It’s Never Been Easier, & Harder, For Creators To Build A Business
Having an audience that loves your content doesn't equal having a media business
The business of creating and making a living off of content has always been relatively simple:
Create text, audio or video content with the purpose of building and entertaining an audience
Monetise that content by doing any combination of the below:
Sell the audience the content directly (eg: magazines, newspapers, films)
Sell the content rights to the highest bidder (eg: sports)
Sell the audience’s attention (adverts)
Use the audience’s attention to sell them something more profitable (event, book, course etc)
Rinse & repeat
That said, monetising media was a lot simpler when the luxury of creating media was only given to the select few with the privilege and money to invest or work in it. The challenge of selling ads or getting consumers to buy magazines is easier when there are only a handful of television channels, radio stations and newspapers that everyone has no choice but to consume, because access to recording equipment, radio towers and printing presses for the common man or woman was non-existent.
Of course, we now live in a world where the barriers to creating text, audio or video content have vanished. Our smartphones, social platforms and ingenuity to build on others’ creations allow us to make and share engaging content anytime, anywhere. The result is what we have today; a vibrant creative ecosystem, where anyone with ideas and the energy to bring them to life can create a media-based brand, whether they are an individual with niche expertise, a marketing department for a business, or any kind of professional content creator.
All of this is great, unless you are trying to create a sustainable living from your creativity. The problem with the barriers to creating content falling, is that the friction to making money from that content increases. It’s a lot harder for a magazine to sell the reach of their monthly output, when brands can reach a larger version of the same audience either directly through Facebook, or through an influencer that likely has a far more intimate, and thus more powerful, relationship with the audience.
This idea of the barriers shifting from media creation to media monetisation, is a key part to the general disappointment around the recent performance of a generation of media companies. This reality didn’t really dawn on the likes of Mashable, who raised money with big media ambitions, but lost its way when it applied more money than sense to its editorial mission. But neither has it dawned on the scores of solo creators with more than 10,000 followers on their platform of choice and believes that someone should be paying them to reach their audience.
The reality is, whether you are a well-financed media business or an independent creator, producing content and having an audience doesn’t automatically equal having a media business. The barriers to creating content and developing an audience base may have been knocked down, but scaling the barrier from content creator to media company requires the creator and the team around them to solve questions like:
What factors do you need to take into account when putting together a business strategy for your media company?
How do you profitably create a YouTube show with high production value, when Youtube pay the same regardless of whether you are a solo blogger, or multi-person cast and crew?
What is the minimum number of Instagram followers you need before you can start doing ads?
How can you create interest in advertising for your podcast among brands that have never advertised before?
When is it the right time for me to start doing events for my audience?
How do you convince your audience to pay for your content when they are used to get it for free?
How can brands use a combination of their own content and smart content partnerships to drive sales?
These are the sorts of questions I’m keen to explore about building a media business – for myself as co-founder/Publisher of Black Ballad, for those that I consult and for you reading this blog.
Despite everything I have said above, there has never been a better time to be a creator. The changing of the barriers may have made it harder for everyone to get paid for their work but let us not forget that creating and being able to share our creation with the world used to be a privilege not many of us could afford. Being able to create, with the possibility to turn it into some additional income, a job, or a media-based brand is better than not being able to create at all.
I take the view that today is better than yesterday but won’t be as good as tomorrow. The truth is, there is a lot more opportunity on its way, with some interesting challenges to accompany it. So, it is both critical for us and those coming after us, that now we can create what we like, we go on the journey to understand the means through which creators can finally get paid properly for their work.
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