In Creator to Crorepati: Your Guide to Navigating (And Monetizing) the Creator Economy by Aaditya Iyengar, one of the most compelling ideas is a simple but counterintuitive one: not all views are created equal. While most creators chase bigger numbers, Iyengar argues that the real key to sustainable growth, brand partnerships, and long-term income lies in attracting the right audience—not just the largest one.
A beautiful book on business called Zero to One by Peter Thiel asks this question in the first chapter: ‘What important truth do very few people agree with you on?’
This is my answer to it: Creators and their audiences believe that the quantity of views matters the most for longterm success, but it’s an insignificant metric when compared to the quality of views.
You may have heard countless top creators say nonsense like ‘views don’t matter, just start creating content’. This is just them trying to eliminate competition in the field they dominate.
The truth is that views matter the most for any creator, but not in the way you think. The quality of views is what determines how much money a creator makes (if they even make any to begin with) and, most of all, how long they’ll survive as a creator. Keep in mind, I mentioned quality of views, not quantity. This is the most important metric every creator needs to chase, and 99 per cent of them (including the more successful ones) ignore it, which leads to short-lived careers of one or two years.
Quality of Views
Views can easily be defined as high-quality and low-quality in a strictly objective sense. In simple terms, high-quality views can be defined as those which come from a highly engaged and loyal audience with a high income and a high attention span. It is possible to get 100 million monthly views consistently and still not make any money if the audience lacks any of the abovementioned qualities. Let’s see how.
Once, I had an argument with a fellow creator when she asked how much she should quote to a sponsor for a 60-second YouTube Shorts. After asking her several questions about her channel and its characteristics, I replied, ‘Rs 40,000 on the higher end sounds fair.’
She was livid. Her voice changed. I could hear the irritation now. ‘Rs 40,000 on the higher end? Bro, I have 1.32 million followers!’
She was about to quote Rs 2,00,000. A huge difference!
The figure I told her was about 80 per cent lesser than what she had in mind. She asked me how I came up with the number. I then explained to her, ‘You have to understand that the views in this case are of low quality; the brand wouldn’t pay what you’re asking for and you’ll lose the deal before you negotiate.’
She then hung up on me angrily because I called her views ‘low quality’.
This, however, wasn’t in a demeaning sense at all. There’s nothing derogatory about having low-quality views, just that they make it way more difficult to survive in the Creator Economy. Consider this oversimplified example of two hypothetical creators whose audiences lie on opposite ends of the quality spectrum and then we’ll understand their incomes to gauge quality.
Mallika’s Low Quality of Views
We have Mallika, who produces short-format content on fashion. She makes recommendations and pairs different styles to help women find inspiration on the dreaded everyday question of ‘what to wear’. Mallika does this in a regional language and is able to generate nearly 10 million views a month. If you look at her audience breakdown, approximately 50 per cent of it is primarily from the state of Bihar, with Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand making the remaining two top states. There’s a hitch here. Bihar happens to be the poorest state in India in terms of multidimensional poverty. The per capita income for India on average is in the $2600–2700 range, while Bihar is at $650—less than the country of Somalia. Additionally, our creator caters primarily to women, but four in five women from Bihar have never used the Internet.
Now, let’s assume a brand like Zara offers the creator some money to promote their product. The only way this arrangement works is if the content made by Mallika makes her audience sufficiently aware of Zara, in a way that makes them purchase soon after or even consider a purchase in the future. The average item at Zara costs between Rs 2000 and Rs 2500 (approximately $30) or better described as 4.6 per cent of Bihar’s average annual income. So, not only do the people in Bihar not have the means to afford a brand like Zara, but the primary target audience (women) aren’t even on the Internet to discover and learn more about the brand either. Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh too have similar statistics as they’re among the five poorest states in India.
As a result, in the real world, Zara wouldn’t offer Mallika any business. (Although there may be some ill-informed brand managers who select creators purely based on the quantity of views, but that’s why I answered Thiel’s contrarian question the way I did. Most people believe the secret sauce is quantity of views, but it’s actually quality. You’ll see why.)
Shraddha’s High Quality of Views
Now, let’s compare this with the other creator, Shraddha. She’s a chartered accountant who makes long-format finance content. Her videos help people manage their finances better, understand the nature of complex investment products, effectively plan taxes and simplify jargon. More than 90 per cent of her audience is based out of Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi—four of the richest cities in India. Shraddha creates content in English in order to reach a wider audience and despite that just averages about 3,00,000 views a month. However, her credibility as a CA ensures people take her seriously. Her niche isn’t restricted to any gender; her audience resides in the richest cities of India and she makes content in English, which, let’s face it, will only attract some of the most privileged and high-income residents of the country. It doesn’t take much to conclude that the second creator would have brands lining up to offer her sponsorships. Insurers, banks, brokers, advisory firms and other Fintech giants offer Shraddha huge sums of money for a single video integration.
Here’s a shocking income reveal.
Mallika was able to get 10 million views a month, while Shraddha got just 3 per cent of that.
And despite the staggering difference, Mallika may make as little as Rs 50,000 a month on a good day, while Shraddha would make anywhere between Rs 5,00,000 and Rs 7,50,000 a month. Quality ensured that, despite having 97 per cent fewer views, Shraddha earned 12x more.
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