Influencers = Creators = Real Business Now
This is a single insight from This Week in Apps #95 - What to Expect in 2022. Check out the full article for more insights.
TikTok is the #2 top-grossing app in the US right now. Remember the prediction I made a few weeks ago that TikTok will become the highest-earning app in 2022? Well, that's happening!
But it's not just about TikTok. Creator platforms like TikTok, meaning ones that reward creators (and hence the name I've given them) have proven that creating is a real business.
YouTubers have known about this for a while, but even that's changed drastically, and it's so much easier to get started on YouTube than it was just a few years ago.
Just how big is this segment? Let's look at the top 3 creator platforms; TikTok, BIGO, and Twitch. All three offer in-app purchases so users can pay creators.
Since 2020, the trio has grown its US net revenue from around $10M in January of 2020 to more than $85M in December of 2021.
The majority of this revenue is now TikTok's, but that's not how it started. In January of 2020, both BIGO and Twitch were earning more for their creators.
And even though TikTok's meteoric growth eclipses the rest, those have also grown substantially (for normal companies). BIGO's US net revenue nearly tripled to $15M! Twitch is going through a rough patch right now, but even after losing roughly half of its revenue in the last two months of 2021, it's still doubled. And if we ignore the last two months, we can see revenue has grown nearly 5x.
For those of you keeping count, these numbers mean BIGO was the highest earner in 2020. Did you know it existed then?
Unlike dating apps, where only a small few companies benefit, this trend is more about everyone. Almost every platform where creators can create has (or is in the process of adding) a way to pay creators, and this year I expect to see more people try their hand at it.
Creating, just like everything else, isn't easy. So I don't expect everyone who tries to succeed, but the more people try the more content these platforms have, and the more diverse content a platform has the more users they'll attract.
It's a very healthy growth loop, and it's a sustainable one.
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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.
