Snapchat President plans to woo big brands
Ronan Harris, EMEA President of Snapchat, the Co-Founder of Influencer.com, Casper Lee and content creator Tue Nguyen explain how the $250 billion influencer economy is reshaping the future of business.
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00:00Hundreds of millions of people now describe themselves as content creators.
00:06The rules of the game have changed, and businesses are rewriting their marketing playbooks to
00:12keep pace with the irrepressible influencer economy.
00:19Welcome to The Exchange from our studios here in Doha.
00:23Coming up on this episode, Snapchat's president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Ronan Harris,
00:29reveals the secrets of Snap's success and why business users are at the heart of his
00:34future plans.
00:35Plus, we meet the YouTube megastar turned agency boss, Kasper Lee, to find out where
00:40the influencer economy might go next.
00:42Well, in recent years, the influencer economy has matured.
00:46According to finance group Goldman Sachs Research, it's a sector now worth at least $250 billion
00:53and predicted to almost double, reaching $480 billion by 2027.
00:59According to research by Influencer Marketing Hub, a firm that specializes in data across
01:04the social media and influencer industry, a staggering 200 million people now identify
01:10as content creators, with about a third of this number intending to pursue it as a full-time
01:16profession.
01:17And while celebrity deals make the biggest headlines, influencers with fewer followers
01:22are critical to the future success of the industry.
01:25According to research conducted by Harvard Business Review, content creators with 50,000
01:31followers or less account for a remarkable 76% of all TikTok creators and up to 96% on
01:38Instagram.
01:40So how easy is it to survive and thrive as a content creator?
01:44Well, our reporter Pierrick Laurent in Los Angeles met one business owner with her own
01:50recipe for influencer success.
01:54Hi, Guy.
01:55Los Angeles is the ultimate destination for influencers.
01:58This is where the wildest dreams come true.
02:00And today I'm going to meet with someone whose success went beyond what she even imagined.
02:07Hi.
02:08Thuy Nguyen is only 26, but the Vietnam native who moved to the US when she was a child has
02:13a million followers on TikTok and Instagram combined.
02:17She gained visibility during the pandemic from posting this cooking video of her favorite
02:22Vietnamese recipe.
02:23There was so much interaction and I was like, oh, people are really liking this.
02:28And then I think it was the first like six hours, it got like over 3 million views.
02:34By signing with an agent, she quickly monetized her increasing fame on social media.
02:39Most of my money comes from brand deals.
02:43That's where the usage rights come in play.
02:45And that's where they use your content for advertisement.
02:50After hosting a series of pop-up restaurants, she partnered in 2023 with a lifestyle company
02:56to open her own place in West Hollywood.
02:58Didi features her best recipes and has already served 40,000 customers.
03:04But Thuy says the competition is fierce.
03:07I feel like this happens to a lot of restaurants, whether it started on social media or not.
03:12The honeymoon phase died down after the opening because they're like, oh, yeah, we've already
03:17been there.
03:18And so in order to keep people coming back, we constantly change up our menu.
03:23We have events.
03:24And Thuy isn't done yet.
03:27She's on track to publish her first cookbook in September.
03:33The talented Thuy Huynh there sharing the key ingredients needed to achieve success.
03:40She's got messaging super app Snapchat has over 400 million daily users.
03:45Ronan Harris is the company's president of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
03:49I asked Ronan why so many people are attracted to Snapchat and what future direction the
03:54firm is taking.
03:58Influencers come to Snapchat first and foremost because they find an audience that they can
04:01connect with.
04:02It's the fun, creative lenses that allows them to have a little bit of a kind of a fun
04:07moment with their with their closest relationships.
04:10So augmented reality is something that Snapchat really has a leading position in, both in
04:17terms of our technology, but also in terms of the usage stats.
04:21But it's also playing a very important role for brands and businesses.
04:25So sponsored augmented reality lenses are something that's giving people a very different
04:30sort of ad format.
04:31It's giving people an opportunity to create an experience online that their potential
04:38consumers and fans can really wrap themselves in.
04:43So big platforms like Snapchat are evolving, but so are some of social media's most famous
04:48faces.
04:50YouTube superstar Caspar Lee launched his comedy and interview channel back in 2011
04:55and became one of the most popular YouTubers in the world.
04:58Many years and millions of followers later, Caspar's career has evolved to support other
05:03creators and the big brands they represent.
05:06Well, I caught up with Caspar here in Doha and asked him why he made this transition
05:11and his thoughts on why social media apps are so popular.
05:16So about seven years into my career as a YouTuber or creator, I met a guy called Ben Jeffries
05:22and he had this idea about connecting brands and creators at scale.
05:27And so we co-founded Influencer.com together.
05:30And at the time, the brand deal world was really kind of a wild west.
05:35And so what we wanted to do is professionalize that with really incredible people, but also
05:39great technology.
05:41And we've managed to do that.
05:42We've worked on thousands of campaigns with tens of thousands of creators and some of
05:49the world's leading brands and we work across the globe.
05:52So when it comes to posting, I don't think there's a one size fits all.
05:57You're going to see creators being able to scale their productions without having to
06:00hire massive teams because things like editing, remixing, just making content in general,
06:06even special effects, these sorts of things have become a lot easier.
06:10Ultimately, people want to follow real people and listen to real stories.
06:15Now it's time for our regular feature, Business in 60 Seconds.
06:18Start the clock.
06:19Bang and Ulusen get ready for their annual general meeting.
06:22The Danish firm famous for high end speakers has been busy developing a new smartphone
06:27app capable of delivering high resolution audio and immersive spatial sound formats
06:33to enhance the listening experience of its customers.
06:36Investors will be hoping that markets remain in tune with the firm's strategic shift from
06:41hardware to software.
06:43Popular fashion brand American Eagle Outfitters Incorporated prepares to share an earnings
06:48release for Q2 2024.
06:51The fashion group recently centralized the management of all American Eagle brands into
06:55one location.
06:57Aegean Airlines reports on their half year performance for 2024.
07:01Greece's leading domestic airline celebrated its 25th birthday earlier this year with a
07:06record increase in passenger numbers.
07:08The group's revenue and profits soared to record heights in 2023, continuing their financial
07:14success this year will mean navigating turbulent market conditions.
07:21So the influencer revolution is in full swing with billions of dollars being made every
07:26day by influencers and agencies alike.
07:30But with technology like AR and AI transforming digital platforms and influencers increasingly
07:36catching the eye of marketing directors and CEOs, it's clear that what boardrooms used
07:42to see as novelty is fast becoming the norm.