Domestic Work Monetization Efforts on the "Creator Economy" Platform

Counted almost five billion people or the equivalent of 62,5 percent of the world's total population accessing the internet as of January 2022. Of this number, 92,1 percent of them are online with mobile devices. The average global community spends up to seven hours each day online.

You can't imagine how much content we've read, watched or viewed on mobile devices over the past two years. The ongoing Covid-19 situation has forced people to spend a lot of time at home, limiting the mobility of work and school. As a result, the opportunity to access the internet is getting bigger.

In Indonesia, there is also a content explosion. People are creating content, exploring ideas, and getting creative to monetize their work. Even industrial fertile fields creator economy triggering the birth of many domestic work appreciation platforms, targeting the creative economy market which so far has not been fully exploited.

Currently there is no comprehensive report regarding the creator economy in Indonesia. Even so, the growth of the digital ecosystem and infrastructure in the country indicates that the potential of the creator economy market has not been optimally exploited. The government is also encouraging the creative economy industry as one of the economic drivers in the future.

data report As of January 2022, the number of Indonesian internet users has reached 204,7 million people or the equivalent of 73,7 percent of the total population. Then, the number of social media users reached 191,4 million or 68,9 percent of the total population.

To get an overview of the industrial landscape creator economy, monetization models, and business projections, DailySocial chat with KaryaKarsa Founder Ario Tamat, Storial Brilliant Founder Yotenega, as well as Famous All Stars Founder Arief Rakhmadani and Famous All Stars Co-CEO Alex Wijaya.

Know creator economy

creator economy is defined as an activity carried out by creators to earn income with the help of technology. While releasing a report CBInsight,creator economy refers to various business activities by independent creators, from vloggers, influencers, to writer, to monetize his work and capabilities.

Existence of platforms creator economy allowing them to be creative with support tools or the analytical features available therein. With tools, any creator, including those with numbers follower small, not a blue tick account (verified), or start-ups can monetize their own work directly.

Currently, the industry creator economy global figures have touched $104,2 billion. This growth cannot be separated from the involvement of investors who invest in the business creator economy. Throughout 2021, investors around the world have injected $1,3 billion into the platform creator economy.

In Indonesia, creator economy entering the creative economy which also includes many subsectors. According to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, this subsector consists of game developer, craft arts, interior design, music, fine arts, product design, fashion, culinary, film, animation, video, photography, visual communication design, television, radio, architecture, advertising, performing arts, publishing and applications.

Challenges and monetization models

Anyone can be a creator. However, not everyone is able to survive to continue working and producing. In contrast to the current situation, a decade ago--even though there was internet--the prices of smartphones and data packages were still expensive. Internet coverage is still limited and has not reached rural areas.

If your hobby is writing fiction, drawing, or playing games, not all of that means you can make money. Creators who already have a name also have difficulty being productive and cannot fully rely on income from their work.

Ario Tamat and Brilliant Yotenega or Ega assess that efforts to monetize works and income stability are indeed old issues that are often experienced by creators, for example comic artists, writers, musicians or painters. Long before technology existed, there was a long road that creators had to take to market their work.

Ario sees many cases where creators cannot work productively because they don't have a steady income. From here, he saw ada disconnect between content creators and buyers because there was no discussion channel, and the marketing model was still traditional. Even though we have entered the digital era, there is no platform that targets creators directly in Indonesia. This could be because the category of creators is still very broad, and there is no absolute definition of what they do and how to monetize it.

Yotenega or better known as Ega also feels the same anxiety. This man who is involved in the publishing industry gives an example of the long process of a writer who wants to publish his book. Assuming a manuscript passes the selection, the author will need six months to a year for the publisher to carry out editing, production and distribution. The royalties received are generally around 10% -15%, this does not include tax deductions.

This is not to mention talking about creators in other segments who have similar issues, such as musicians or painters. These factors make it difficult for creators to work because there is no stable income.

Technology is indeed helping to cut this long chain. We have experienced how social media connects creators with their fans, becoming a platform for promoting their work. YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter enable anyone to be exposed to creators or works that users have never encountered before. Until finally YouTube enforced it adsense, Instagram with influencer tools, and TikTok passed marketplace. However, these platforms were actually designed from the start as social media, not work monetization platforms.

Before there was a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) model, creators relied on sponsorship and advertising from brand owners as one revenue streams creator. However, as technology and the digital ecosystem develop, startups are developing DTC platforms that help creators monetize directly from their fans/audience/followers. This can take the form of selling works or donating.

In the context of the Indonesian market, local content appreciation platforms have only emerged in recent years to fill the creative economy market which has not been optimally exploited. This is a sweet signal that the Indonesian market appreciates the role of local platforms as well as works that are worth buying.

From the various sources that we have summarized, there are several work appreciation platforms that have received quite a lot of attention from content lovers in Indonesia, including Storial, KaryaKarsa, Saweria, GoPlay, Noice, and Trakteer. The formats of the works marketed vary, from drawings, fiction stories, paintings, to content livestreaming. This is just a DTC based model.

There is also the Allstars platform which connects brand owners, from small to large scale with an influencer to promote a product/service brand through his creations.

For content of a nature live streaming, Saweria allows us to provide financial support in the form of tips. GoPlay is also one of them, creators can receive financial support with the concept virtual gifts, which can also be disbursed instantly to a bank account or digital wallet.

Meanwhile, Storial uses a retail sales scheme to make it more affordable for readers and readers only buy the story chapters they want. Per chapter (chapter) can be purchased for a minimum of IDR 2.000 to IDR 10.000. Prices are also determined according to agreement with the author. "This scheme benefits creators or writers because they will receive 35%-50% of the income from the chapters sold. This portion is much larger than what they receive from selling physical books," explained Ega.

Meanwhile, Karyakarsa gives 90% of work purchases to the creator's pocket, of which 10% is taken for platform fees. KaryaKarsa also displays a Revenue Simulation feature where creators can calculate price, quantity follower, what percentage [of the audience] will convert, to how productive in a month.

Ario gave an example, around 1% of a creator's 10.000 followers can be converted to become content buyers, namely 100 multiplied by IDR 10 thousand (assuming price per chapter). This means that creators can earn IDR 1 million for one work. If you want to increase your income, creators must be productive in producing work.

"Here, creators are free to use it according to their needs, this is an advantage because they can set the pattern of creation, without being there deadline from publisher. So we are not involved in that. IPR is 100% owned by the creator. The creative process is entirely by the creator. We are trying to educate, if you want to monetize your work, you have to think about the metrics above. "Whether it's good or not, it depends on the audience," said Ario.

As a comparison to external platforms, YouTube is one of the platforms that is a mecca for creators to momentize their work. The policy is strict, creators must have more than 4.000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months and have more than 1.000 subscribers.

Webtoon install ad revenue sharing for creators with a number of conditions. In the beginning, it may not be much that you receive, but creators have the opportunity to increase their income as it increases fan base. Other sources of income can be received through merch, books (if published physically), and through Patreon support.

Meanwhile, Patreon uses a membership system (membership) which enables creators to make money from fans and supporters. Some examples of the Patreon business model include fan relationship model (video chat or personalized messages), community modeland gated content model.

Monetization from a user's perspective

Apart from talking about issues and challenges, in this article, DailySocial included a small survey involving 32 respondents regarding content consumption patterns on various platforms. As disclaimer, the results of this research do not describe or represent the opinions of the majority of content viewers in Indonesia. Our goal is simply to get a user's perspective on appreciating content.

Despite the popularity of foreign platforms, DailySocial found that several respondents accessed content (paid or free) from local platforms, such as KaryaKarsa, Storial, and Saweria. However, many users also access content from the Wattpad, Webtoon, Kakaopage, OpenSea, Patreon and YouTube platforms.

Illustrated stories (comics, manga, manhwa) are the content (paid or free) most frequently accessed by respondents (46,4%), followed by fiction stories/online novels (35,7%), videos (28,6%), games and music (25% each), illustration/painting/design (14,3%), and NFTs (3,6%).

The presence of digital payment methods seems to make it easier for respondents to buy their favorite content, because 75 percent of respondents use platforms, such as OVO, GoPay, and DANA to buy content. The remainder used bank transfer methods (39,3%) and credit cards (28,6%). Meanwhile, 51,7 percent chose the pay-per-content scheme, 31 percent chose subscription.

Respondents talked about free versus paid content

According to 72,4% of respondents, the prices set by creators for their work are in line with their expectations. However, some think that there are free works that have a difficult level of workmanship, but the creators set the price too cheap. On the other hand, there are also those who judge a work that is not as good in quality, but is too expensive.

Respondents also expressed their aspirations for Indonesia to have creator appreciation platforms that are no less competitive with Webtoon and TikTok in the future. Apart from that, they hope that the facilitator platform can improve its functions so that prices can be more economical for those who enjoy the work.

true fans to discovery features

Monetization is one thing, but how to ensure creators' long-term survival? How to support the monetization efforts of creators who don't have one yet fan base? What if the creator is not confident in his work so he prices his work cheaply?

Ega mentioned that it was an explosion creator economy this will take us to natural selection. People will become increasingly overwhelmed (overwhelmed) with lots of content. So, quality is what will bind the people who have it value the same thing, or the term law of attraction.

From Ario's point of view, this lack of confidence can affect the potential income of creators in the future. Therefore, platforms must take a bigger role in providing support to creators who are just starting out fan base. So far, the audience knows information about a creator because they have followed his works from the start. However, for creators who are just starting out, this is certainly difficult.

"Our focus is on creators. Their work is valuable so it can be appreciated, this is an affirmation if they buy content. What is needed in the creator's journey cycle is what the next platform can offer. What can be achieved at the point where creators can get a monthly income on our platform How can they have it? fan base? "It is also our responsibility as a platform provider to find [creators] and then expose them," explained Ario.

Meanwhile, according to GoPlay CEO Edy Sulistyo, instead of fixating on number metrics follower or subscriber and view, creators can focus more on building relationships with loyal fans (referred to as true fans). Getting tighter engagement with true fans, creators can maintain their relevance, create content as is without losing their identity.

"true fans be an important indicator because they have a high retention rate. This means that there is a big possibility that they will return to watch new shows from the creator. This is the main key for creators because they can do more sustainable without having to have millions view or follower," said Edi some time ago.

Indonesia between the Web2 and Web3 eras

In the report The New Creator Economy Report published by Antler with Speedinvest, the Web3 era will bring the next generation of creators greater monetization capabilities. The community plays a big role in supporting creators' efforts to increase content monetization sources through tools. Content in the Web3 era is also increasingly exploratory with blockchain, such as NFTs and the Metaverse.

This report is a bit of a dig at a platform that takes more share than creators earn. There are still platforms that do not provide algorithms or tools which enables a creator's content to be discovered through algorithms.

"Overall, stronger loyalty. Creators can provide reward to loyal fans passing by engagement sustainable that is not too tied to $$$. I'm looking forward tools that can bridge engagement Web2 with Web3. For example, determining the biggest fans from attendance at concerts, costs spent on merchandise and direct interaction, which can be kickstart tiered loyalty on Web3 platforms. That way, creators don't need to start from scratch to build fan base, and give reward to the fans who followed him from the start," said Ler Hippeau Investor Meagan Loyst in the report.

Both Alex Wijaya and Arief Rakhmadani saw it the Web3 era is coming faster in Indonesia. Even though it's industrial creator economy The new country is in the Web2 phase, where supply and demand has not yet reached peak growth (peak growth). This situation makes it seem like an industry creator economy in the country experienced overlap from Web2 to Web3.

"However, I see the current situation as exciting period "because there are many supporting factors [optimizing growth in Web2], namely population growth, internet penetration and smartphone penetration in Indonesia," said Alex.

He projects that the Web3 era will give birth to a new term creator. In the next 2-3 years, if previously they were called artists or artists, this term will change to NFT artist. Technological and industrial developments will shape new terminology, identities and employment opportunities. Moreover, Web3 is based on decentralization so that creators can not only create and sell works, but also own Intellectual Property (IP) for their work.

Arief added, creator economy in the Web3 era it will become an independent business where they can directly momentize their work. In the next phase, the creator economy will evolve again where creators and fans/audiences can collaborate to create something together.

Apart from the independence of work monetization in the Web3 era, Arief assesses the owner brand will not lose its position. Even, brand will still see the creator as wrong marketing channels which is interesting to pursue targets organically.

"So brand deals and the D2C monetization model can be mutually independent for creators because Web3 does not necessarily eliminate the monetization model from brands," he said.

The author's closing note, in five years, one billion people will identify themselves as creators. Creators will no longer be seen as just a casual activity to fill free time, but as a career choice.

Are you interested in exploring new experiences as an independent creator?