For many content creators, screens are going dark

After nine years of writing comedy scripts, shootA ing sketches, and chasing YouTube views, Om Suri hit pause. His channel 'Oye Omi' had nearly 73,000 subscribers, but not enough to pay his bills.

- Pratishtha Bagai

Two months ago, he quit fulltime content creation and is scouting for a regular job.

Suri is not alone. As India's 8-million-strong creator economy gets overcrowded and unpredictable, many influencers, especially those with smaller followings, are quitting. Shrinking advertisement revenue, inconsistent brand deals, and rising financial strain are driving creators back to stable jobs. The middle rung of influencers is the worst hit.

Advertisement revenue on platforms like YouTube is often meagre, which influencers say ranges from $0.4 to $3 per 1,000 views. According to Suri, it is a challenge for many creators to depend on YouTube.

"To make a living, you have to post consistently and get regular brand deals," he says. "Due to overcrowding, this has become a rat race, where all of us are competing for the same brand deals. However, brands only pick the top creators with the most followers." Indian influencers' advertisement revenues are paltry compared with their global peers. "Advertisers in India don't pay as much, so the AdSense revenue on YouTube is as low as $1 per thousand views over 10 times lower than what is given globally," Suri says. "It is also difficult to compete against corporate giants who have created YouTube channels and creators who have a talent management agency and a team to produce content." Aashish Gupta, who left his content journey to become the talent manager of a more popular content creator, Elvish Yadav, points to job security.

"While obviously, money is the primary factor for most creators who quit content like me, it is also the circumstances," he said.