Trust is shifting. While confidence in institutions continues to erode, audiences are – for better or for worse – increasingly putting their belief in individual experts, journalists, and other influencers.
Together, these content providers make up the creator economy. In this space, consumers gravitate towards content creators who engage them on a seemingly more personal level.
Creators cultivate a sense of authenticity and trust that corporate brands and traditional media struggle to replicate. Many creators are effectively monetising their audiences. Their revenue models range from advertising to reader-driven revenues such as subscriptions.
Their playbook offers insights for brands.
Why the Creator Economy is Booming According to PwC, the global media and entertainment market is set to reach US$3.4 trillion by 2028. This includes the fast-growing creator economy, which, according to Goldman Sachs could rake in half a trillion dollars by 2027. Deloitte suggests there are over 50 million creators worldwide.
The growth is fuelled by several key factors, including:
Practical Drivers
Emotional Drivers
– Disintermediation of media: Platforms allow creators to bypass traditional gatekeepers and distribute content directly to their audiences.
– Tools to engage and monetise: The digital democratisation of tools to engage and monetise audiences levels the media playing field.
– Declining trust in institutions: Consumers are turning away from mainstream media and large corporations, seeking more personal, interest-driven perspectives.
– Demand for authenticity: Audiences want unfiltered insights from people they trust rather than polished corporate messaging.
Creators are transforming “media” as we know it. According to Jay Kirsch of investment bank Oaklins DaSilva+Phillips (Oaklins), the creator economy is the fastest-growing media segment.
This brings opportunities for brands and investors.
Brands can partner with trusted creators to build engagement or adopt creator principles to deepen audience relationships.
Expertise Made Visible: Journalists verify sources behind the scenes, while creators make their expertise visibly part of their brand.
Direct Engagement: Traditional journalists see themselves as public servants, but audiences often don’t share that view. Creators build trust by personally responding to their communities.
Transparent Accountability: Serious newsrooms follow ethical standards, but these are invisible to the public. Creators openly discuss their principles and interact in real time, making accountability part of their appeal.
The rise of “trusted journalistic creators”: Substack(launched in 2017) illustrates this shift. It is growing into a dominant platform for independent, longer-form journalism:
115.6 million visits in January 2025, up 21% from the previous period (Similarweb).
Risen to #42 globally in News & Media ranking.
Its top publications in the news category are personality-driven newsletters (see the list here). While most creators won’t make millions (or even anything), breakout Substackers earn over $500 million (Press Gazette).
The best Substackers offer subject-matter insights, building targeted audiences through authenticity, consistency, and focus. They develop trusted audience relationships. They monetise through advertising, affiliate marketing, social commerce, subscriptions, and more.
Age makes no difference. Bob Dunning, a 77-year-old laid off from The Davis Enterprise, launched The Wary One on Substack. With 5,000 subscribers, he expects to earn $100,000 in his first year. His advice?
“Be honest and consistent, and don’t pull any punches.Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. Think about your topics and then just say it, without excuse or compromise.”
Creator Economy Subscription Drivers
The human connection as subscription drivers Without the practical drivers (technology), there is no creator economy. Emotional and psychological factors are just as crucial. Note the following elements:
Authenticity: A distinct, genuine voice builds loyalty.
Expertise as Currency: Displaying deep knowledge creates credibility.
Trust Through Engagement: Direct audience interaction fosters long-term retention.
Community Power: Strong engagement increases subscriber value.
Collaboration: Partnerships that amplify positioning, credibility and reach.
Adaptability: Staying ahead of cultural and technological shifts ensuring continued thought leadership and relevance.
Direct Audience Ownership: Owning audience data (e.g., email lists), reducing dependence on platform algorithms.
Quality and differentiation matters: Successful creators are also invested in producing quality, differentiated content that offers real value to their audiences. Here’s an example.
Seasoned international media executive Colin Morrison CBE publishes the highly targeted, high-quality weekly paid-subscription newsletter Flashes & Flames – the Global Media Business Weekly. Since 2020, subscribers have almost doubled yearly on both sides of the Atlantic. The audience is highly engaged, with open rates of the newsletter upwards of 80 per cent.
Colin explains: “I believe the success is due to the depth of our deep-dive analysis of companies and trends. There is, after all, no shortage of online newsabout media and almost everything else. Flashes & Flames provides much deeper, more reflective – and exclusive – coverage about what makes companies successful–and not. That makes us distinctive and valuable to media executives and entrepreneurs.”
Considerations for Brands Not all brands can or should be “creators”. Consumers will see through false representation. Much better then for those brands to collaborate with trusted creators to amplify credibility and build deeper audience connections.
However, at their best, brands can be culture-makers, creating strong emotional bonds with their customers that transcend pure transactional elements. In the subscriptions economy, the following values can strengthen their appeal.
Authenticity Drives Engagement: People subscribe to creators because they trust them. Their content is personal, direct, and consistent. For brands, authenticity means standing for something – beyond just selling a product or service.
Personal Brands Build Loyalty: Creators become synonymous with their expertise, and audiences subscribe to them because of the trust they’ve built. Brands can consider putting real people – founders, experts, or passionate employees – at the forefront to create stronger human connections.
Community is More than a Buzzword: Creators don’t just broadcast to their audiences; they engage with them. From responding to comments to hosting live Q&As, they foster genuine conversations. Brands with subscription models should prioritise customer engagement strategies that create a sense of belonging.
Substance Matters: Part of being authentic means offering real value. Slick branding can attract subscribers. Only substance will keep them. Creators succeed because their content is helpful, insightful, or entertaining—often all three. Brands should focus on delivering quality content, expert insights, or exclusive experiences that genuinely enhance subscribers’ lives. Style catches attention, but substance builds loyalty.
Exclusivity & Personalisation Add Value: General content is free; people pay for exclusivity. Top Substack writers, for example, offer premium newsletters, Q&A sessions, and member-only discussions. Subscription brands can do the same through exclusive content, personalised services, VIP member benefits, and more.
Brands With Creator Characteristics
These brands display creator characteristics. Do you agree or can you think of better ones?
Heyl is a Content Partner at Atlas and Founder of That Coalition, a fractional event services and content provider.
Heyl has worked with third-party clients such as Chartbeat, Lineup Systems, and Tubular Labs in Europe and the US, Prospect in the UK, and industry bodies such as PRCA (Communications and Public Affairs) in the UK, MVFP (German Publishers Association) and the Association of Indian Media (AIM).
Subscribe! Our editor carefully curates two InternetRetailing newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research. In addition to this, there is a dedictaed mailer focusing on the subscription economy with detailed commentary from Heyl every second Wednesday – click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter.
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You are in: Home » Subscriptions » The trust shift: Lessons from creator economy
The trust shift: Lessons from creator economy
Cobus Heyl
Trust is shifting. While confidence in institutions continues to erode, audiences are – for better or for worse – increasingly putting their belief in individual experts, journalists, and other influencers.
Together, these content providers make up the creator economy. In this space, consumers gravitate towards content creators who engage them on a seemingly more personal level.
Creators cultivate a sense of authenticity and trust that corporate brands and traditional media struggle to replicate. Many creators are effectively monetising their audiences. Their revenue models range from advertising to reader-driven revenues such as subscriptions.
Their playbook offers insights for brands.
Why the Creator Economy is Booming
According to PwC, the global media and entertainment market is set to reach US$3.4 trillion by 2028. This includes the fast-growing creator economy, which, according to Goldman Sachs could rake in half a trillion dollars by 2027. Deloitte suggests there are over 50 million creators worldwide.
The growth is fuelled by several key factors, including:
– Tools to engage and monetise: The digital democratisation of tools to engage and monetise audiences levels the media playing field.
– Demand for authenticity: Audiences want unfiltered insights from people they trust rather than polished corporate messaging.
Creators are transforming “media” as we know it. According to Jay Kirsch of investment bank Oaklins DaSilva+Phillips (Oaklins), the creator economy is the fastest-growing media segment.
This brings opportunities for brands and investors.
Developing the Trust Premium
Trust is shifting:
Edelman Trust Barometer shows trust in institutions is declining. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Digital News Report finds news consumers increasingly follow partisan commentators, influencers, and independent news creators.Julia Angwin, in The Future of Trustworthy Information, explains why creators often outperform traditional media:
The rise of “trusted journalistic creators”:
Substack (launched in 2017) illustrates this shift. It is growing into a dominant platform for independent, longer-form journalism:
Its top publications in the news category are personality-driven newsletters (see the list here). While most creators won’t make millions (or even anything), breakout Substackers earn over $500 million (Press Gazette).
The best Substackers offer subject-matter insights, building targeted audiences through authenticity, consistency, and focus. They develop trusted audience relationships. They monetise through advertising, affiliate marketing, social commerce, subscriptions, and more.
Age makes no difference. Bob Dunning, a 77-year-old laid off from The Davis Enterprise, launched The Wary One on Substack. With 5,000 subscribers, he expects to earn $100,000 in his first year. His advice?
“Be honest and consistent, and don’t pull any punches. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. Think about your topics and then just say it, without excuse or compromise.”
Creator Economy Subscription Drivers
The human connection as subscription drivers
Without the practical drivers (technology), there is no creator economy. Emotional and psychological factors are just as crucial. Note the following elements:
Quality and differentiation matters:
Successful creators are also invested in producing quality, differentiated content that offers real value to their audiences. Here’s an example.
Seasoned international media executive Colin Morrison CBE publishes the highly targeted, high-quality weekly paid-subscription newsletter Flashes & Flames – the Global Media Business Weekly. Since 2020, subscribers have almost doubled yearly on both sides of the Atlantic. The audience is highly engaged, with open rates of the newsletter upwards of 80 per cent.
Colin explains: “I believe the success is due to the depth of our deep-dive analysis of companies and trends. There is, after all, no shortage of online news about media and almost everything else. Flashes & Flames provides much deeper, more reflective – and exclusive – coverage about what makes companies successful–and not. That makes us distinctive and valuable to media executives and entrepreneurs.”
Considerations for Brands
Not all brands can or should be “creators”. Consumers will see through false representation. Much better then for those brands to collaborate with trusted creators to amplify credibility and build deeper audience connections.
However, at their best, brands can be culture-makers, creating strong emotional bonds with their customers that transcend pure transactional elements. In the subscriptions economy, the following values can strengthen their appeal.
Brands With Creator Characteristics
These brands display creator characteristics. Do you agree or can you think of better ones?
Where do you stand?
The content-driven creator economy thrives on real connections, genuine expertise, and quality content.
So, if measured on a 1–5 scale, where does your brand stand on:
For More:
Explore these platforms for case studies and ideas:
Content & Community Platforms
Education & Commerce
You can also give this Oaklins webinar about the creator economy a listen.
Cobus Heyl
Heyl is a Content Partner at Atlas and Founder of That Coalition, a fractional event services and content provider.
Heyl has worked with third-party clients such as Chartbeat, Lineup Systems, and Tubular Labs in Europe and the US, Prospect in the UK, and industry bodies such as PRCA (Communications and Public Affairs) in the UK, MVFP (German Publishers Association) and the Association of Indian Media (AIM).
Subscribe!
Our editor carefully curates two InternetRetailing newsletters a week filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research. In addition to this, there is a dedictaed mailer focusing on the subscription economy with detailed commentary from Heyl every second Wednesday – click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter.
And why not follow us on LinkedIn to receive the latest updates on our research and analysis.
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