Influencers and creators don’t need brands on the new internet: how web3 will reconfigure content monetization models

Today, creators — everyone from Instagram models to podcasters — monetize their content with ads. But as we hurtle toward the much-anticipated web3 and a fundamentally decentralized realization of the internet, creators will be able to monetize their content in new ways: via NFTs and tokens for exclusive content. With these new methods and the increased freedom enabled by new virtual spaces, creators and influencers will no longer need brands in the ways they once did. But brands will still have big budgets they hope to deploy to gain engagement from their target audiences — audiences who will increasingly be found in new virtual spaces. As such, they’ll need to develop new, innovative ways to add value to both creators and to their target audiences in order to retain influence.