Creators Are Struggling
YouTube has become the defacto place for creators to share their content. However, its inner mechanics have created a misalignment between creators' incentives and their audiences.
You start feeling old the moment you realize that our kids’ idols are not soccer players or F1 drivers anymore. The Times They Are A-Changin’ — ask American kids about what they would like to be when they grow up. An astounding 29%, you’ll find, would say they want to become a YouTube star, a creator. More than those who would like to become Astronauts (11%).
But how does this young generation even get there?
The creator economy — i.e. businesses centered around independent content curators, influencers, and online community builders, has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. YouTube still serves as the only viable platform available to content creators ‘wannabes’. Specifically those with a focus on knowledge exchange for video games. However, it falls short of fulfilling their needs.
What’s missing?
Creators don’t make money
Understanding the underlying YouTube mechanics and its link to clickbait content is key. If a YouTube video gets enough hits, the advertisers come running, and the creator makes a profit. But, as of today, this is the only profit-making channel available to them. One that is not only misaligned with the creator incentives but also extremely competed.
Creators crave the chance to turn their passion for gaming into a sustainable income. They have long demanded more monetization channels in addition to advertising. An assumption that has already been validated by the growth of external monetization platforms such as Patreon.
Patreon is a precious business that should have never had to exist. How come we need an external party to enable creators to monetize? Shouldn’t these tools become a key component of the distribution platform itself — where the content is actually consumed?
Creators can’t stand out from the crowd
YouTube is a video-sharing platform that’s already saturated with content ranging from unboxings, funny kittens or amateur song covers… you name it. Content made by game enthusiasts will almost certainly get lost in the mix competing with an endless offer of clickbait content. The chances of standing out and becoming recognized and recommended by other gamers are non-existent.
At Gamestry we envision creators rising to the top by their own merits. Not only will they be competing exclusively with other gaming-oriented content, but also benefit from a wide array of specialized features that will make the best out of their content. This realigns incentives and ensures that good content ultimately gets the audiences and attention it deserves.
Creators are forced towards click-bait
Even though some creators are able to develop fan-bases and reach a wide audience through YouTube, the “click-driven”, monetization method of the platform doesn’t drive creators towards quality. As YouTube is unable to differentiate between curated, quality content, and casual, generic content, the result is a platform that favors quantity over quality.
Though creators might start out inspired to produce quality content, if they want to reach their largest possible audience through YouTube, they end up aiming towards “clickability”.
The outcome is that they produce generic, less creative content while viewers are still left desperately seeking quality content. But what if the needs of creators and viewers were matched and met?
At Gamestry we believe that profiting from the creation of high-quality content must become a cornerstone of the creator experience. That’s the reason why, from the very beginning, creators not only earned money through views but also from subscriptions to their channels, one-to-one coaching, direct tips… and more to come.
On top of that, we are enabling a unique experience for the viewer as well. The content is properly labeled, categorized, and organized with a gaming-first mentality. At Gamestry, both viewers and creators will feel at home, with a platform that was designed by, and for gamers only.
Next in the series, we’ll dive deeper into the specific features that will enable creators to monetize and, ultimately, turn their passion into a sustainable lifestyle.