencers: 

As smartphones have penetrated to over 50% of India according to data from consumer firm IDC, the participation of “Bharat” in India’s creator economy is poised to rise. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are anticipating this and working in this direction, making content creation easier and more lucrative for tier II-III India.