Cryptocurrencies have provided creators with an avenue to receive payments directly from their audience without the need for intermediaries.

A recently published report by Selar on The African Creator Economy and The Future of Work revealed that the use of cryptocurrency helped to enhance the ways creators do business. It also added that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have similarly helped in making it easier to monetise digital content like artwork, music, and videos.

The report found that one in four digital creators currently have staff working with them. It adds that YouTubers have the highest percentage of hired staff at 36%, followed by bloggers at 35%, social media influencers at 31%, and makers of digital products at 27%. 

With the global creator economy estimated to be worth over $20 billion, Selar notes that growing demand for skilled workers in areas such as graphic design, video editing, and social media management has begun. In fact, it revealed that a quarter of creators hire a team of experts and begin to embrace outsourcing which has spread the fortune around.

“According to the data we collected, approximately 24.7% currently hire a team of experts to support their work. Of those who do, 19.7% hire professionals in graphics design, 16.2% in social media management, 14.3% in digital marketing, 12.8% in sales, 10.2% in customer support, 10.3% in video editing, 8.1% in video production, and 4.9% in accounting,” the report read in part. 

So far, the most outsourced skill is graphic design at 19.7%, while another potential skill for growth is video editing and production, which 10.3% and 8.1% of creators respectively are outsourcing. This is due to the fact that video content has become vital for the creators’ economy and the demand is high.

Per SignalFire, the creator economy has gradually emerged as one of the largest employers of labour, with two million professional individual creators producing content full-time and approximately 46.7 million individuals creating content part-time. 

The report however tasked policymakers to create an enabling environment for innovation and entrepreneurship as the possibilities for creators to change the world of work expands.