Congratulations, You're a Very Expensive Billboard

I was talking to the manager of a pretty big YouTube star from India a few weeks ago. This person has millions of subscribers and their merchandise sells out in just minutes. I asked the manager a simple question: what does the YouTuber actually own?

The manager said, "Well, they own their channel, obviously." But I wanted to know more, so I asked another question: if YouTube suddenly disappeared tomorrow, what would be left? There was a long pause before the manager answered: "To be honest, I'm not really sure we've ever thought about it that way." That conversation really made me think, and it's what inspired me to write this article.

The thing is, there's a big gap between a creator having a really valuable brand and actually treating it like one. And that's where the opportunity lies. You see, the most valuable characters and ideas aren't being created in big studios anymore - they're being built on YouTube channels. And the people who own them are just starting to realise what they have.

For a long time, only a few big companies like Disney, Warner Bros, and Sanrio could make money from character licensing. They had to have a big studio and spend years building their brand before stores would put their characters on things like lunchboxes. But now, that's all changed.

The creator economy, which is made up of people making money from their own ideas and content, is huge. It was worth around 200 to 250 billion dollars in 2025, and it's expected to almost double to 480 billion dollars by 2027. Just YouTube alone has paid out over 70 billion dollars to creators in the last three years. And the people watching this content aren't just a small group; they're everyone - it's mainstream now.

Here's the thing - most creators still get about 70 per cent of their income from brand deals, which can be pretty unpredictable. These deals are often one-time things and depend on someone else's budget for marketing. And when it comes to ad revenue, it's all about the algorithm - if it changes, your income can too.

That's why the smart creators are focusing on building something that's all theirs, like products, characters, or brands that they can license out. This way, they can turn their fanbase into a steady stream of income, rather than just getting paid now and then. Licensing can be a game-changer, making their fanbase more like a long-term investment than just a series of paychecks.

 The part traditional brands can't buy

 A creator walks into a licensing deal already holding the thing every legacy brand spends a fortune chasing: a warm audience and near-free distribution.

 Imagine a typical product launch, where a brand spends a lot of money - often several dollars per person - on ads to reach new customers, and then hopes they'll actually buy something. But creators are doing things differently. For them, the content they create is actually the marketing, which means they don't have to spend much money to get customers. And because people already trust the creator, they're more likely to buy from them.

In fact, in India, brands that are led by creators are reportedly doing three to five times better than traditional brands, just because they don't have the problem of trying to win over new customers from scratch. It's all about trust - that's the real product. The merchandise they sell is just a kind of proof that you're a fan.

 Having a strong audience doesn't mean you have to sell things only on your own website. Just look at Mr Beast's Feastables; it's a great example. People usually buy chocolate on a whim when they're checking out, not when they're browsing online. So, Feastables got their products into around 30,000 stores like Walmart, Target, and 7-Eleven.

This didn't replace traditional retail; it actually made it better. When fans go into a store and ask for a specific product, it's like a signal to the retailer that they should stock more of it.

Having a lot of subscribers can be a powerful tool in making deals, rather than a reason to avoid working with other retailers. This way, you can use your audience to boost your sales in physical stores, and it can be a win-win for everyone involved.

 Two roads: build it, or license it

 There are two ways to turn a channel into a product empire, and people constantly mix them up.

One way to go about it is to have complete control over the brand. A good example of this is Feastables. Another one is Youthiapa, a streetwear label started by Bhuvan Bam, who's also behind BB Ki Vines. He launched it back in 2017, using his popular catchphrases, and it was so successful that it crashed its own website on the very first day.

The good thing about owning a brand outright is that you get to keep most of the profits. However, it also means you have to handle all the behind-the-scenes work, like managing supply chains, keeping track of inventory, and providing customer service - all the not-so-glamorous tasks that keep a business running.

 So, there's this thing called classic licensing, where the person who created something gets to keep the rights to it, but they let other companies make and sell the products.

They get a royalty, which is like a fee, for every item sold. This is kind of like what Disney does, and it's a good way to grow your brand quickly because you're not responsible for making the products yourself. For a lot of creators, licensing is a smart first step because it's less risky, you can reach more people, and you don't have to worry about the costs of production and shipping. Someone else handles all that, and you just get to collect the royalties.

 Where the potential is

 The opportunity isn't spread evenly, and the gaps are where the money sits.

India is a huge market with a lot of potential. According to BCG, there are already 2 to 2.5 million creators in India who are making money from their influence, and they are affecting around 350 to 400 billion dollars in consumer spending. This number is expected to go up to 1 trillion dollars by 2030.

YouTube is also doing very well in India, adding around 1.8 billion dollars to the country's GDP in 2024 and supporting over 930,000 jobs.

In fact, India is now the biggest audience for YouTube in terms of watch hours. But what's surprising is that almost no Indian creator has set up a proper licensing program, which means there's a big gap in the market for companies that want to license content. This is a great opportunity for licensors, as they can tap into this huge audience with very little competition.

 The UK is seeing a big impact from YouTube creators, with a whopping 2.2 billion pounds added to the economy in 2024, and around 45,000 jobs supported, says Oxford Economics. This makes YouTube the biggest commercial media platform in the country, beating out all the TV channels and streaming services. It's gotten to the point where Parliament has even created a special group just for digital creators, showing how much this industry has grown and matured.

You see this happening all over the place. Take the US, for example, where just a few really big creators are raking in most of the money. Meanwhile, in Japan, these virtual talent agencies are getting into all sorts of things like trading cards and retail. The thing is, there are already plenty of people interested, but the licensing programs just aren't keeping up. It's like the supply is way behind what people actually want, and it's been that way for years.

If this issue was insightful, the next one will be too. Licensing Radar lands every week, one signal worth your time, written by someone operating in this market.