Among the unique job markets cropping one, one is that of the meme creators, where people are taking up creating memes as a full-time job given the rise in the meme economy.
Memes As A Source Of Income?
The meme market has seen a big boom, especially in the last couple of years and along with that, there has been the rise of the meme creators. Memes pages are popping up across every social media platform, posting memes on any and every topic.
Some might take up niche topics like politics or nostalgia, entertainment or sports, but the rise of such pages is going up by leaps and bounds and so are their follower numbers, some having over 10 million followers.
Of course, this results in brands collaborating with them, owing to their massive reaches, to promote their campaigns or involving meme creators in ad projects. One of them would be Saurav Sharma, who as per a Moneycontrol report, started as a meme creator in 2019 and currently the co-founder and head of department at the recently introduced meme marketing department influencer marketing firm OpraahFx.
Apparently, Saurav’s earnings from his memes led to him not just covering his education expenses but also buying a car, and a home.
Sharma said “After graduating in 2022, I went on to build my own home at the age of 23 through my income from memes. At 24, I believe I am earning more through memes than I would have through a traditional engineering career after graduation.”
Nikhil Singh Sumal, CEO of Growth Jet Media, an advertising agency that also runs meme pages said “A creator who owns a meme page with 1 million followers makes Rs 2-3 lakh per month and those with 10 million followers for a meme page make Rs 20-30 lakh per month (from advertisers).
A meme page owner with 10 million followers charges Rs 30,000 per reel but prices go up 2.5x when the content is political. Costs go up by 5x for content creation for betting apps.”
Sumal added that during major events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) meme creators even as much as a whopping Rs/. 60-70 lakh a month since this might include betting apps that increase their payment for daily promotions. Sumal revealed that a betting app paid Rs. 90 lakh per month during IPL Season 17 to post memes on a page with 10 million followers.
Taaran Chanana, founder of the meme platform MemeChat also commented “Our highest meme creator, who goes by the name Lame Shubh, earns upwards of Rs 30,000 monthly just by making memes. On a monthly basis, an average meme creator with at least 50,000 following across his social media will easily earn upwards of Rs 25,000 monthly and over Rs 4 lakh on an yearly basis since promotions increase during the cricket World Cup, IPL, etc.”
According to reports, MemeChat’s memes around the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2024 both general and brand campaign-related, are supposedly getting engagement of over 1 million on Instagram daily.
Read More: This Meme Costs 4 Million Dollars In The Digital Market: Why And How?
This has led to creative agencies looking for meme creators with Nimesh Shah, Founder and CEO of Windchimes Communications explaining “Agencies are looking out for people not traditionally specified as content writers but they are budding stand-upartists or simple folks who are good with wordplay.”
Shah further commented “Memes are definitely enjoying more popularity as a communication mode these days. It’s primarily because of its inherent nature of being topical. This creates multiple opportunities for the brand to ride on and get viral. Brands showcase their product features and USPs wrapped in the humour wrapper of memes.”
Aalap Desai, an independent creative professional, also said “Humour is such a positive emotion that whenever someone makes you smile, the memory stays with you. With memes, this has become serious business. Brands have realised the power of short-form humour and are asking more of it because people never have or, in my opinion, never will, mind sharing a joke. Even if it’s branded.”
Advit Sahdev, a marketing expert also commented that “For Millennials and Gen Z, the digital natives who grew up with the ability to scroll, like and share,memes are more than just a hobby; it’s a language. And the brands that speak this language, infusing humor and wit into their campaigns, are the brands that not only attract attention; they win hearts.”
Boom Of Meme Market
According to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants, meme consumers spend an average of 30 minutes a day scrolling memes, an 80% increase from last year. This has certainly been noticed by marketers and brands who want to use this as a way to target their audience and create a connection.
The meme economy has been booming with many parties taking advantage of their viral popularity and cultural significance.
Meme economy essentially means the combination of memes with commerce where memes as cultural artifacts are created, distributed and monetised.
Digital marketing has anyway been on the rise. According to a report by Precedence Research it is estimated that the global digital ad spending market size said to have reached USD 550 billion in 2023 will be reaching around USD 1,367 billion by 2033.
However, memes have been added to this sector now with a market by WLDD claiming that the meme marketing industry in India, said to be approximately Rs. 1,000 crores currently is expected to reach almost Rs. 3,000 crores by 2025.
Meme marketing budgets in recent times have increased from single digits to 30-40 percent of the marketing budget. Nimesh Shah also commented how 90% of the marketing budge by D2C brands is spent on digital and out of that 70% is nowadays going toward social media, especially memes.
This has even led to a rise in the job of sector meme creators where companies are employing professionals who can carry out meme-based social media campaigns, include memes in the brand’s marketing, or bring on content creators who have a good handle on this particular sector.
Some of the biggest companies like Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Edelweiss, Kellogs, and more are investing heavily in meme marketing. Zomato, Swiggy, and Netflix are also well-known players in this, with these names often going viral for their memes to promote their products or new ad campaigns.
The streaming site’s sub-account “Netflix is a Joke” is actually focused on meme marketing, where humorous memes meant to be relatable, funny, or self-aware are posted in order to keep engagement high and the name of the brand easy to recall.
Another instance was of Manoj Bajpayee getting involved in the meme marketing during the promotion of “The Family Man 2” saying Meme ho toh hit ho,” leading to people creating a positive and relation impression of him.
Dabur, as per a report by Exchange4Media in 2023 has been increasing its investment into social media since 2-3 years and as per Rajiv Dubey, Media Head, Dabur India Ltd “Memes coupled with other content formats on social commands have a significant share and are growing at over 15%YOY.”
Dubey speaking with e4m said Dubey noted, “Memes have helped us communicate with consumers and expand our reach by making us more relatable, more engaging, increased engagement and website traffic. They also help us to reach a wider audience. This helps us to build brand awareness.”
Similarly, Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India, said, “Times have changed, our audience has changed and so has the way we communicate with them. It’s common knowledge that TV and print isn’t the best and end of all things and digital has taken a strong leading role. In reality, digital itself is a complex medium which requires different ways that we need to approach it. Right from the configuration of the creative teams, which also include video editors and creative tech teams besides copy and art now, to teams venturing into newer approaches like memes, I think it is a fantastic way of accentuating a brand idea. Interesting times, I say :).”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Moneycontrol, ET Brand Equity, Exchange4Media
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Meme Creation, meme, Meme Creation income, meme economy, income, meme creation ideas, meme creation topics, meme creation ai, meme creation competition
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, or copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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