India's creator economy: Hope, hype and hard truths

Affordable data has fuelled India’s creator boom, but algorithmic control and income inequality reveal a far more fragile reality.

New Delhi: Encouraged by Saurabh Kumar’s (name changed) score of over 95 per cent in the CBSE Class 10 board examination, his parents sent him from Bihar to Kota for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) coaching, hoping to secure his entry into premier engineering institutions.

Despite spending around Rs 10 lakh on two years of coaching, Saurabh could not qualify for admission to any top institute. He also did not perform well in the Class 12 board examination. The reason? His parents blame reels.

“He was very good at studies in Class 10, but now he has completely changed. It is because of reels. He spends a lot of time watching them and making them,” said Saurabh’s father, who works in a bank in Bihar.

“I don’t want a 9-to-5 tech job,” said Saurabh, expressing hope that reels and videos would bring him both fame and money.

Hope is contagious. Like Saurabh, millions of youth are getting hooked to the 6-inch smartphone screen, chasing fame and money. But only a few are making real money. 

According to a survey conducted by influencer marketing platform Kofluence, around 90 per cent of digital creators cannot rely on social media as a full-time income source. 

Despite nearly half of creators identifying themselves as full-time content creators, 88 per cent earn less than three-fourth of their total income from social media platforms.

“Platform ad revenue is algorithmically volatile. The path to sustainable creator economics runs through brand retainers, performance-linked deals and live commerce, not through dependence on platform payouts,” said Kofluence co-founder Ritesh Ujjwal.

Affordable data

India is home to over 100 crore internet users, second only to China. This is nearly three times the population of the United States.

According to data shared by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Parliament, India’s per GB data tariff is around $0.08–$0.10, the lowest in the world. The global average is $2.59 per GB, making data in India nearly 25 times cheaper. 

The number of internet users has increased nearly fourfold over the past decade. In 2014, there were around 25 crore internet users, according to official figures. 

The entry of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio into the telecom sector in 2016 intensified competition, driving a sharp fall in mobile data prices. They have dropped to around Rs 12 to 14 per GB from nearly Rs 300 to 500 per GB before 2015. 

Real Money

During the Bihar Assembly election campaign last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that youth were benefiting from cheap data by “making reels, showcasing their creativity and earning from it.”

The Prime Minister has spoken about growing opportunities in the creative sector on multiple occasions. In the 114th edition of his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat in September 2024, Modi said: “In these changing times, the nature of jobs is changing and new sectors such as gaming, animation, reel making, film making and poster making are emerging. If you can perform well in any of these skills, your talent can get a very big platform.”

However, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has described reels as a new addiction of the 21st century. According to him, cheap data has only enabled youth to scroll through Instagram and Facebook reels, rather than creating employment opportunities.

No doubt, accessibility and cheap data have fuelled the creator economy. The number of digital creators in the country is estimated at over 10 crore, meaning one in every 10 internet users in the country is a digital creator today. Of these, around 20 to 25 lakh are active creators with 1,000 or more followers. However, according to Boston Consulting Group report From Content to Commerce: Mapping India’s Creator Economy (May 2025), only 8–10% of active creators are able to monetise their content.

While the pool of digital creators is large, only a tiny fraction earn meaningful income from it. Even among active creators, over 90% are unable to make any money.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant’s recent remarks likening some youngsters involved in media, social media and law to “cockroaches and parasites” have drawn attention to the broader debate on youth unemployment. While he later clarified that his comments were directed only at individuals using fake and bogus credentials, the remarks triggered widespread controversy.

Tech giants rule

This debate also opens up a broader question about the structure of the digital economy.

A major share of the revenue is captured by large American tech firms such as Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, which control digital infrastructure, distribution networks and algorithms.

“Most creators are heavily dependent on the algorithms of these tech companies,” said Prof Anand Pradhan, Regional Director, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal campus.

Alphabet controls long-form video and search through YouTube and Google, while Meta dominates social media via Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. Elon Musk-led X also plays a key role in the digital ecosystem.

In the name of innovation, these platforms frequently change algorithms, making it harder for creators to earn stable income. Instagram and Facebook use artificial intelligence to drive content discovery through algorithmic feeds and reels rather than user subscriptions, meaning a creator’s reach is highly variable and subject to Meta’s engagement optimisation.

YouTube’s recommendation engine is optimised for watch time and viewer retention, forcing creators to adapt their pacing, thumbnails and video structure to the algorithm.

X links payouts and reach to platform subscriptions. Instead of standard view counts, it uses algorithmic gates, proprietary ad-tech and monetisation requirements to influence creator behaviour.

These platforms use sophisticated systems to maximise their revenue while sharing only a small fraction with content creators. Very few creators can earn income without relying on them.

“We have to break the shackles of these companies. We have to develop our own tech platform,” said Pradhan, adding that localisation of platforms would make it easier to ensure fair, transparent and timely payments to digital creators. 

Mental, emotional burnout

An increasing number of youngsters are being drawn to making reels, podcasts and other digital content in the hope of good money, fame and a better work-life balance. However, they face significant challenges on all these fronts.

Digital creators often work unconventional hours and face constant algorithmic pressure. The relentless demand for content and the “always-on” nature of online platforms blur the boundaries between personal life and work.

“Reels are altering attention spans. They lead to behavioural addictions that disrupt productivity and mental focus,” said Swami Advaitananda Giri, Chairman of the International Meditation Foundation. 

Short-form videos, particularly reels, dominate digital content on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Typically, 15–60 seconds long, they are designed to quickly grab attention with visually engaging, algorithmically curated content.

Giri, a cyber security expert who has been involved in several mental health and digital de-addiction initiatives in India and the United States, said that algorithms and the broader social media ecosystem are designed to foster digital addiction.

“Digital platforms are not simply waiting for our attention; they are actively designed to capture it. They study our behaviour, trigger our emotions, reward our impulses and keep us returning again and again. The phone in our hand is not only a device; it is an attention machine,” Giri added.

A court in the United States recently held social media companies legally responsible for digital addiction. It observed that platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are deliberately designed to hook young users and keep them glued to their screens.

Sunrise industry

Despite these concerns, the creator economy continues to expand rapidly. 

The creator market is a multi-billion-dollar industry with significant growth potential. According to the Boston Consulting Group report creators influence over 30 per cent of consumer decisions, shaping $350–400 billion in spending. This is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030.

The creator ecosystem’s direct revenues are projected to reach $100–125 billion by the end of the decade, up from around $20–25 billion in 2025.

The influencer marketing market, a subset of the creator economy, is projected to reach Rs 4,500 to 5,000 crore by 2027, up from an estimated Rs 3,000 to 3,500 crore in 2025, recording an annual growth of 22 per cent, according to Kofluence’s report Decoding Influence 2026. The number of active influencers is expected to rise to 35–45 lakh by 2027. 

“The growth engine is no longer metro India. Micro-creators in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets are consistently outperforming their metro counterparts on engagement, at campaign costs that are a fraction of large-city equivalents,” said Kofluence co-founder Ritesh Ujjwal.

India’s media and entertainment market is estimated to grow from Rs 2.78 lakh crore in 2025 to Rs 3.3 lakh crore in 2028, driven by strong expansion in digital media, live events, films, animation and visual effects (VFX), according to a FICCI–EY India report. New media is expected to account for over 50 per cent of this revenue, driven by smartphones, connected TVs, regional content and experiential trends.

“Gaming, streaming, animation and creator commerce are not parallel verticals; they share production infrastructure, audience behaviour and commercial models,” said Ujjwal.

“The creator who built a loyal cooking audience on Instagram becomes a distribution channel that a D2C (direct-to-consumer) food brand, a quick-commerce platform and an OTT service all try to reach. The convergence is commercial, not just cultural,” he added.

As the sector grows in scale and value, questions around platform power, fair revenue sharing and creator welfare are likely to become more central to the debate on India’s digital economy.