Making a Living Off 'Likes': The New Influencer Paradigm | Andreessen Horowitz

In the past few years, startups like Substack, Patreon, and Shopify have created alternative ways for creators to build businesses online through direct transactions, rather than advertising. This shift exposed a simple fact: in an ad-driven world, creators were generally under-monetizing their audiences.

If an internet celebrity or content creator doesn't get paid per view, then "fans" aren't worth so much. Revenue sharing platforms like YouTube and Twitch reward influencers for having legions of casual followers who rack up ad impression. But you need a different strategy on platforms like TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat that don't share ... See more

After a decade of inaction, web2 platforms have finally woken up to the need to help their creators make money. This was instigated by TikTok’s $2B Creator Fund, but has resulted in dozens of similar funds and new features across Snap, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and even LinkedIn.
Meanwhile, web3 platforms are pioneering a new form of monetizat... See more

The influencer market will be, by some estimates, worth close to $15 billion in just a few years, with hundreds of thousands of people earning sizable income from viral videos and social posts. By Karat’s own count, there are over a million professional full-time creators globally who earn at least $80,000 a year—but many of them have trouble acces... See more