Ibai Llanos, El Rubius, Dulceida. They are the most visible face of a profession that is on the rise: that of the content creator, people who have managed to make their passion a profession. They explain how they play video games through platforms such as Twitch or Youtube, they spread science on Twitter or Tik Tok, or they give advice on healthy living on Instagram. Although the trend started before the pandemic, mainly in the United States, the coronavirus has marked a turning point for these independent creators and there are currently an estimated 300 million worldwide (pdf), according to a study recently published by Adobe company. In 2021, the Signal Fire agency estimated that they were around 50 million, that is, they have multiplied by six in just two years.
In fact, being a YouTuber or streamer is the fourth most desired profession by almost 2,000 Spanish boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 16, according to the Adecco Survey “What do you want to be when you grow up?” In university classrooms it is easy to find young people who want to be the next Ibai Llanos or the next Dulceida. But is all that glitters gold? Can you live creating content in Spain? Are we heading towards a middle class of independent creators who earn income through different social platforms?
“It is impossible to live on a platform unless you have millions of subscribers,” says Spanish streamer Gemma Manzanero, who has around 53,000 followers on her Twitch channel. “About 1% are subscribed to the channel, and between that and the ad revenue I get, Twitch brings me about $100 a month,” she adds. In the sector, content creators earn more or less money depending on the followers and subscribers they have. Based on their followers, creators are classified as recreational (from 0 to 1,000 followers; they represent about 23 million worldwide); semi-pro (1,000 to 10,000 followers; an estimated 139 million); pro (between 10,000 and 100,000 followers; 41 million) and experts (between 100,000 and more than a million followers onwards; there are about 4 million).
“We are facing a ‘game’ of heavy tails, only 3% of creators capture 90% of views on YouTube, the same happens with income through almost all platforms. The polarization in this sector is enormous, as is the volatility”, they explain from Demoat, a newsletter specialized in the analysis of rising sectors. Living solely and exclusively from streaming continues to be a privilege within the reach of few people. Data revealed as part of a massive hack on Twitch last year found that the top 1% of all streamers earn more than half of all revenue from the platform, according to the Wall Street Journal. Most Twitch creators earn less than $120 per year. And this is repeated in the different channels.
The top ten publications on Substack, a platform for generating and distributing ezines, collectively earn more than $20 million annually in subscription revenue. The less popular newsletters generate a few thousand dollars annually. Podcasts, another of the channels on the rise, along with newsletters, is also a polarized sector: 1% of the total set receives 99% of the downloads and, consequently, of the income, according to data collected in an article entitled ” The creator economy is failing to spread the wealth”, published in Axios.
In September of last year, Ibai Llanos, inadvertently consulted in a Twitch live how much income he had obtained from August 27 to September 25. The figure amounted to 145,837 dollars, that is, about 124,932 euros. “Never be clouded by the figures that we earn because that is not real,” he advised his followers shortly after. “AuronPlay there is one and no more. The important thing is to decide what you want to do with your life and study. If you want to stream in your spare time afterwards, do it and have a good time, but don’t take Twitch as a job,” he added.
On Amazon-owned Twitch, streamers earn money through fan subscriptions and advertising. How many more subscribers, more income for the creator and less for the platform, which usually keeps 50% for each subscription. In cases such as those of Ibai Llanos, El Rubius or Auronplay, streamers of great importance, the professional receives up to 70% of the income and the platform keeps approximately 30%. Some voices have been insisting for years on the need to “democratize opportunities” and encourage the emergence of a middle class of creators, as the investor and sector specialist Jin Li explains in this article published in The New York Times.
“Right now it is a utopia. It is a highly polarized and volatile sector. To move towards a middle class of creators, technology companies should share their profits more equitably with creators, and audiences would have to commit more and pay for the content they consume”, explains the journalist specialized in digital culture, Janira Planes. . In the current scenario, most of the people who produce and disseminate content, despite having large audiences, need to find a salary outside of the platforms.
Of the 300 million in the world, it is estimated that only half a million can devote themselves exclusively to living from their channel, according to the aforementioned Adobe study, which forces many creators to look for other sources of financing. Gemma Manzanero combines her activity on Twitch with the radio. “I started at Twitch nine years ago, when there was hardly anyone, and from there I jumped to companies like MediaPro or TV3. Now I present on Flaix, the radio station that I have listened to all my life”, says the 34-year-old, who studied Teaching.
Blanca Aguilera, 23 years old, has more than half a million followers on Tik Tok where she makes videos about cultural dissemination that can reach a million views, but she barely makes a direct profit through the platform. “I recently started on Tik Tok and I think the channel has helped me find my current job as an account executive in a company that is dedicated to promoting cultural issues, Cultura Inquieta, but I don’t make the content I make through the platform profitable. ”, explains this graduate in Audiovisual Communication and a master’s degree in Styling and Artistic Direction. “In the first months that I combined the two things, I got to work 16 hours a day, but now I manage it better,” she adds. “It is a job that requires passion for what you are explaining and self-knowledge to know which channel is most suitable for you, as well as curiosity and effort”.
Antonio Adrados, 32, known on Twitch as Wachinanii, has a community of more than 88,000 followers and some 500 loyal subscribers who have been with him for a long time. He is dedicated solely to streaming video games and earns an average of between 1,000 and 2,000 euros per month, an amount that he supplements with sponsorship and advertising from some brands. “I can double the income from the platform with brands and sponsors,” says Adrados. “Being a content creator is not a sprint, but an endurance race,” he says. “Over the years you earn the trust of brands, sponsors and the community,” he adds.
Communicating something for which one feels passionate, be it videogames, sports or a healthy lifestyle, and connecting with equally passionate young people are some of the advantages of this profession –which still does not have a consensus on its nomenclature either: content creator, influencer, disseminator? Among the drawbacks, the dependence on technology companies, exposure to public opinion and mental health problems. The creators are afraid to take a break because of the possibility that their fans will forget them.
“It is a constant fight against your own ego. If you investigate why you are good for some months and bad for others, you realize that having 100 subscribers or so on your channel affects you. It may seem silly, but it is not. Every day you share your life with kids for whom you are the most, and they tell you so, and when they tell you less, it affects you”, explains Adrados. “Continuous pressure wears you out if you don’t know how to set limits, which is why it is very important to learn to disconnect. You have to take it very seriously, because if you don’t end up being a slave, ”adds this young graduate in Teaching, a profession he practiced for a while.
The communities that support these creators sometimes also vilify them, even more so in the case of women. “They look at your body and how you dress and every day you receive comments about it,” shoots the Spanish streamer Gemma Manzanero. “And if you play badly and you are a woman, they criticize you twice as much. I have a very healthy community, because I have not let any of these comments pass and I have kicked all the people who have disrespected me from my channel, ”she adds. “When you expose yourself to public opinion, you expose yourself to criticism,” reflects Aguilera, “and, in my case, I receive little hate, but some people do question my intelligence. They are usually men and it happens to me more on Twitter than on Tik Tok, because each network brings together different types of personality”.
Globally, 93% of creators say their job has had a negative impact on their lives and 65% feel overburdened and/or underpaid, according to a study looking at the mental health of content creators. The main influencers in our country, such as Ibai Llanos, Dulceida or ElRubius, have expressed anxiety problems derived from the work overload and constant exposure and have had to stop their professional career for some time to manage their emotions. Along these lines, the UGT union has created a platform for independent creators to claim labor rights.
Parallel to the irruption of this new economy, known in Silicon Valley as the economy of passion, philosophers such as Remedios Zafra or Eudald Espluga have coined and delved into the terms self-exploitation or life-work to analyze jobs in the cultural sector today. “The media only show the most beautiful face, but, as it becomes more professional, more should be said about the negative face”, concludes Adrados.