For streaming apps focused on the real-time connection between creators and audiences, this year will be the biggest yet. The pandemic has created a big push for platforms that allow creators to cash in on their popularity, leading to an inevitable tidal change in the social media market.
According to the consumer data and market estimate platform data.ai (formerly known as App Annie), consumers spent $6.78 billion globally on social apps last year. Notably, the two biggest spenders, Japan and the U.S., totaled more than $1.5 billion on social apps in the first half of 2021 alone. By 2025, this figure is predicted to reach $17.2 billion. Data.ai estimates this will bring the “lifetime total spent through social apps to $78 billion.”
In this new creator economy, attention is currency, and engagement is gold. As estimated by data.ai, global consumers last year spent a whopping 548 billion hours in livestreaming apps. Imagine the profound impact if creators’ popularity, largely a vanity metric, was also a measure of their payout.
Read the full article on Forbes.