Pleasing Your Creators and Customers

The Increasing Amount of Dissatisfaction from Content Creators Illustrates the Importance of Satisfying Stakeholder Needs

As platforms grow in size, so does the amount of scrutiny placed on them. Varying organisations will want to ensure they can set a positive example on how they treat their customers and creators alike, so as to create a sustainable revenue stream.

This is clear when looking at YouTube. Despite the rapid rise of TikTok, YouTube still takes the cake as the leader of online video services, given their management of the platform. Contrasting this, Spotify are beginning to feel disturbances, especially in regards to recent controversies.

YouTube can owe their success to the YouTube Partner Program; with this, creators on their platform earn a share of ad revenue. In fact, Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, reported YouTube made $28.8 billion in revenue last year alone, with 55% of it being allocated to share among the creators on the platform

Compared to TikTok, this is a godsend. TikTok still faces issues regarding their short-form videos, as well as the static quantity of money allocated to their Creator Fund. As such, YouTube provides a greater opportunity for growth, helping to sustain the creators on their platform over time. However, this still does not prevent controversies from occurring.

Although these platforms have taken steps to satisfy their creators, they must also satisfy their customers. No clearer is this right now than with Spotify; given the different artists protesting Joe Rogan on the platform, their reputation has taken quite a hit. Already, Spotify’s revenue has dipped, with many creators leaving the platform as Covid misinformation runs rampant.

Spotify, for what it’s worth, has already taken steps to try and mitigate this, announcing taking action against 20,000 podcasts, and aren’t afraid of the impact this has on their paid subscriber count.

This all boils down to the balancing act necessary in managing stakeholder expectations and demands. If the content creators are happy, they will continue to produce content for the platform and not abandon it as seen with Vine. However, the same goes for customers; if they enjoy the content they will stay, but if not, they will abandon ship.

All in all, this indicates the power of the consumers on company revenues. If the content or organisation isn’t reliable on both ends of the spectrum, profits and revenues will fall. It is inconceivable to believe businesses can make money if no one is buying.