Will "creator tokenization" be the next 100 billion dollar narrative?

Original title: Liquid Markets for Creators Coins - $100B Market Opportunity

Written by: hitesh.eth, founder of dyorcryptoapp

Compiled: Ashley, BlockBeats

Editor's note: This article explores how creator tokenization allows fans, investors and brands to directly participate in creator growth, and promotes market-oriented transactions and value discovery. As the creator economy market size exceeds US$500 billion, the tokenization model can help brands lock in early cooperation opportunities and use DAO governance to allow fans to make business decisions together. The financialization of the creator economy is becoming an inevitable trend in the Web3 era and may reshape the way social media interacts with the financial market.

The following is the original content (to facilitate reading comprehension, the original content has been compiled):

Creators are essentially like a startup, but one key difference is that in startups, investors can invest and bet on their growth at different stages, whereas in the creator field, fans or investors are unable to directly participate in their past. growing up. Whether it is a startup or a creator, the core of growth is whether consumers are willing to pay for their products or services. The product or service of a startup is usually revolving around a problem to be solved, while the creator’s product is their content itself. As products, these contents are adapted to different interest-driven market segments to meet the needs of various audiences.

Speculative characteristics of startups and creators

Startups are in a highly speculative environment, with investors betting on early stage companies in the hope that they can expand quickly and achieve profitability. The valuation of a startup is usually determined by market attractiveness, user growth, and revenue potential. This speculative logic is also applicable to creators, but there is currently no formal investment structure that allows fans or traders to participate in the creators' growth. The lack of liquidity in the creator economy means an unexplored market opportunity—if creators can be tokenized, speculators can trade their growth potential just like they bet on startups.

Speculation on creators can be a major opportunity for traders and investors. Just as startups go through a hype cycle, their valuations change with market recognition, creators go through a similar cycle—influence grows due to viral spread, strategic cooperation and media exposure. The creator's reputation, interaction rate, and ability to convert traffic into revenue are all quantifiable indicators that can serve as the basis for speculation on their tokenized value.

Creators' 0-1 and 1-10 journeys

Creators' growth paths are similar to those of startups, both going through stages 0-1 and 1-10.

• Stage 0-1: It means breaking barriers, entering the market segment, establishing a preliminary audience, and continuously optimizing content strategies. Many creators stop there, just as many startups fail before finding a product market fit.
• Stages 1-10: Meaning large-scale expansion. At this stage, creators began to establish brand cooperation, obtain commercial sponsorship, and realize traffic monetization. At this stage, creators are no longer just content producers, but gradually grow into a complete commercial entity. This transformation is similar to the process of a startup growing from a small team to a mature company.

Today, many consumer startups and creators have become part of the same ecosystem, with similar goals: to sell two products to users—the content itself, and brand promotion that is integrated into the content.

The scale and future potential of the creator economy

The creator economy has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry, and the market size is expected to exceed US$500 billion in the next decade. At present, millions of creators produce content every day, and brands are also investing huge amounts of money in internet celebrity marketing. In 2023 alone, global internet celebrity marketing spending exceeded US$20 billion, and this number continues to grow as brand budgets shift to digital native advertising.

The tokenization of the creator economy is expected to give birth to a whole new asset class. The valuation of the creator token market may easily reach $100 billion in the next three years as more and more creators adopt token-based monetization model. Establishing a well-liquid creator token trading market will provide investors with a brand new investment airport area, allowing them to bet on emerging internet celebrities and form a price discovery mechanism based on social influence, audience growth and brand cooperation flow .

Creator tokens and brand cooperation

From a brand’s perspective, it is crucial to lock in creator collaboration as early as possible. Brands often want to establish partnerships at discounted prices before creators become popular. After creators are tokenized, brands can benefit from the growth of their influence by buying and holding their tokens. This not only provides brands with priority cooperation rights, but also ensures that they enjoy more valuable advertising resources after the creators succeed.

If the value of creator tokens increases with influence, then brands can also profit from discount sponsorship fees and capital appreciation while holding these tokens. This model makes brands more willing to invest in potential creators in the long term rather than just paying for one-time advertising fees.

Fans are Brand Managers: DAO Governance Creator Cooperation

By introducing the DAO governance model, fans can also deeply participate in creators' business decisions and completely change the way brands cooperate.

• Fan Voting Decision: Creators’ brand collaboration will be voted by DAO members (i.e. token holders) rather than unilaterally selected by the creator. This ensures that brand collaboration meets the audience needs and values ​​of creators.
• Income Sharing: The income generated by brand cooperation can be distributed to governance token holders through a pledge reward mechanism, making them direct stakeholders in the growth of creators.

As long as the creator remains popular, its influence and traffic will increase, further promoting token trading volume and investor interest, thereby enhancing the value of creator tokens. DAO will act as a decentralized brand manager to ensure transparency, equity in cooperation and provide sustainable profit models for creators and their communities.

The future of tokenization of creators

Creator tokenization is not only a conceptual innovation, but an inevitable trend in the development of the digital economy. The rise of Web3, DeFi and tokenized assets has created a perfect environment for the prosperity of the creator token market. The speculative market built around the creator economy may fundamentally change the power structure of social media, allowing creators, brands and fans to participate in a completely new financial system.