This topic has been sitting in my drafts for over two years, but now feels like as good a time as any to revisit it. If memory serves, the original inspiration for this post was the graph of e-commerce sales as a % of total retail. By Q2 2022, the spike from the pandemic had snapped right back to trendline — about as steep a drop as our collective memory of the whole covid thing. But in hindsight, this chart (and my early draft) was too narrowly focused, considering only the revenue opportunity available to creators from retail sales happening in physical stores.
A few years later, zooming out, it’s clear the offline opportunity is far broader. It includes not only in-store retail but also other categories of personal consumption or “PCE” for economic data nerds. Put differently: there’s a lot more spend up for grabs than just what happens in a checkout (page or aisle).
And the last year or so has cemented creator influence in one area in particular: in-person entertainment and events. Herein lies an opportunity for creators to deeply engage fans and make money outside the confines of their screens, and it’s massive. In 2024, roughly $240bn was spent on in-person entertainment and events — and that’s not including sporting events and movie tickets!
On some level, it’s ironic. Our entire creator investing thesis is predicated on the internet’s connectivity, enabling entrepreneurs to build online communities of people with deep willingness to interact (and transact) digitally. But just because creators start online doesn’t mean they have to stay there.
Axios recently reported that ticket sales have grown 500% year over year, driven in large part by podcast tours. Live events are becoming a significant revenue line for creators — not just for the dollars but for the chance to engage directly with fans and, importantly, to test the limits of their fandom. Further, the desire for connection between and among fans is not to be understated — turns out hanging with your tribe IRL might actually be better than online?
And podcast tours are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve seen:
Marquee events like the All-In Summit or Bryan Johnson’s Don’t Die gatherings
Industry trade shows with creators at the helm, like Will Osman’s Open Sauce or Aaron Witt’s Dirt World
Pop-ups and IRL collabs like Paige Lorenze’s Dairy Boy shop, Peter Do’s Supper Club, or FeedMe x TBPN’s summer party
Unofficial meetups organized by groups like the FORM girls or HSR Angels
And of course, the Savannah Bananas — who are, quite literally, in a league of their own
The trend of converting online fandom into offline experiences and spend is only accelerating. The open question is whether we eventually hit event fatigue. My guess is we’ll sooner be talking about creators extending into other areas of consumer spend altogether. Outpatient services, education… it feels like no category is off the table? Like I said a few years ago: the creator opportunity is really just a consumer one.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Annual Personal Consumption Expenditures By Function
And speaking of events! I would like to shamelessly plug our own. On September 18th, we are hosting a Creator CEO Summit at the Lighthouse in Venice, CA. Invite here and details below:
There is a critical gap in education and community for creators who want to grow into long-term, scaled business builders. To help close that gap, we are hosting a one-day summit for creators who want to learn about building businesses — led by fellow creators and operators who have done exactly that.
We’ll cover five key areas across 1) capital and fundraising, 2) venture studios and strategic partnerships, 3) hiring and leadership, 4) DTC and retail distribution, 5) building technical products and platforms (with stories and lessons from people who’ve been through it all).
Space is very limited for 70 qualified creators and some operators. The format will be intimate, panel discussions, with creators encouraged to interrupt.
Agents, managers, platform folks, operators: please send your most entrepreneurial creators eager to go beyond brand deals, CPMs, influencer campaigns, or media monetization. Excited to see them there.
Thanks for reading!
Megan
P.S. Read more from the archive here