One of the biggest themes of this year’s NAB Show is the growing impact of the creator economy. Today, with millions of creators producing content for digital and social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok and generating billions in revenue, it is one of the largest and fastest-growing trends in digital media.
“This year, NAB is doubling down on its commitment to the creator economy,” said Gigi Raskin, head of business development, Virtual Events Group, an NAB partner. It helped build the Creator Lab, which offers sessions, hands-on experiences and other programming in the South Hall.
“We’ve expanded Creator Lab to more than twice its original size and relocated it to a more central position on the show floor — further proof that NAB sees creators as an essential part of the industry’s future.”
One high-profile example of that expanded presence is a Main Stage session, “The Power of Positivity: Building the World’s Largest Digital Scripted Studio — Dhar Mann Studios,” on Tuesday, April 8, at 3 p.m. It will feature Dhar Mann, founder of a studio with 128 million followers and 1 billion monthly views across platforms, and its CEO Sean Atkins. After that Main Stage session, Mann and Atkins will also take part in a Q&A in the Creator Lab.
The decision to place more emphasis on the creator economy here comes at an opportune time, said Jim Louderback, CEO and editor of “Inside the Creator Economy.” He will moderate a separate session with Mann and Atkins on Tuesday at the Creator Lab.
“The world of creators and traditional media is merging, as creators lean into TV, [and] YouTube now streams more minutes to the TV than mobile,” Louderback said. “What better place to learn about … this new media world than NAB Show?”
As with most relatively new, rapidly growing tech and creative trends, the contours of the creator economy remain fluid. In one analysis, Goldman Sachs estimated that it involves some 50 million people around the world creating content for YouTube, TikTok and a variety of digital/social media outlets, producing some $250 billion in revenue in 2023. In another report, Coherent Market Insights valued the sector at more than $191 billion in 2024 and predicted it would hit $528 billion by 2030.
The creator economy traces its origins to social media influencers producing short-form content for digital media using relatively low-cost consumer technology. But the sector now includes a large and growing number of creators and professionals who attract significant audiences and have used their success to forge close ties to major brands, big tech and large media companies.
One example of that success is Dhar Mann Studios, which produces programming attracting “viewerships that rival traditional television programs,” said DMS CEO Atkins.
Although the creator economy may have siphoned some consumers, particularly younger people, from traditional TV and media, its growing presence at NAB Show highlights that it also opens exciting new opportunities for tech vendors, traditional broadcasters and media companies.
New Ways to Reach Audiences
“The success that digital creators are seeing across platforms can be a learning for more traditional broadcasters and studios,” Mann said.
“Creators are reaching their audiences more intimately through a direct relationship, and as a result are able to engage with audience feedback and metrics in real time. Digital creators have also mastered the fragmentation of audiences at scale and are able to reach audiences across multiple platforms at once, broadening their reach beyond the limitations of traditional broadcasters and studios.”
Ryan Schram is founder and managing partner of Particle Wave, an adviser to creator economy, marketing and technology firms. “This is about more than just influencers on social platforms,” he said.
Schram will moderate “Creators at Enterprise Scale,” a Creator Lab session.
“We’re witnessing a surge of niche and hyper-targeted content that resonates deeply with dedicated fan bases — and, in turn, drives real revenue,” he said. “That’s why it’s such a pivotal trend for broadcasters, studios and advertisers alike.”
To that end, NAB Show will offer sessions featuring insights on cross-platform production strategies and new ways of engaging audiences at the heart of the creator economy. In addition attendees will be able to access a range of practical training for creators.
Juliana Broste, a travel video journalist known as TravelingJules, will teach several classes.
Broste, who started her career in broadcast journalism but chaffed at restrictions on how she could engage more directly with audiences, noted that broadcasters can directly benefit from the skills needed to excel in the creator economy — building a personal brand, honing cost-effective production techniques, developing new ways to monetize content, projecting authenticity and working across different platforms.
“I’m really excited that creators now have a space at the NAB Show to build their relationships and skills,” she said.
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