Are content creators invading public spaces?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Business Daily – "Are Content Creators Invading Public Spaces?"

Host: Megan Lawton, BBC World Service
Date: May 31, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the growing presence of content creators and influencers filming in public venues—cafes, gyms, restaurants—and the resulting tensions between businesses, customers, and creators. Through interviews with business owners, influencers, and digital culture experts, host Megan Lawton investigates the impact of this trend, balancing its marketing benefits with the potential disruption to everyday social environments. The episode seeks to answer: Is everywhere now content-friendly? And where should boundaries be drawn?

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Everyday Drama of Content Creation

• Setting the Scene:
  Megan visits “Starfish and Coffee”, a Brighton cafe, to illustrate how content filming has become ubiquitous in everyday spaces.

  • [01:14] "I'm in Starfish and Coffee, an independent cafe in Brighton on the UK's south coast. Around me, lots enjoying their morning coffee, plenty of eggs on toast." – Megan Lawton

• Business Owners’ Perspectives:
  Tony Marks, cafe manager, observes the visibility and marketing potential of organic content but highlights limits to what’s respectful:

  • [01:25] "I love seeing it because… it's going to go on social media, it's going to be shared." – Tony Marks
  • [01:39] "I've seen people moving the furniture around... I did have to politely say the tables need to stay where they are." – Tony Marks

2. The Boundaries and Friction in Public Filming

• Public Backlash & Policy:

  • Reports surface of creators being asked to stop shooting or to rent venues for content creation (e.g., a viral TikTok from Manchester).
  • Public reactions often support business owners who set limits on filming in their spaces.
  • [04:33] “Many people who said they were Manchester locals backed the cafe and shared their frustrations on creators who'd been filming in their local gyms to saunas and supermarkets.” – Megan Lawton

• Complicated Balance for Businesses:

  • Influencer content can boost marketing at zero cost but may disrupt the atmosphere for regular customers.

3. The Evolution of Content Creation

• From Personal Blogging to Global Influencers:
  Author Rhea Chopra tracks the historical shift from early-2000s blogs to today’s influencer economy, noting how authenticity now dominates.

  • [08:43] "One of the rules of social media today is that organic or natural content is what is popular right now. Authenticity is very in." – Rhea Chopra
  • [09:43] "YouTube is where we first started seeing content creation of full-time youtubing be a profession." – Rhea Chopra

• Smartphones & The Pandemic:

  • Cheaper devices and increased internet access made widespread content creation possible.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this, with social platforms pushing short-form video.
  • [10:44] “I think Instagram also getting into the space just created this lightning fast push towards short form video.” – Rhea Chopra

4. The Business of Influencing

• Market Scale:
  The episode cites industry valuations:

  • [13:15] “In 2024, the influencing industry was valued at approximately US$250 billion… predicted to grow to nearly 500 billion by 2027.”

• Case Study – Laura Alec:
  Vancouver-based food influencer (230k+ followers) describes content creation as her full-time job, detailing her approach to filming respectfully in public:

  • [14:39] "It starts with knowing that I'm not the main character when I'm at a restaurant and that because I'm filming I don't get any kind of special privilege… I need to be even more self aware." – Laura Alec
  • [15:09] “You do learn the kind of uncomfortable way… as soon as you raise your camera up and people don't want to be in your shot at all.” – Laura Alec

• Positive Impact for Restaurants:
  Laura aims to only feature businesses she sincerely supports, describing tangible benefits for venues (e.g., new customers, increased reservations).

  • [16:13] "So now that I have that trust with my community that when I do share about it, they will go in and, you know, people are making reservations and there's been lineups around the block…" – Laura Alec

5. The Etiquette and Education of Content Creation

• Varying Purposes:
  Not all creators review venues; many film “day in the life” or lifestyle clips, further blurring lines between personal sharing and professional content.

  • [17:13] “Influencers are just normal people and they do go to restaurants, they do go to the gym… But at the same time, an everyday person who does have a thousand followers is also probably posting their meal from a restaurant.” – Nina Robertson

• Managing the Space:
  Nina Robertson (Neon Management, CEO) believes respectful behavior is essential—and businesses have the right to set clear policies:

  • [18:19] "I think it is just having the human decency to be respectful of others around you, obviously trying to create frames where others aren't in the background…" – Nina Robertson
  • [19:11] "If a specific restaurant or gym has an issue with it, then put up a sign at the front of the door that says you're not able to record or film content in the space and they'll go elsewhere." – Nina Robertson

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [03:25] “I'm afraid the influencers are pushing my patience beyond all bounds.” – Jeremy King, restaurateur
• [05:25] “We've gone from people who generally influencers doing content to now everyone can be a content maker... They're just enjoying making content.” – Tony Marks
• [07:37] Tony recounts a prominent influencer leaving pancakes virtually untouched after one photo:
  “They had pancakes, had one bite of their pancakes, each took their photographs and left... I don't really like seeing food being wasted like that.” – Tony Marks
• [15:34] “We often hear criticism towards influencers, but not everyone feels the same. In his recent Netflix documentary, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay said, influencers are the most powerful critics on the planet.” – Megan Lawton
• [18:53] On disruptive equipment: "Even if you are needing that lighting, making sure that you are in a corner or you're able to not be intrusive of others patrons that are in the same facility." – Nina Robertson

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Key Timestamps

• 01:06–02:33: Introduction to the episode’s theme with anecdotal experiences from a local café manager and the issue of influencers moving furniture, etc.
• 02:33–04:33: Public reactions and business dilemmas around content creation in hospitality venues.
• 08:43–11:27: Rhea Chopra on the evolution of digital content, from early blogs to TikTok and Reels, and how authenticity shapes public filming.
• 13:15–15:34: Laura Alec discusses her influencer journey, strategies for filming politely, and benefits to local businesses.
• 17:13–19:22: Nina Robertson addresses the etiquette debate, the need for business policies, and her advice for both creators and owners.

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Conclusion

The episode thoughtfully outlines the complexities shaping the modern influencer economy. While organic promotion via social media can be a boon for small businesses, tensions arise when this visibility disrupts the experience of other customers or crosses boundaries of privacy and hospitality culture. The consensus: content creation in public spaces is here to stay, but success depends on mutual respect, clear communication, and conscious etiquette—from both businesses and influencers.

For more episodes, search "Business Daily BBC" on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

[Tony Marks]

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[Tony Marks]

We say it a lot. We get a lot of people who will spend quite a while before they eat the food. They get the cameras out and they're taking photos.

[Megan Lawton]

I'm in Starfish and Coffee, an independent cafe in Brighton on the UK's south coast. Around me, lots enjoying their morning coffee, plenty of eggs on toast.

[Tony Marks]

And I honestly, I love seeing it because I know if they're taking photographs of it, it's going to go on social media, it's going to be shared.

[Megan Lawton]

Tony Marks is the manager here and he's telling me about the rise of influencers using his cafe as a space to create content.

[Tony Marks]

Yeah, I've seen people moving the furniture around. I think that was a point where someone started moving tables so wanted to be nearer to a window. And I did have to politely say the tables need to stay where they are. Thank you very much.

[Megan Lawton]

Today on Business Daily from the BBC World Service, with me, Megan Lawton, we're exploring an ongoing debate, one dividing bosses, customers and creators.

[Unidentified Influencer]

Has anyone had any trouble shooting in Manchester recently? Because me and my friend, as the

[Megan Lawton]

influencer economy grows more and more everyday spaces, including cafes, gyms and restaurants, are becoming places to create content. So in the age of social media, is everywhere content friendly?

[Laura Alec]

I think you have to be careful with that.

[Megan Lawton]

One will hear where the boundaries lie.

[Nina Robertson]

If a specific restaurant or gym has an issue with it, then put up a sign at the front of the door that says you're not able to record or film content in the space

[Megan Lawton]

and they'll go elsewhere, ask how we got to this point and find out the benefits of working with influencers.

[Nina Robertson]

When I first started in 2015, we very much had to educate brands on

[Megan Lawton]

what an influencer is is content creation taking over public spaces. That's coming up on Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm in Brighton, a busy seaside city where it's pretty normal to see people filming content out on the seafront, inside cafes, even in my gym class yesterday. And often that footage that we see being shot in the streets will end up on our social media timelines.

[Unidentified Influencer]

Spend the day with me.

[Megan Lawton]

As a girly in her twenties living

[Unidentified Influencer]

in Asheville, Hey Queen, spend the day with me.

[Megan Lawton]

Let's spend a reset day together. I honestly but not everyone is happy with content being filmed in places open to the general public.

[Jeremy King]

I'm afraid the influencers are pushing my patience beyond all bounds.

[Megan Lawton]

Recently, the restaurateur Jeremy King, who's behind London restaurants including the Ivy and the Wolseley, said he was fed up with influencers arriving with tripods and holding tables for long periods of time while they film.

[Jeremy King]

Well, the influencers have caused me to consider the possibility I don't want to ban anybody from the park but and unfortunately the behavior of some people coming through the door has gone beyond decency and has become incredibly intrusive.

[Megan Lawton]

And in Manchester in the UK, a TikTok went viral after a creator said she was asked to stop filming inside a cafe unless she had hired the whole space.

[Unidentified Influencer]

Has anyone had any trouble shooting in Manchester recently? Because me and my friend had been in Manchester this morning and we went to a cafe and had breakfast and a coffee and we started taking some pictures and we got told that we have to email in and basically pay to hire the players if we want to get any content because there's no content happening even though it's a cafe where I always see people getting pictures in.

[Megan Lawton]

What was interesting was the response she received in the comments. Many people who said they were Manchester locals backed the cafe and shared their frustrations on creators who'd been filming in their local gyms to saunas and supermarkets. If you run a business though, it can be more complicated than just saying no to filming a video might annoy one customer, but it could also bring new customers through the door. To understand that balancing act, I've come to Starfish and Coffee in Brighton. It's a bright, colourful spot with attractive looking food plates and vibrant green matches. Instantly it's easy, easy to see why it's popular with content creators.

[Tony Marks]

Our food looks beautiful. I want more people to see how good our food looks.

[Megan Lawton]

Tony Marks has run the place for almost a decade and tells Me how content creation has changed.

[Tony Marks]

It's. It's a strange one because we've gone from people who generally influencers doing content to now everyone can be a content maker. So you've actually got a lot of people who, who are setting up themselves, you know, who are. Who aren't necessarily professionals or making money out of it or even trying to make money out of it. They're just enjoying making content.

[Megan Lawton]

For a small independent cafe, he says the attention can help.

[Tony Marks]

It used to be the case that you'd want to advertise on the radio, you'd want to advertise in magazines or newspapers. But going through influencers, they can reach a far wider audience than you could by magazines nowadays. So it's an easy sell. Like I give away a picture plate of food and a meal for two and that can reach thousands of people. So it's really positive. It's just advertising.

[Megan Lawton]

One study from E commerce agency Charles suggests nearly 7 in 10 consumers trust recommendations from influencers, rating them more credible than traditional advertising. I asked Tony how a post from an influencer translates to generating business.

[Tony Marks]

Firstly, you notice a big spike in your social media followers and then you get people coming in and they'll say, I've never been here before, but I read about it on so and so's social media page and that's nice because you know it's working.

[Megan Lawton]

But he stresses he's careful with which creators he works with.

[Tony Marks]

So we get a lot of requests from people who've got hundreds of thousands of followers and they say, we're coming into Bayern. Can we come in and collaborate, as they call it? Which basically means they want to free meal. And I look on their page and there's no food or drink content on there as well.

[Megan Lawton]

As I speak to Tony, there aren't any obvious signs of content creators around us. It seems it's just locals enjoying their coffees with no phone cameras in sight. It's a vibe he says he's keen to keep for most of the time.

[Tony Marks]

Our unique selling point is that we are a local neighborhood and we're in a neighborhood spot. We're surrounded by houses, we've got no other shops on our street. People come out of their way to find us, which is great, but we're a neighborhood place. We're not a. We're not, we're not glamorous, you know, we're not a showbiz place.

[Megan Lawton]

The line for Tony is when the filming starts to interfere with the feel of the cafe.

[Tony Marks]

So we had one situation where A very prominent influencer made contact with us, said they were doing a feature on Pancake Day, wanted to come in and try our pancakes and do some filming and yeah, of course, absolutely. Like we've got multi millions of followers so we'd be happy with that. So said content creator came in with three friends and had pancakes, had one bite of their pancakes, each took their photographs and left. So all the food was left on the table pretty much untouched. And the response was really good because lots of people saw it, but I don't really like seeing food being wasted like that. And on other occasions we've had influencers who have come in, I don't recognise them and then find out they've got a million followers and they haven't asked for a free meal, they've just come in off their own back, they've heard about us, they've paid for their meal

[Megan Lawton]

and that's nice for Tony, working with content creators is now part of doing business. But behind it is a much bigger shift. The rise of an industry built on turning everyday life into something people can watch.

[Rhea Chopra]

One of the rules of social media today is that organic or natural content is what is popular right now. Authenticity is very in.

[Megan Lawton]

Rhea Chopra is an author based in New Delhi in India. She writes about digital culture and human behavior. In the age of technology, an authentic

[Rhea Chopra]

looking vlog wouldn't be highly produced, which means that you don't want to shut down the entire restaurant to create a glossy advertisement looking video, but instead you want to go at a time when there's other customers so you can talk about how you know it's a popular place. So by nature authentic content I think becomes public filming also.

[Megan Lawton]

Ria explains this shift to creating content in the everyday didn't happen overnight.

[Rhea Chopra]

Around the early 2000s we can see the rise of personal blogging as a thing. People had websites then they had Tumblr, we had these forums. That's I think the early glimmerings of the content creation or influence. I put it as far back as that.

[Megan Lawton]

This tutorial will show you how to achieve those anime looking eyes.

[Unidentified Influencer]

Start off with foundation ready face.

[Rhea Chopra]

I'd say YouTube is where we first started seeing content creation of full time youtubing be a profession. I know that there's a bunch of people who we used to follow who are American bloggers, beauty bloggers.

[Tony Marks]

But now a new generation of phones is about to hit the streets and these handsets can send not only text but but take and send pictures as well.

[Megan Lawton]

Then came the smartphone boom along with Cheaper Internet.

[Rhea Chopra]

I think specifically post 2016 or 17, I'd say there's been a shift. The speed of content creation has increased. Smartphones have become all that popular. In India, we had an Internet service provider provide free Internet and cheap smartphones, which means that a huge population specifically in my country, immediately went online all at the same time.

[Megan Lawton]

And in 2020, Ria says the pandemic pushed even more of our lives online.

[Rhea Chopra]

We see Instagram introduce reels. TikTok was there before that, but I think Instagram also getting into the space just created this lightning fast push towards short form video. And combine that with the COVID pandemic in which doom scrolling, you know, was the word of the year and a lot of us were spending full days online.

[Megan Lawton]

Rhea believes higher screen time created more demand content and to keep up, creators started making it faster with less production.

[Rhea Chopra]

Yeah, day in my life, content, or vlogs as they call it, are pretty much the lowest hanging fruit of content, right? It's the easiest to make and produce because all of us have days in our life, if I may put it like that. So you just need to record one to share it, right?

[Megan Lawton]

And once sharing, everyday life becomes the output, Ria explains, everyday spaces become the backdrop.

[Rhea Chopra]

I think specifically in India, we see a lot of content being made in public, public places. We have monuments, we have markets, we have a lot of gardens here. And right from sketches to something like people doing a TikTok dance in a public place, it's, it's super common to see stuff like that not only on your feed, but even if I were to physically go outside my house right now, I think it would take me all of 20 minutes to find at least two people who are recording something publicly.

[Megan Lawton]

You're listening to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

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[Megan Lawton]

I'm Megan Lawton. Today is content creation taking over public spaces? In 2024, the influencing industry was valued at approximately US$250 billion, a figure that the bank Goldman Sachs predicts will grow to nearly 500 billion by 2027. The dominance of the industry means we're seeing more content gathered in our everyday

[Laura Alec]

My name is Laura Alec. I'm a Vancouver based content creator featuring food, fun and all the best things in life. This is a whole Paris breast pastry on top of a hot chocolate and three other crazy unique drinks I found from this year's Hot Chocolate Festival.

[Megan Lawton]

Five years ago, Laura, who lives on Canada's west coast, was able to quit her job in the charity sector to go full time in content creation.

[Laura Alec]

Over my platforms I have around 230,000 followers and I can get up to a million. You know I have some of my videos have at 17 million I think I'm usually around like the 100k mark.

[Megan Lawton]

She primarily records food and drink related content.

[Laura Alec]

A Mexican restaurant is doing a crazy deal that makes the tacos.

[Megan Lawton]

In this video she's reviewing a taco restaurant.

[Rhea Chopra]

Get it.

[Laura Alec]

Head to Zapoteca and White Rock and ask them for Laura's deal.

[Megan Lawton]

There's shots of the restaurant's interior as well as close ups of the food and drinks. So how do you record content in a public space without annoying others?

[Laura Alec]

It starts with knowing that I'm not the main character when I'm at a restaurant and that because I'm filming I don't get any kind of special privilege. And because I'm filming I need to be even more self aware of what's going on around me. So I always like to think about the people around me first. Is there someone in my shot that's going to be really annoyed that I have a camera pointed at them? I try my best to keep, you know, in a dark restaurant the flash down as much as possible.

[Megan Lawton]

Is this something you've had to learn? Do you think you've annoyed others along the way?

[Laura Alec]

I think you, you, you do learn the kind of uncomfortable way it's, it's in your shot list to get like a pan of the restaurant busy with lots of people in it. But as soon as you raise your camera up and people don't want to be in your shot at all. And so I've learned with people kind of looking over and kind of giving me a disgruntled look. And then I'm like, now I know if there's people in my, in my shots at all, like, that's a shot I shouldn't have taken in the first place.

[Megan Lawton]

We often hear criticism towards influencers, but not everyone feels the same. In his recent Netflix documentary, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay said, influencers are the most powerful critics on the planet.

[Tony Marks]

So I arrived at 22 Bishops Gate, and after flying up 60 floors in the fastest lift ever, I grabbed some Gordon Ramsay popcorn before being greeted by the man himself.

[Megan Lawton]

He even hosted a specific event for influencers to launch his latest restaurant, where creators including Morgan James, documented the night to hundreds of thousands of followers.

[Tony Marks]

One of them is his restaurant Lucky Cat, which is where the after party took place.

[Megan Lawton]

Laura tells me the benefits she brings to restaurants through her content.

[Laura Alec]

There's so many restaurants in Vancouver and so many of them are struggling. Not a lot of people are going out as much as they used to. So they're, they're looking for views, they're looking to get their dishes and their message out there and to bring people in. And that's the power of social media and the way I've grown. My account is that I only will post about places that are awesome. I've gone to so many places, paid my own way in, and then it's an okay experience. You know, it's good. I had a nice time, but if it's not fabulous, I won't share about it. So now that I have that trust with my community that when I do share about it, they will go in and, you know, people are making reservations and there's been lineups around the block and it feels really good to be able to help local businesses in that way.

[Megan Lawton]

Laura's content primarily focuses on hospitality, and she sees her work as a way of putting businesses on the map. But not every creator filming in a cafe is there to review the coffee. Some are making lifestyle, fashion and fitness content or aspirational spend a day in my life type videos.

[Nina Robertson]

Influencers are just normal people and they do go to restaurants, they do go to the gym. And yes, they're creating content for their everyday lives. But at the same time, an everyday person who does have a thousand followers is also probably posting their meal from a restaurant, a dinner with their girlfriends, whatever it may be.

[Megan Lawton]

Nina Robertson is the founder and CEO of Neon Management, a global talent and marketing group. She's based in Sydney and manages a roster of creators and tells me she thinks influencers can get a hard time.

[Nina Robertson]

Businesses are saying, oh, we need marketing, we need exposure and all of these things, when really those are the sorts of people that are doing it organically for them. They're not having to pay these people. The creators are coming and paying for their meal, they're paying for their gym membership and they're creating content at the same time. So I don't see the negative in it unless they are being intrusive to other patrons where if that is the case, then it just needs to be educated to that creator that they need to be more mindful and respectful of others around them.

[Megan Lawton]

Every day, Nina deals with content creators. Some have millions of followers, others are just getting started. She tells me about the advice she gives on the etiquette of filming in public.

[Nina Robertson]

I think it is just having the human decency to be respectful of others around you, obviously trying to create frames where others aren't in the background. So just being mindful of your placement when where you are shooting.

[Megan Lawton]

She highlights lights, tripods and filming equipment as tools to improve the quality of content, but points out they can also be very disruptive.

[Nina Robertson]

Even if you are needing that lighting, making sure that you are in a corner or you're able to not be intrusive of others patrons that are in the same facility.

[Megan Lawton]

As opposed to blaming content creators, though, Nina believes businesses should be upfront on whether they do or don't want influencers filming in their space.

[Nina Robertson]

If a specific restaurant or gym has an issue with it, then put up a sign at the front of the door that says you're not able to record or film content in the space and they'll go elsewhere.

[Megan Lawton]

Thank you to Nina and to all of my guests. You've been listening to Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Megan Lawton. This episode was produced by Sam Grouet. You can find more episodes wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

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