Adobe has today released new data and insights from the ‘Future of Creativity’ study, focusing on growing business opportunities for creators.
The latest report titled ‘Monetisation in the Creator Economy’ aims to provide an in-depth look at how non-professional creators who are exploring creative side hustles and hobbies are now monetising their content, as well as how they are engaging with a new medium, the metaverse.
Adobe’s study found that the majority of Australian creators (70%) say the metaverse will bring new job opportunities as it continues to grow.
Entrepreneurial creators see immersive experiences as a new frontier to monetise their work, with over half of the Australian creators, including Gen Z, engaging through early metaverse experiences, including gaming, socialising, and shopping.
Australian creators, including Gen Z, also see the metaverse as a place for business with the top three reasons: a place to buy NFTs, create NFTs, and buy virtual real estate.
Meanwhile, 48% of Australian creators, monetise their content, out of which 79% of creators just started monetising content in the past year.
In the past two years, the global creator economy grew by 165 million and is poised for further growth as Gen Z creators continue entering the workforce. Monetisation has grown significantly in the past year and has become a goal for Gen Z creators as they are enticed by opportunities available with their creative content. Almost half of the surveyed Gen Z creators said they would rather start their own creative businesses than attend university.
Gen Z creators are weighing their options: Content creation or university?
- Gen Z in Australia is betting big on the creator economy, and their entrepreneurial spirit is inspiring the pursuit of non-traditional jobs, including content creation.
- One in four (49%) of Gen Z monetisers say they would prefer to start their own creative businesses rather than attend university.
- Witnessing the exponential rise of the creator economy in Australia, the study confirms that around (30%) of Australian creators are motivated to create by the potential of the earning opportunity and to make it their full-time career.
- NFT and VR technology is also catching up with Australian Gen Z monetisers as they look for different avenues to use their creative content (photography, design, content etc.).
Monetisation opportunities are driving growth in the creator economy
Now comprised of more than 303 million creators globally, the creator economy is poised for continued growth as monetisation opportunities entice creators to turn their passions into businesses. Australia is making a huge contribution to this momentum – adding 3 million new creators from Australia since 2020, which means a 48% increase in its creator economy.
- Australian creators have capitalised on this, with nearly half (48%) earning money from their creative pursuits.
- Nearly half (58%) of Australian creators earn 50% of their monthly income from social media content creation.
- More than three-quarters (79%) of Australian creators who monetise their content only started doing so within the past year, with only 21% starting 2+ years ago.
- Nearly half (38%) of Australian monetisers are making more money now than they were two years ago. Over half (77%) of Australian creators anticipate earning even more in the next two years.
Creators look to advocate social change
Despite pay equity gaps, Australian creators are working ambitiously towards the causes they feel most strongly about.
- Over (37%) of Australian monetisers are creating original content advocating for the causes they care about. Issues of utmost importance include climate change, followed by social justice and diversity and inclusion.
- The pay equity gap between male and female Australian creators persists. Male creators earn, on average, AU$157, while female creators earn AU$115. However, as per the study globally both male and female creators have high aspirations towards building their business out of creator economy by capitalising on their influencer status.
As Gen Z creators continue entering the workforce and opportunities to monetise creative content grow across traditional and new immersive media, the Creator Economy is poised for further growth.
Adobe’s Future of Creativity Study aims to provide the most comprehensive view into the Creator Economy, including how creativity is changing across nine major regions: the U.S., UK, Australia, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.
“The rapid expansion of the creator economy has spurred increasing opportunities for creators to monetise their creative talents, turning their passions into new careers and businesses,” said Abode’s senior vice president, of digital media marketing, strategy and global partnerships, Ashley Still. “It’s an exciting time to be a creator, and we’re committed to fueling these business opportunities by providing tools such as Adobe Express, making it easy and fun for everyone to be a creator and bring their inspirations to life.”
The Future of Creativity study surveyed 9,000 online non-professional creators in May 2022, in nine leading regions (the U.S., Australia, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Brazil).
Adobe partnered with Edelman Data & Intelligence to conduct the study and analyse data to identify key trends across the creator economy. Creators are defined as non-professionals having participated in creative activities (such as photography, creative writing and original social media content creation) and posting, sharing or promoting their work from these activities online at least monthly with the goal of growing their social presence. Monetisers are a subset of these creators who earn income through their creative activities, selling via websites or marketplaces, or generating revenue from partnerships, affiliate links and/or ad revenue. Data was collected from 5,350 Gen-Pop creators (ages 18+, 600 per market), 5,222 Gen Z creators (ages 16-24, 600 per market).