Creator Economy Meets Edtech
Throughout its history, the internet has proven to be the home of both booms and busts. While the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on many companies and even entire industries, it gave a significant boost to the 'creator economy'. It is estimated that this rapidly-emerging sector has grown from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $6.5 billion in 2019 and $9.7 billion in 2020 as the pandemic was starting.
This growth has been fueled by brands looking to promote their products through endorsements by influencers – individuals who have grown large fan bases by publishing content online. More and more consumers, and especially those in the highly-prized Millennial and Gen Z generations, started spending more screen time on sites such as TikTok, Snap and Instagram.
Beyond influencers, ‘Skilling Creator Economy' has also witnessed growth with content creators developing original, unique content that is leveraged to obtain knowledge on a variety of subjects. Today, subject-matter experts in their fields create instructional courses online that deliver positive value to lifelong learners looking to advance in their chosen careers.
Real-world content creators for corporate learning
Consider Ranga Karanam – at first glance, he may seem like one of thousands of India’s success stories: educated in tech with a strong career and increasing responsibility over time, his future seemed bright. But, he was surprised by the quality of training and development resources that were available. He had a vision and determination, and knew he could do better.
Starting in 2015, he began designing technology courses of his own under the brand in28minutes, leveraging his expertise and industry knowledge. His courses proved so successful, he quit his job two years later and today he is one of Udemy’s many successful learning content creators, rising up to 1 million learners in June 2022. Sivakami, an MBA with more than 20 years of experience, , worked as a global leader at multinational companies like Microsoft and Verizon. She left a very successful career to care for her ailing mother in 2015, but wanted to continue doing something that leveraged her professional experience.
She discovered Udemy, and published her first Leadership Psychology course in 2017. Though traction was slow during the early months, she honed her skills as a Content Creator and Instructor via constant brushing up of the Research and interaction with her initial students.
Today, she’s reached more than 65,000 students in more than 170 countries worldwide through her content, touching individuals’ lives. Though unable to work full-time, being a creator enables Sivakami to earn a living, and contribute her professional skills towards the development of others.
“A lady police officer in the United States once left a great review for my Diversity course, and also messaged me directly,” said Sivakami. “Their department had gone through my course on diversity, and loved it. It was such a great feeling knowing that U.S Law Enforcement personnel were going through my course and benefiting from it!”
Jitesh Khurkhuriya has similarly transformed his life by shifting from a busy, all-consuming career in tech, including at the executive level.
“I never wanted to be stuck in a job,” said Khurkhuriya. “I value my time and I was frustrated with sales calls, client calls, and the time-consuming processes that took days to resolve issues. Also, commuting to and from work, and all that traffic every day – it was a deal breaker.”
He discovered Udemy in 2016 and took a few courses, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) certification, and realised he could teach classes leveraging his expertise in data science and data transformation.
“Training and teaching have always been important to me – as a part of my job, I used to love training people,” he said. “My father is a teacher and one of the best I have known so far, so I always wanted to do something in the teaching space, like him.”
Khurkhuriya’s courses in Azure and blockchain, among others, have reached more than 52,000 students globally, allowing him to empower others through his dream of teaching while also achieving better work-life balance.
Today’s market for learning is well over $400 billion, so creators now have a golden opportunity to broaden their reach through the internet to share knowledge with learners worldwide. In the era of The Great Resignation and 'quiet quitting', there is a huge demand for new professional skills as it is imperative to stay ahead of the curve. To remain competitive, both learners and creators are honing in on flexible and agile skill development.
