BusinessHayden SchusterCreator Economy

The Evolution Of Content Creators In The Video Game Industry, Feat. NickMercs

BusinessHayden SchusterCreator Economy
The Evolution Of Content Creators In The Video Game Industry, Feat. NickMercs

I write about the future of Business, Psychology, and the Creator Economy. My goal is to educate, motivate, and create educational content for my readers. If this interests you, Subscribe to my “Predicting The Future” newsletter and get new articles directly to your inbox!

The evolution of content creators in the streaming world has been fascinating to watch in the last few years. This industry is in its infancy and has shown monumental progress in a short amount of time.

5 Takeaways About The Evolution Of “Content Creators” in the Video Game & Entertainment Industry:

  • *Most Important: A content creator is a real person, and authenticity is everything to your community. You will become successful because people like who you are as a person. If you’re only in it for the money, failure will follow. Pay your success back to your community and don’t lose sight of what made you. Continue to build a real relationship and set a good example with the people who look up to you.

  • Content Creators are signing with big organizations (TSM, Cloud9, Liquid100 Thieves, and FaZe Clan, etc.) for bigger $ contracts as revenue growth skyrockets. Advantages to signing with an organization: a massive pool of resources, access to brands, access to a larger audience, monetization of content on many different channels. Disadvantages: Percentage of the money goes to the organization, contract obligations, etc.

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  • Content Creators are doubling down on their Brand and expanding their reach and casting a larger net. Example: Courage JD signed with Youtube TV and 100 Thieves in 2019 and completely rebranded. He’s now a co-owner of 100 Thieves and posts a bunch of successful content (Podcasts, cooking shows, brand deals, etc.) well beyond his video game content.

  • Sponsors understand that partnering with content creators in an exploding market is a successful and affordable way to get in front of Gen Z and younger millennials. See Cash App partnering with 100 Thieves case study. Big sponsor money = big potential for content creators in the upcoming years

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  • Content Creators are getting smarter at using their authentic communities as monetization machines. Example: A streamer has 50K concurrent streamers watching on Twitch. They then post a YouTube video (using the best clips from his live Twitch content) and asks his loyal audience to go watch it. The Youtube algorithm likes this and immediately puts the video in front of more people. They then can promote their newly released merchandise via a giveaway on Instagram and Twitter and get more sales. This is a dream situation.

NickMercs Case Study

As I type this on April 21st, 2021, NickMercs has 370K+ concurrent viewers watching his Twitch stream as the in-game Call Of Duty Warzone event occurs. His squad of 4 (TimTheTatMan, Cloak, & Courage JD) has over 600K Concurrent viewers total! To put this in perspective, AT&T stadium has a max capacity of 100K1 people. Nick alone could fill the stadium approx 4 TIMES, and the whole squad could fill this stadium 6 times. That’s absolutely insane.

Likewise, Nick has approximately 700K followers, 26 million views, 30 million hours watched, and an average concurrent viewer count of 50K+ per stream in just the last 4 months. This is BEFORE the Call of Duty in-game event takes his brand to the next level in the coming days.

But that’s not all. He also has a massive Youtube Audience (approximately 5 million across his three channels) and gets MILLIONS of views on almost every video he posts. This is significant money! Additionally, he just released new merchandise, which he said as of Friday on his stream that he has well over 13K orders. This doesn’t even consider his other social media channels (Twitter @1.8 million followers & Instagram @2.4 million followers), brand deals (Cash App, GFuel, and Barstool to name three), a massive 3-Year contract extension with FaZe Clan, brand giveaways, etc. It’s unreal. This goes to show the potential a good content creator can have to move into a future where E-Sports are getting more popular and the video game industry as a whole evolves. Also, his network of content creators including TimTheTatMan, SypherPK, CourageJD, Cloak, and others understand how to promote each other, further tightening his digital takeover. It’s fun to watch.

As content creators discover success, others will copy. The future of this industry will be paved by the most successful and authentic streamers who understand how to build their community and monetize that attention in smart ways.

Key takeaway: Authenticity builds community; monetization follows

Thanks for reading! :)

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