This week's email is from Changer co-founder Ant. He's been running a little experiment - and the results are worth sharing.
At the AiMCO Summit in February, Jim Louderback and I ran a session called The Creator Economy, Decided - where we took bold predictions about the future of the space and called them: ✅ Agree ❌ Disagree 🚧 Fence sit.
The format hit a nerve. So I took it to LinkedIn with one bold statement a day, 8 days straight - and asked smart people across the creator economy to do one thing: take a position.
A lot of them did. A lot of them fence-sat too. More than I'd like - but, fair play. The future is genuinely uncertain.
Here's where the collective brain landed.
Where the brains trust landed
❌ Disagreed - But, YouTube is the foundation
Almost nobody believes one platform rules them all - even as YouTube continues to dominate.
The internet is too messy, and too ripe for the next big thing, for single-platform domination to stick.
Most see YouTube as the foundation. But it won't be the whole internet.
🚧 Fence sit - the dominant view was convergence
The idea that creator-led media will replace traditional media didn't really land.
Creator-native companies are scaling fast. Legacy media is (finally) partnering, adapting, acquiring.
The future looks more like a merge than a takeover. Let's see if everyone can play nice.
🚧 Fence sit - depends on the audience needs
Almost everyone agreed AI wins where the value is utility. When it explains something, solves a problem, entertains quickly.
But when the value is trust, chemistry, fandom - the feeling was that people still want a human in the loop.
I hope that holds, but I'm genuinely not sure it will… I’ll share more on my thoughts here shortly.
✅ Agreed - with little disagreement
The internet creates scale. Intimacy creates connection.
They do different jobs - and the smartest creators are learning to play both games at once. Scale and small rooms.
Both matter. Both create value. Digital creates the opportunity for high-value IRL.
The other four - shorter, sharper, but worth knowing:
Marketing budgets will shift from media buying to media building. ✅ Agreed. But, most just couldn't commit to the timeline of this happening soon.
The smartphone era is ending. The glasses era is here. ❌ Disagreed. The utility isn’t there compared to a screen.
Social media will be banned for under-16s worldwide. ❌ Disagreed. We’ll continue to see fragmented regulation that's inconsistently applied (like Australia & Indonesia)
There will never be another Disney. ✅ Agreed. Content and audiences are too fragmented for another universally loved media behemoth to be born.
So what does all of this point to?
Unfortunately not a clean prediction.
More like a set of tensions the industry is still learning to hold - digital and IRL, scale and intimacy, creators and traditional media, human origin and AI output.
The fence sitters weren't being indecisive. They were being honest.
One last question - and I genuinely want to know your answer.
Which of these do you think will age the worst?
YouTube will become everything
Creator-led media will replace legacy media
Audiences won't care if content is AI-generated
Offline rooms become the most valuable platforms
Hit reply and tell me which one - and why. I read every one.
✌️Ant
Co-founder, Changer
Got a hot take? Drop it on the Creator Hotline.
Got your own take on where the creator economy is heading?
Send it through - it might end up on the Creator Generation podcast or in the next newsletter.
YouTube x Changer - The Business of being a creator
Most creator workshops give you a panel to sit through.
This one gives you revenue models you can actually use, and a room full of people building the same thing you are.
You'll walk away knowing how creators are building long-term revenue, what platform tools are actually moving the needle, and how to turn content into something that outlasts the algorithm.
Stick around after for food, drinks, and the conversations that happen when creators get in the same room.
📍 Melbourne CBD
📅 Wednesday, 22 April
⏰ 5:30pm - 8pm
🎟️ Absolutely free
Pssst…
🤫 Get early access to The Business of being a Creator in Sydney, Wednesday 13th May here.
Cheers!
✌🏼 Team Changer.