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The creator economy is the bedrock of this week’s VidCon convention, which drew creators, companies, investors and fans to Anaheim to discuss the booming creator landscape and how it's affecting industries and advertisers.
This growth stems from a surge in the number of creators , many of whom found themselves reconsidering their careers during the pandemic. Since then, their influence on consumers and viewers has dramatically shifted and advertising budgets have bent in their direction. Content creation has emerged as a legitimate professional route.
“As an older person, I thought this was the downfall of Western civilization,” Investcorp Managing Director Anand Radhakrishnan, a panelist at a discussion titled “Betting Big on the Creator Economy,” said.
The drift toward short-form content from both consumers and advertisers suggests more investment dollars will be redirected away from longer-form shows and film.
“At the end of the day, I think it reflects that this is real—and as an investor, we’re looking at ways to invest in the next great economies,” Radhakrishnan added.
Even as the global economy is threatened with another disruption in the form of an increasingly likely recession, panelists said they're optimistic about the creator economy’s prospects, especially given how versatile creators have proven themselves to be during the past downturn and how dependent advertisers have become on influencers.
“It is almost winter-agnostic,” Team8 Fintech Managing Partner Yuval Tal said. “The shift [toward the creator economy] is so massive that no [economic] winter can slow it down.”
Here’s What Happened in LA’s Entertainment Tech World This Week 🍿
As expected, Netflix laid off an additional 300 employees on Thursday.
Many high-profile TikTokers skipped out on this year's creator Mecca, VidCon.
Youtube Shorts is extremely popular in India — where TikTok, its main competitor, is banned. The Google-owned company is now looking at how it might dethrone TikTok in the U.S.
Engineers in China were able to see TikTok users' data, right down to birthdays and phone numbers, according to a recent report.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel wants to make Snapchat a "super app," much as its rival, Twitter's, new owner hopes to do.
Creator monetization tool Jellysmack is expanding to help TikTokers find new ways to grow their audience and profits.
Transportation 🚗
West Hollywood-based e-bike startup Wheels is merging with micromobility operator Helbiz, which went public via a SPAC last year.
Santa Monica-based micromobility startup Veo makes inroads in Los Angeles.
Venture Capital & Finance 💰
Launch House, an L.A. based live-in accelerator program, unveiled three more virtual residency programs.
Vamstar, which runs AI-enabled sourcing for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, raised $9.5 million.
Three L.A. startups are part of this year’s Snap Yellow Accelerator program this year.
Snapchat is launching a program to give 25 emerging Black creators $10,000 a month for one year.
Greenwood acquired L.A.-based Valence, a networking platform for Black professionals.
As part of his series on "how to startup," Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff looked at how to build a minimum viable product
L.A. startups raised over $209 million this week. Read about them all in our weekly roundup.
🎧 Listen Up
Outlander VC founder Paige Craig talks about how he invested early in major companies and the people who built them.
Camille Styles opens up about burnout, risk-taking and how she turned her passion for blogging into a thriving business.
Also...
Disney is developing “robotic Sherpas” that will help carry guests belongings around its parks.
Raytheon is looking to hire 1,000 more employees in Southern California to tackle new government contracts.
Wheelhouse DNA and DISQO are among tech companies that had new hires this week. See them all in our weekly round up.
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