Keep it simple and focus on these mantras
Diverse revenue streams, including subscriptions and ad-supported models, are essential for most creators to see revenue growth and profitability.
Best place to find the secret to success is by studying the fellow creators who have made it big. Content creators of all kinds have developed sophisticated, diversified revenue streams across multiple social media, video, gaming and streaming platforms. They repurpose content, while still providing unique content for each channel. They pursue a full suite of ad revenue, subscription fees, sponsorship agreements, merchandise sales, and licensing deals.
1️⃣ Stay nimble
The best content creators are able to adopt new platforms—and new revenue streams—quickly. Being quick is very important here. Being nimble helps you in responding quickly.
2️⃣ Testing
Avoid engaging in multi-year licensing or sponsorship agreements out of the gate. First use proof-of-concept engagements to test the waters before committing to the sponsorships, licensing or merchandising.
3️⃣ Quantity over quality
Your content may not have the highest production value, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the audiences. Rather, prioritize short-form authentic content, and lots of it, to keep their audiences coming back every day, on different channels.
Cocomelon's Journey: Building a Global Children's Entertainment Empire
In 2006, Cocomelon started as a modest YouTube channel dedicated to animated nursery rhymes, with its first upload being the Alphabet Song. Today, its diversified strategy has led to billions of views and hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.
Although it could have solely relied on YouTube, where by 2016, it already accumulated a billion total views, Cocomelon was, by May 2024, the third most-subscribed and second most-viewed channel on the platform—a remarkable achievement by any standard. However, in 2020, the channel expanded its reach by distributing content across platforms like Netflix, Roku, and Hulu. Additionally, throughout 2020 and into 2021, Cocomelon introduced content in various languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, German, and Arabic, significantly broadening its audience.
In the same year, they ventured into e-commerce, selling toys and apparel directly from their website. Since then, they've partnered with streaming services throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and have developed a new original series for Netflix, titled Cocomelon Lane.
Content creators know they're always trying to catch and keep viewers' attention. It's not enough to grab interest once; the key is holding it over time. Viewers can easily come across your content, enjoy it, and then move on. Keeping them engaged is crucial to prevent this from happening. An active comment section is one way to boost engagement.
In example of Cocomelon, as mentioned above: They started with a simple animated video of the Alphabet Song for young kids and their parents. The social features on YouTube, like comments and subscriptions, helped them build a community among young families. Over time, Cocomelon expanded their content to reach more kids worldwide and cater to older children by adding two new series. This approach helped Cocomelon maintain loyalty and goodwill, keeping viewers as they grew up and attracting new ones.
No matter how many viewers you have, it's crucial to regularly check engagement data to spot trends and make improvements. Also, listen to what your audience says and use their feedback to make your content better.
It's important to take a comprehensive approach that focuses on content, personalization, user experience, and building a relationship with your audience.
Discoverability is key—having great content is important, but ensuring users can easily find it and that it’s relevant to them is just as critical. You can also offer short-form videos—backstage, interviews, outtakes, making videos —of your most popular content on social media channels to keep it top of mind for viewers.
This is a short post focusing only on the core aspect of the topic. We have covered the three mantras and a case study with final thoughts on maintaining a healthy viewer engagement and churn ratio. I hope this will help the creators to grow their revenues.