Behind the Numbers: Social and creator economy trends in 2025—Shopping getting even more social and serial creator videos take over social media | Jan 13, 2025

Summary

Behind the Numbers: Social and Creator Economy Trends in 2025

Podcast Information:

• Title: Behind the Numbers: an EMARKETER Podcast
• Host/Author: eMarketer
• Episode: Social and Creator Economy Trends in 2025—Shopping Getting Even More Social and Serial Creator Videos Take Over Social Media
• Release Date: January 13, 2025

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Introduction

In the January 13, 2025 episode of Behind the Numbers, hosts Marcus, Jasmine Emberg, and Minda Smiley delve into significant trends shaping the social media and creator economies. The episode focuses on how social platforms are increasingly encroaching upon traditional search budgets and the evolving landscape of creator content. Through insightful discussions, the hosts explore the integration of AI in influencer identification and the rise of serial creator videos as sustainable content models.

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Main Social Trends

1. Social Media Squeezing Traditional Search Budgets

Presented by Jasmine Emberg

Jasmine Emberg initiates the conversation by highlighting a pivotal trend: social media platforms are progressively diverting budgets from traditional search engines as shopping becomes more integrated with social experiences.

• Key Points:

  • Shift in Consumer Behavior: More consumers initiate product searches within social media platforms rather than traditional search engines.
  • AI Integration: Platforms like Meta have integrated AI into their search functionalities, enhancing user experience and monetization capabilities. As Jasmine notes, "Meta AI had over 600 million monthly active users" ([00:43]).
  • Ad Partnerships: Collaborations between social platforms and retail giants like Amazon are bridging the gap between social media and retail media.

• Notable Quote:

  • Jasmine Emberg ([04:16]): “We are at this inflection point where you have consumers and the platforms all in on social search.”

Marcus supports this by referencing a 2023 survey indicating a shift in search preferences across all age groups, not just among Gen Z.

2. Messaging: The New Front in Monetization Wars

Presented by Minda Smiley

Minda Smiley explores the burgeoning trend of monetizing messaging within social platforms, positioning it as a new battleground for advertisers.

• Key Points:

  • User Shift to Messaging: Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram are seeing increased use as primary messaging avenues, beyond mere content consumption.
  • Advertising Challenges: Introducing ads into private messaging spaces is delicate, with platforms experimenting with formats like Sponsored Snaps.
  • Strategic Investments: Marketers are beginning to allocate a portion of their social budgets (5-10%) towards messaging-based advertising, indicating early adoption of this trend.

• Notable Quote:

  • Minda Smiley ([08:53]): “Sponsored Snaps was a huge shift in strategy for Snapchat... platforms have to find ways of monetizing that.”

Marcus raises concerns about user reception to ads in messaging, prompting Jasmine to acknowledge the potential resistance but also noting the gradual normalization as businesses engage more organically through these channels.

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Creator Economy Trends

1. Influencer Identification and Boosting the Long Tail of Creators

Presented by Jasmine Emberg

Jasmine discusses advancements in influencer identification, emphasizing how AI is revolutionizing the way marketers engage with creators.

• Key Points:

  • Beyond Vanity Metrics: Traditional metrics like follower counts are giving way to more meaningful indicators such as engagement rates and creative alignment.
  • AI-Driven Tools: Emerging AI tools enable marketers to identify and segment creators more effectively, facilitating better matchmaking between brands and influencers.
  • Empowering Mid-Tier Creators: Enhanced identification strategies are expected to benefit medium-sized creators, expanding opportunities beyond the top-tier influencers.

• Notable Quote:

  • Jasmine Emberg ([15:42]): “AI in particular can help surface new creators and influencers. It can also help segment creators and influencers into more granular niches or subcategories.”

Marcus references research from Creator IQ, underscoring the importance of engagement rates and audience demographics in influencer selection, further validating Jasmine’s insights.

2. Serial Creator Videos Taking Over Social Media

Presented by Minda Smiley

Minda Smiley examines the rise of serial creator videos, advocating for their role in fostering sustainable and scalable content strategies.

• Key Points:

  • Shift to Predictability: Creators are moving away from single viral posts towards creating series-based content that offers consistency and long-term engagement.
  • Brand Partnerships: Serial videos provide a more stable platform for brands to engage in ongoing sponsorships, enhancing collaboration opportunities.
  • Diversification of Platforms: Creators are expanding their presence beyond traditional social media to streaming services and Connected TV (CTV), broadening their audience reach.

• Notable Quote:

  • Minda Smiley ([17:22]): “It's about building sustainable and transportable audiences through predictable programming rooted in a specific format and topic.”

Marcus echoes this sentiment by citing an excerpt from their report, which emphasizes the importance of building lasting audiences over chasing fleeting virality.

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Conclusion and Star Baker

As the episode wraps up, Marcus crowns both Jasmine and Minda as "Star Bakers" for their insightful contributions:

• Social Trends: Jasmine receives recognition for elucidating how social media is encroaching upon traditional search budgets amidst the rise of social shopping.
• Creator Trends: Minda is honored for her analysis of serial creator videos, highlighting their potential to reshape content strategies and brand partnerships.

The hosts encourage listeners to explore further details in their comprehensive reports, "Social Trends to Watch in 2025" and "Creator Economy Trends to Watch in 2025," available in the show notes.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Behind the Numbers offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamic shifts within social media and the creator economy. By integrating AI advancements and reimagining content strategies, both platforms and creators are navigating towards more sustainable and engaging digital ecosystems. Whether it's the migration of search activities to social platforms or the strategic use of serial videos, the trends discussed promise to shape the marketing and advertising landscapes well into 2025 and beyond.

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For more insights and detailed trends, listeners are encouraged to access the full reports mentioned in the episode's show notes.

Transcript

[Jasmine Emberg]

Looking up a product review, for example, or you're looking up, you know, the location of a business or you're just browsing really. And so I think in order for social platforms to start capturing serious search ad dollars, they need to get that intent piece proven.

[Marcus]

Hey gang. It's Monday, January 30th. Minda, Jasmine and listeners, welcome behind the Numbers, an E marketer podcast. I'm Marcus. Today I'm joined by two people. One of them is our vice president and principal analyst of all things social media based in LA, Ms. Jasmine Emberg.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Hey, Marcus. Hey everyone.

[Marcus]

Hello there. We also have with us our senior analyst covering social media based in New York, it's Minda Smiley.

[Minda Smiley]

Hey, Marcus. Good to be back. It's been a while.

[Marcus]

Hello there. I know. Welcome back. Minda is back with us first folks alongside Jasmine for today's episode. Today's fact. Who invented the first hot air balloon? This is how I spend my time. Okay. This is my life. French scientist Jean Francois Palatri de Rossier launched the first hot air balloon carrying. I don't know if this bit's true. A duck, a sheep and a cockerel.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Are you information, Marcus?

[Marcus]

You can't prove this wasn't true. Jasmine. They might have been in there. This is why. Why are they. Why are they all in there? The trip lasted 15 minutes. The balloon is given lift by hot air. Shocking. But also has a compartment of lighter than air gas like helium or hydrogen at the top of the balloon. The first manned flight was Palatre de Rossier and Francois Laurent de Arlandes who flew from Paris in a hot air balloon created out of paper lined cloth by wealthy brothers and papermakers Jacques Etienne and Joseph Michel Montgolfier. Yeah, they. That's where it came from.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Have either of you ever been in a hot air balloon?

[Marcus]

No.

[Minda Smiley]

No. Never. Never will be.

[Marcus]

Thank you, Minda.

[Minda Smiley]

So scary. I can barely handle like airplanes, let alone the hot air balloon. Like you would never catch me in one.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Jasmine. I have and I can attest to the fact that it is scary insane.

[Marcus]

But it was unwillingly.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Yes. It was an incredible experience. We took a hot air balloon around Teotihuacan, the old ruins in Mexico. That was outside of Mexico City in the morning and it was beautiful. But I was terrified.

[Marcus]

Nope. Would you get in one for two weeks? First hot air balloon trip around the world. American millionaire Steve Fossett. 2002 on his sixth attempt. What happened the first? 6, 7, 5. The trip lasted two weeks. 22,000 miles and his longest ever solo Balloon flight.

[Minda Smiley]

That's wild.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Crazy.

[Minda Smiley]

I didn't know that was, like, possible. That's crazy.

[Marcus]

When you're a millionaire, Minda.

[Minda Smiley]

Yeah, Well, I guess time you have on your hands.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Very true.

[Marcus]

Yeah. A hot air balloon festival. Amazing. You see them all in the sky. Beautiful. Getting in one. Absolutely. No. Anyway, today's real topic, the great behind the numbers takeoff, social and Creator Economy Trends 2025. So it's a great British Bake off style episode. You'll be pleased to learn or not, but you have no choice. In today's show, our takers or bakers will be cooking up two trends, one social, one creator. For 2025, we'll start with the social trend for our mains. Very clever. And then the creator trend as dessert. So social trends is where we begin. These will be our mains dishes. So, Jasmine, what do you. What social trend are you going to be cooking up for us today?

[Jasmine Emberg]

So I am cooking up a trend around social media starting to squeeze traditional search budgets as shopping continues to get more social. So we already know that more consumers are starting their product searches on social media. This has been a trend now for several years. But in 2020, the platform started to make serious inroads into search to start catering to those behaviors and also eventually monetize them. So some of the big moves included incorporating AI into their search boxes. Meta, of course, was the most notable here, bringing Meta AI into all of its platforms. And in December, Mark Zuckerberg, who's CEO of Meta, said that Meta AI had over 600 million monthly active users. You also saw platforms like TikTok really lean heavily into new search ad formats. And almost every single platform, including Snapchat and Pinterest, also struck ad deals with Amazon, kind of bringing retail media and social closer together. So now it feels like we're at this inflection point where you have consumers and the platforms all in on social search. So the next step is really for advertisers to get serious about it. And as they start committing more budget to social search, it's going to be platforms like Google and other traditional search engines that are kind of at the front of the line because they have really lost quite a bit of shopping activity or search activity, I should say, both to social and to retail media. And I think as part of all of this, Meta is also going to launch Gen AI ads in Meta AI and this.

[Marcus]

So this is a trend that we've been seeing for a while, but particularly with the young folks, right, like Gen Z, they've preferred using social Media over search engines for the last four years, according to DWI Core, for the same reasons that folks use search engines, speed, convenience. We had a survey out from 2023 that was suggesting that. But, but this isn't just young people anymore. This is a trend we're seeing across ages, correct?

[Jasmine Emberg]

Yeah, we're seeing it across all age groups, really. And it's very similar to how a lot of other social trends happen. It's usually young people first and then older people catch on. But yeah, absolutely, it's happening across platforms from TikTok to YouTube to Pinterest to Instagram, and really among pretty much all different types of users.

[Marcus]

Yeah. Our survey also pointing that out that we think a lot about TikTok and the ripples that they've made in social search. But YouTube at least young people's top choice for social search, again, according to our survey, 6 in 10 folks there, 5 and 10 on TikTok, 4 and 10 socially searching for things on Instagram. Mindra. Oh, please, please.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Well, I would love to hear Minda's point of view on this too, because she's written extensively about it. But I mean, one of the reasons that we're seeing young people in particular turn to social platforms is because they are or they want the kinds of results that they're getting from social media versus, say, Google. They're more conversational, they're more interactive, they tend to be more video. And so I think that's a huge driver of this behavioral shift.

[Marcus]

Mindy, thoughts there?

[Minda Smiley]

Yeah, I mean, Jasmine's exact. Exactly right. I think for a lot of people, especially younger people, like the way they kind of know search is through these social platforms. That's sort of how they're. They've, yeah. Almost grown up with it in a way. They, they want, they want results that are visual, that are coming from people that they feel like they can relate to, as opposed to just, you know, perhaps a random article from a company. It really is a vast change from even how, you know people. People a few years older experience search. So I think it's going to have major consequences. Yeah. This year and beyond, really.

[Jasmine Emberg]

I think the one area where it still needs to catch up is improving intent. Right. So when we're going on to a platform like Amazon, we generally have a product in mind or at least an idea of what we want to buy. When people are searching on social, that isn't necessarily the case. Sometimes you're looking up a product review, for example, or you're looking up you. The location of a business or you're just browsing, really. And so I think in order for social platforms to start capturing serious search ad dollars, they need to get that intent piece proven.

[Marcus]

Okay. As Jasmine's mains dish, social media will squeeze traditional search budgets as shopping gets more social. Minda, what do you have for us for your main?

[Minda Smiley]

Today I am baking a trend that involves messaging being the new front in the monetization war. And this trend, you know, I think backing up a little bit over the past few years, we have seen users really gravitate towards social as, as a, as, you know, as a messaging platform in ways they haven't really in the past. Obviously, Snapchat is the OG in this space, but more and more we're seeing this happen across social, particularly. Instagram is a big one where people are just, you know, they're going on the app to, to DM their friends and family, to send memes, send messages. And so I think that's been happening for a few years now, and I think marketers have certainly been aware of that trend. And you know, organically, they, they've kind of shifted their strategies to account for that, you know, creating content that they think will be shared. You know, it's not so much about only likes or only comments anymore. You know, it's. It's how. How do you kind of break into these private conversations? And I think the next step of that that's going to happen, that's really going to play out this year is, is the monetization aspect. And we're going to see advertisers really focus on trying to, to, you know, basically run ads in this space. This space. And it is really tricky because, you know, I don't think we're ever really going to see a world where like, we're just kind of seeing ads in our private conversations or if we do that, that, that's probably pretty far off. And I don't think it'll exactly play out just in that manner, but we are seeing advertisers kind of try to figure that out. I think Sponsored Snaps is the best example of that so far, where basically ads would kind of show up in the messaging tab. So they're not showing up. The ads aren't showing up within a conversation, but they're in that, you know, kind of that messaging interface. And, and I think we're also, you know, we're also seeing Meta really prioritize WhatsApp, and that's a little bit different. But, but I think their focus on their messaging app is certainly a sign that of, of what they're placing importance on in the US Specifically. So there, there are certainly signs there. And I think in conversations I've been having with marketers, they're not putting a ton of, of money towards this yet. I think it's around 5 to 10% of social budgets, which is not that much. But the fact that they're putting any money towards this at all is significant, in my opinion. And I think as, as we see more, more ad formats roll out, more interest in the space that those budgets will go up, certainly.

[Marcus]

So, Jasmine, I'll get you in on this for a second because folks don't love ads at the best of times. And so I am surprised that I understand why we're going to see social platforms try to welcome advertisers into this, into this space. But I'm wondering whether folks are really going to want to welcome brands, companies and ads into their messaging apps.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Yeah, I mean, historically, people haven't wanted advertisers to slide into their DMs, and I don't think that that's going to change. We are at this moment now, though, where a lot more people are communicating with businesses organically through messaging. And so they're already a little bit more accustomed to seeing brands pop up there in their messages. But the difference is, is that that is some, usually conversations, if not always conversations that they have started themselves. And so having a brand come in uninvited through an ad is still going to be pretty tricky. And I think, you know, to mind this point, Sponsored Snaps was a huge shift in strategy for Snapchat. I mean, it has. Messaging has long been the core of its service, and it's one area that it hasn't monetized through advertising. Because it is such a tricky space. I do think we're going to see sponsored Snaps kind of struggle a little bit. They are definitely going to roll those out more broadly in a very slow manner. But I think we're, you know, overall at this moment in time where with so much social activity shifting into messaging and more private spaces overall, the platforms have to find ways of monetizing that.

[Marcus]

Yep. That's where people are going. Yeah, to your point. So they're going to have to put some, some brain power behind trying to reach those people as they gravitate towards those more private spaces. All right, that's Minda's main dish for us. Her main baked good Messaging will be a new front in the monetization wars. We turn now to our second round and we have some Desserts for you. And for dessert, we're going to have Minda and Jasmine cook up some creator trends. So Jasmine, what is your creator trend dessert?

[Jasmine Emberg]

So my creator trend dessert is that influencer identification is improving and that is boosting the long tail of creators. And this is more of a I hope this will happen versus I know this will happen, but. So marketers have long relied on vanity metrics like follower accounts to identify the creators and influencers that they work with. But the problem with those kinds of metrics is that they do not accurately represent a creator's ability to drive business outcomes for brands. And back in 2024, we started to see marketers kind of start to shift in terms of influencer identification there. We're starting to turn more to metrics that actually matter, things like engagement rates and creative alignment. And I think as we're starting to see more AI driven influencer identification tools emerge, it's actually going to be much easier for marketers to focus on things like engagement rates and creative alignment and use that to determine the creators and influencers that they work with. The idea of course, being the more tools, the more and the more powerful tools they have at their disposal, the better decisions they can make. And I think AI in particular can help surface new creators and influencers. It can also help segment creators and influencers into more granular niches or subcategories. It can also help marketers determine the depth of engagement versus just the breadth and spot things like brand safety concerns and better help them understand what kind of creative resonates with audiences. And so as this continues to drive more identification strategy for marketers, I think what we're going to see hopefully is that the long tail of creators, especially those with medium sized audiences, are going to benefit. And these of course were the creators that really struggled to score brand deals in 2024. So it would be a positive sign really for the industry at large. And I think again, this is one place where AI can have a really tangible positive impact on the creator economy.

[Marcus]

Yeah, you had some, some research from creator IQ showing brands worldwide, what do they consider when selecting creator engagement rate number one, 50%, fairly distant, second place audience demographics 41% and then things like follow account 37% behind in third place engagement rate. When marketers are selecting creators to work with, what do we mean by engagement?

[Jasmine Emberg]

Well, I actually wanted to talk to you a little bit about the audience demographics point because I think that's really interesting. There's an argument out there that as we move towards more algorithmic Social media, especially on platforms like TikTok, audience doesn't matter anymore because, you know, you can't really control who that content is being showed to. I don't think that that is as true as people make it out to be. And I think we've seen that time and time again. And one really good example of course was the US Presidential election, which I think was a really big lesson in how important it is to actually tap into the right audiences still. And so I think audience demographics, along with things like engagement, rating, creative alignment and all the other factors are still incredibly important. Maybe less so on a platform like TikTok, but certainly still on, you know, for example, podcasts, which are becoming much more important within the creator space.

[Marcus]

All right, that's Jasmine's dessert. I will improve influence and identification, boosting the long tail of creators. Minda, what are you baking for us in this round?

[Minda Smiley]

For me, I am baking. We're going to see serial creator videos take over social media and this, this trend has, it's a kind of a nuanced one, but I think it's really interesting and I'll kind of dive into aspect of it, which is that as we kind of see the creator economy really grow up a little bit, a lot of, a lot of the more successful creators, they're kind of operating as many sort of like brands and businesses now. They have different revenue streams. You know, they're not just people that kind of had a one off viral video and trying to just make their way. So as the industry grows and matures in that sense, a lot of creators are trying to find more ways to kind of make their growth a little more sustainable. And one way is through, you know, serial video. You know, what's something that we can do that is a little more predictable? That's something that brand might want to sign on to and say, hey, you know, I'll be able to sponsor your series for a year or a month or whatever it might look like. I think the bigger idea here is that it's less about these kind of one off partnerships and more about ways that brands and creators can kind of work together in more of a long term fashion. And hopefully that would benefit both parties. And so that, that's one aspect of it. And then we're also just seeing is we're, we're seeing kind of creators jump off of social media a little bit. That's the core of it still. But they also are, we're seeing them kind of break more into streaming and their content is showing up on streaming services. YouTube is obviously a big part of that as well, with CTV being such a popular, a growing and popular element of its own growth. So, yeah, like I said, a lot of moving parts. And Jasmine's definitely, Jasmine definitely has been on this trend for quite some time and she can probably add even more to, to what I've said. But yeah, that's going to be a big one this year.

[Marcus]

Well, let me, let me throw this at you because. So there was an excerpt from the report which touches on what you're saying. Creators are prioritizing predictability over virality. Going viral no longer as easy or desirable for many creators as the space has become more crowded and a viral video doesn't automatically translate to long term success. This year the focus will be on building sustainable and transportable audiences through predictable programming rooted in a specific format and topic. Basically summarizing what Minda said. But Jasmine, why now? Why is this trend happening at this moment?

[Jasmine Emberg]

Well, I think it's been something that it's been building over the past couple of years. And you know, to your point about, well, really, to the quote that you just read from the report that we published, I mean, it was mine. It's easier than ever to become a creator, but it's harder than ever to build a business off of it. And I think as creators are looking to build more sustainable, transportable audiences, really control their own business, control their IP and own their audience, they're starting to create more predictable programming. And it's working. I mean, just think about some of the sort of serial videos that we watched in 2024. I don't know if you sat down and watched Risatisa, but I was obsessed with that. I binged that whole thing the same way that I would binge at show on Netflix. Right. And so, yes, these examples are still few and far between, but we are seeing a shift toward creators thinking more longer term, thinking more about sustainability because again, it's, you know, there's no guaranteed path to making a living, making a career out of having one viral video.

[Marcus]

All right, folks, that's what we've got time for for this episode. Time to crown our star taker or baker. And this week, I'm going to speed it up. So for the mains, I'm going to award Star Baker to Jasmine or take it to Jasmine. Social media will squeeze traditional search budgets as shopping gets more social. I do like that one, the messaging one that Minda had. I still don't know how they convince people this is a thing that they should be okay with and how monetization follows on from that, but still a really interesting one. And then for the dessert portion, the creator portion, I'm going to work to mind because I think this is a really interesting trend. Serial creator videos will take over social media, shifting TV audiences and revenues versus Jasmine's one about AI improving influence identification, boosting a long tail of creators. That one was good as well, but I prefer mind as one on. On the creator side of things on in that round. So I guess you get one each. So well played, Star Bakers all round. I don't know why I do this. So just give out to everyone pretty much all the time.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Can I give out a point? Because I'll give out a point to Mind on serial creator video. That one, too.

[Minda Smiley]

Oh, well, thank you. And can I give out a rebuttal, Marcus, to not picking mine for social.

[Marcus]

Wait, you were saying that you. Do you want me to not pick your.

[Minda Smiley]

No, I just. I just. I just have an argument for why you. I know you're. Well.

[Marcus]

Oh, pushback.

[Minda Smiley]

Yes. Some pushback is what I'm saying.

[Marcus]

Go on, let's do it.

[Minda Smiley]

I know you're skeptical. I am, too. I think. I think running ads and private messaging is like. I totally agree that it's something that people won't like. My argument, though, would be people have been griping about social for years. People are always saying, I'm going to quit Instagram. I'm going to do this. I hate when the platforms do this and then we all stay on it. Like it's. I think people like to say they're going to, like, quit or be angry. And then oftentimes, like, behavior does not always align with what people. What people say. So I don't know. Again, I'm not saying, like, we're all going to have ads in our DMs like, anytime soon, but I don't think the pushback would actually be as intense as people might think.

[Jasmine Emberg]

I totally. I totally agree with that people. Come, Jasmine. Well, I.

[Marcus]

You all make good points. Points all around. Every dessert gets a trophy. The two reports, though, if you want more details, more trends on. On social and creator economy things. The four reports are called Social Trends to Watch in 2025. Creator Economy Trends to Watch in 2020. Links, of course, in the show notes, Minda and Jasmine. Both are star taker. Star Bakers for today's episode. That's all we have time for. Thank you so much to them. Thank you to Jasmine.

[Jasmine Emberg]

Thanks for having me.

[Marcus]

Yes, indeed. Thank you to Minda.

[Minda Smiley]

Thank you.

[Marcus]

Thank you to the whole editing crew, Victoria, John, Lance and Danny Stuart, who runs the team, and Sophie does our social media. Thanks to everyone for listening to behind the Numbers and Emarketer podcast. Tomorrow you can hang out with Rob Rubin, the very first episode of 2025 of the banking and Payment show, where he'll be speaking with Tiffany Montes and David Morris, all about the most interesting banking and payments trends of this coming year.