Investor interest in the creator economy comes across two layers. The first is the expectation of scalable businesses in the classic startup model, something unlikely in this market. The second goes through service companies, but agencies’ margins do not compare to those of large media companies.
Last month, Rafaela Lotto, CEO of YouPix, tried to explain why an unstable industry remains attractive. For those who come from markets structured as oligopolies, with a few players concentrating most of the value, the creator economy presents a distributed logic. Opportunities and capital are spread across a fragmented network of creators and platforms.
There is, however, a third layer that is little explored. Lotto handled two. I add a third that gains strength in the newest development of the CazéTV and LiveMode global case: the creator’s media as an asset.
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According to an investigation by InvestNews 15 days ago, LiveMode took over 100% of CazéTV after incorporating the 49% stake that was held by CMiguel Produções. As reporter Rikardy Tooge explained, the movement involves Casimiro’s departure from the channel’s direct partnership and his entry as a partner in the holding company LiveMode Cayman, which controls the entire operation. It is a share exchange model, with no disclosed values, which still depends on Cade’s approval.
LiveMode Cayman is the same vehicle that received the investment from General Atlantic and functions as the group’s corporate umbrella. When in April last year, I highlighted how General Atlantic had understood more than a decade ago where the media was heading.
The movement has its roots in the second half of 2014, when venture capital decided to look at digital media companies as potential growth engines.
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Now, Casimiro’s definitive integration into the LiveMode structure reignites this discussion and demands an updated reinterpretation of the scenario. The biggest Brazilian case of creator media ratifies a thesis recently adopted by one of the most influential global venture capital firms, based on the content + community + distribution tripod.
a16z began to orient its portfolio to position itself primarily as media companies, and not just as technology businesses. The sector seems to recognize that, today, isolated capital no longer ensures sustainable competitive advantage.
Creators have always worked like this. Build the audience. Understand the demand. Then figure out what to sell.
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Doug Shapiro makes a good distinction between the two economies. Corporate media operates with institutional ownership, centralized decisions, risk portfolios, and intermediaries handling financing, marketing, and distribution. Creator media, in turn, concentrates all alternative forms of monetization and starts from a simple point: editorial independence and direct relationship with the public.
Samir, in an edition of The Colin and Samir Show from late last year, summed it up by saying that a creator is someone with a distribution mindset: they are independent media companies that understand how to achieve scale.
It is for this reason that a16z is adjusting its manual. Relevant startups are driven to master distribution channels. They internalize the playbook of creators who already operate as independent media, taking as an example the emblematic union between Casimiro and LiveMode.
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The change is a reflection of the exhaustion of the media model financed by venture capital in the past decade.
The end of the VC-funded media cycle
The $50 million round that valued BuzzFeed at $850 million and Vox Media’s $46.5 million fundraising entry were the General Atlantic moves in the second half of 2014 that I referred to earlier.
Seven years later, BuzzFeed and Vice were at the center of a story describing their last attempt at survival.
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During the digital media boom of the 2010s, founders talked about taking over the world. In 2014, Vice’s Shane Smith declared, “We’re not going to be the next CNN, ESPN, or MTV. We’re going to be ten times bigger.” In 2015, BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti said he was building “a global, multi-platform news and entertainment network that has never existed before.”
Half a decade later, those ambitions have unraveled as both companies compete for scraps of the advertising market dominated by Facebook and Google.
The final bet was to turn to SPACs to raise cash and buy competitors. According to a financier interviewed by THR at the time, it was “a last resort”. And the context explained: in 2021, private financing for acquisitions had already dried up.
The venture capital that financed these companies migrated to games, augmented reality and sports betting. Giants like Comcast and Disney, which had made nine-figure investments, were spending billions to compete with Netflix.
Nearly two years later, Vice Media Group filed for bankruptcy in 2023. A group of creditors would take over the assets for $225 million, with liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion.
Meanwhile, private capital redirected its investments. Business Insider also listed the 11 main private equity companies investing in digital media in 2021, including General Atlantic. PwC already had more than 170 agreements in the media and telecommunications sector, totaling US$55 billion.
Advancing to the new scenario, the contrast becomes evident. In 2023, it represented almost 10% of a US$2.5 trillion global media and entertainment market. More importantly: it rose much faster.
While the total market has advanced 5% annually since 2020, Shapiro estimates that creative media has grown close to 25% annually. A smaller share, but responsible for almost half of the sector’s leverage.
The analyst’s projections explain the size of the turnaround:
- Growth of 10% per year would take the segment to US$460 billion and 15% of the market in 2030
- At 15% per year, it would reach US$630 billion and exceed 20%
- At 20%, it would reach US$850 billion and 30% of the total
“I predict the creator media economy will more than double by the end of the decade, surpassing $600 billion and 20% of the entire M&E market,” Shapiro wrote late last year.
The border between media and technology disappears from companies’ balance sheets
What was published by Bain at the beginning of this year confirms what the data has already been signaling: the traditional media industry is charting a new route for survival. Companies that once sought scale are now moving toward scope agreements, crossing sectors to face pressure from tech giants.
By 2024, more than half of media and entertainment transactions already involve a target or buyer outside the industry. It is the direct consequence of a market in which streaming, retail, advertising and games merge in the same place. The objective is not only to diversify revenues, but also to guarantee presence in categories where big tech already operates comfortably.
This change also placed intellectual property at the center of decisions. Long-lasting IP has become a strategic asset because it works across multiple modalities and maintains relevance even with fragmented audiences. It is no coincidence that companies like Sony, Disney and private equity funds have accelerated the purchase of catalogs, independent studios and assets that deliver longevity.
Disney is the most emblematic example. After years of prioritizing scale agreements, such as the purchases of Pixar and Fox, the company began to direct capital towards acquisitions of scope. The investment in Epic Games marks this transition. Sony followed a similar path by acquiring Alamo Drafthouse and creating a division for live experiences, expanding its presence into areas that were not previously part of its core.
This advancement beyond traditional borders brings new challenges. Due diligence in cross-sector agreements is more complex, requires a deep understanding of the target audience and more intense use of data to project revenue synergies.
Cultural risk also increases. Media companies that buy technology, retail or live entertainment businesses need to balance different working methods without diluting the assets that justified the transaction, the study warns.
As technology platforms continue to expand their dominance, convergence between media sectors is likely to intensify. Advertisers seek new revenue streams in fragmented markets, while the value of intellectual property capable of attracting audiences remains at an all-time high. The Bain report warns that reinvention through cross-industry acquisitions is the survival imperative.
The creator economy is the laboratory of the future of media
Shapiro sees the clearest parallel to the creator economy in the creator economy. In this ecosystem, barriers to entry are practically non-existent and the content supply is infinite.
Even creators at the top of the pyramid, where audience inequality is extreme, already treat their videos, posts and podcasts as marketing tools for businesses bigger than the media itself.
Some numbers shared by the analyst:
- MrBeast lost $80 million in content last year but generated $250 million in revenue from his chocolate brand Feastables
- CrunchLabs, Mark Rober’s toy subscription, earns 10x more than his YouTube channel
- Renowned authors provide free content to monetize on other fronts, such as Substack
Jasmine Enberg, former Emarketer, defines this ecosystem as an interconnected network of seven stakeholders: creators, audience, platforms, brands, agencies, suppliers and investors. Everyone is involved in creating, distributing or monetizing content, while the industry itself is still debating its fundamental terms.
Rex Woodbury called this new phase “Creator 3.0”: an era that surpasses the sponsored hashtags model. Venture capital has underestimated the sector for years, focusing on superficial tools like CRMs and links-in-bio. The true potential, according to him, lies at the intersection between creation, commerce, games, SaaS and media:
“There are $10+ billion companies waiting to be built in the next generation of the Creator Economy.”
Macro data confirms this movement:
- Mergers and acquisitions in the sector in the first half of 2025 (Quartermast Advisors)
- Global creator revenue is expected to reach $376.6 billion by 2030, more than doubling current levels (WPP Media)
Creatives will permanently face the decision of when, and if, to disintermediate old distributors and operate directly. Most have never thought about owning their own business, but the combination of accessible technology and open distribution makes intellectual property and creative control an increasingly concrete option.
For traditional media companies, it is necessary to move beyond the denial phase. As Shapiro concludes, there are only two choices left: figure out how to actively participate in this new economy or settle for a business in perpetual decline.
The future will not be a revamped version of the past, but a radically new ecosystem being built alongside, and often despite, the traditional model.
