Web3 and Media

-Creation: more tools and better economics empower individual creators

-Community: New ways for community to connect directly, participate in governance and ownership.

For the time being, though, the bulk of users will continue to rely on the preëstablished attention economy for the bulk of their digital consumption. “Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, those are just as dominant as ever,” Jin said. “Today, no one finds a person on Patreon; you go there after you’ve found them.”

For many media brands, the creator economy presents a conundrum — what is the role of brand when audiences increasingly value the intimacy of a direct connection to a human creator?

Content discovery is, of course, the most valuable asset in any media distribution ecosystem and perhaps most overlooked in discussions of Web3's disruptive potential in media. Facebook, Google and TikTok remain the entry point for most consumers with intense network effects, and the changes above notwithstanding, innovation in blockchain doesn't u... See more

NFTs are new keys to internet: NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are a special kind of crypto asset where each token is unique. They authenticate ownership of any kind of digital asset. NFTs represent more than unique digital objects, they are objects described by code. As such they become programmable keys to media and gaming communities.

-Distribution: Pressure on platforms to improve transparency and economics. Data portability gives creators power.

To make $1000 per month, a creator needs about 100K Instagram followers, 2M views monthly on YouTube or 25M on TikTok (New Creator Manifesto, 2021). Contrast this with platforms that provide a more competitive mechanism for creator monetization. Just over 200 subscribers on Substack, OnlyFans, Twitch or Patreon at $5 per month will yield the same $... See more

Increased competition will tilt balance to content suppliers and steadily change the economic equation with platforms.