Matthew Hughes, founder of TubeFest and Creator Live UK, is making waves in the creator economy. 

With a background in video production, Hughes has pivoted to focus on helping small business owners and entrepreneurs create consistent video content, with a particular emphasis on YouTube.

“We traveled the world creating videos largely for tech companies, which was really exciting,” Hughes says of his seven-year stint running a video production company. 

In 2020, Hughes shifted gears to concentrate on content creation for smaller brands. An unexpected source sparked his journey into the creator economy. 

“I attended Vid Summit, which is the place where all the best YouTubers in the world go,” he explains. 

The experience was eye-opening for Hughes, who was struck by the enthusiasm of the content creators he met. 

“I’d never met a YouTube content creator who wasn’t insanely delighted by their life creating content,” he recalls. This realization inspired him to consider leveraging his technical knowledge in a new direction.

Hughes’s current focus on YouTube content creation stems from his observations of successful creators. He notes that many generate income through various channels, including “advertising revenue [and] brand deals.”

Hughes believes the creator economy’s appeal lies in its ability to transform content creation into a viable career. 

“It just really inspired me that actually the people that I met, they were so happy that their lives revolved around creating content for money,” he says. 

Hughes is now working to foster a community of content creators and provide resources for those looking to build their online presence.

Two Tracks, One Vision

Creator Live UK is a virtual summit designed to bridge the gap between business owners and content creators. The event brings together speakers worldwide in a unique two-track format. 

“We have a business track and a creator track,” Hughes explains. “The idea is that business owners are often not creators. They don’t think like creators, and creators are often not business owners.”

This approach aims to foster collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas. 

“By bringing those two groups of people together, magic happens because we get good collaborations, but also they learn great things from each other in the areas that they’re most probably not confident in,” Hughes says.

Despite advice to the contrary, Hughes was committed to this dual-track vision. 

“I was told not to do two tracks. It will be too much work, too much effort, or cost too much,” he recalls. “But I was so focused on one vision that we’d be able to do this and that it was important to bring those two groups of people together.”

The most recent iteration of Creator Live featured 40 speakers and 40 sessions across the two tracks. 

Building a Diverse Speaker and Attendee Community

Hughes is cultivating a diverse community of speakers and attendees for his virtual summit to connect business owners with content creators.

The event’s speaker selection process is inclusive, balancing established professionals with emerging voices. 

“I very much believe in supporting people that are just getting started in public speaking as well as those people that are established, professional speakers,” Hughes says, encouraging potential speakers to provide comprehensive information when applying, as it helps the organizers make informed decisions.

Creator Live’s content spans two tracks: business and creator. The business track features a range of perspectives, from mindset coaches to veteran entrepreneurs. 

Hughes emphasizes that business-focused talks should have a creator economy angle. 

“If it’s got a creative spin on it or some way in which you’ve used the creator economy to add value to your business, that’s what we look for on a business track,” he explains.

The creator track is open to a wide array of content creators. “We look for cool stories,” Hughes says. 

He adds, “This includes traditional YouTubers as well as bloggers, TikTokers, and other digital content producers.” 

Past sessions have covered topics such as securing brand deals and growing subscriber bases.

The event’s broad focus on the creator economy sets it apart from Hughes’s in-person conference, TubeFest, specifically targeting YouTube creators. This inclusive approach allows Creator Live to address the diverse needs of the evolving digital content landscape.

Creator Live’s Unique Approach

Hughes emphasizes that Creator Live differs from a fan event like VidCon or a traditional business conference. 

“Our events are not fan events. They’re about being in the industry. They’re about professionalism. They’re about business,” he says. 

However, he quickly adds, “On the flip side, I don’t want you to think of it like a business conference. You know, business conferences to me feels stuffy and boring… This just doesn’t have that feel to it at all. It’s a very vibrant, fun, enjoyable event to be part of.”

Hughes believes that the role of events like Creator Live in the broader creator economy is primarily educational. 

He notes a unique aspect of the creator landscape: “You can be, like, almost a celebrity in a really specific niche.” This phenomenon leads to a diverse array of content creators, each with their expertise and audience.

Hughes sees value in bringing these niche creators together. “What I want to do, and what I’m hoping with this event, is that we help bring people into different niches and learn from those different niches,” he says. 

He believes this cross-pollination of ideas can help creators avoid stagnation in their content strategies. 

“You can get stuck on the same type of content you create in the same niche,” Hughes observes. “It’s sometimes a little bit hard unless you move out of the niche to see how other types of content work in other niches.”

Building Lasting Connections Beyond the Event

Hughes aims to create an environment that fosters connections before, during, and after the event. 

“We really want to create an environment where… even before the event, you get to meet people that are there. After the event, you can continue that networking,” he explains. 

This approach differs from traditional events, where attendee interaction often ends with the closing session. Hughes notes, “A lot of the times at events, you go to the event, you attend the event, and that’s kind of it.” 

In contrast, Creator Live seeks to maintain engagement through its “Creator Meetup” platform.

“We have the Creator Meetup, which is where we put everybody in before and after the event,” Hughes says. This initiative allows participants to “connect with people in a longer and deeper way than if you just attended and then left and never saw those people again.”

The goal is to facilitate more meaningful relationships within the creator community. 

Hughes believes this approach benefits both established influencers and newcomers by providing opportunities for sustained networking and knowledge sharing.

Overcoming Challenges and Planning for Growth

Operating with a small team, which Hughes prefers to call a “niche team,” presents significant logistical hurdles. 

“The challenge really is just time and resources,” he explains. 

Despite these constraints, the team leverages their diverse skills, with Hughes handling technical aspects and his wife serving as the graphic designer.

Marketing has proven to be another obstacle, particularly due to limitations on social media platforms. 

“At one point Facebook just cut us off… They said we were spamming everyone,” Hughes recounts. This setback has forced the team to explore creative, non-paid marketing strategies, as the event is currently free to attend.

Hughes maintains an optimistic outlook for Creator Live and TubeFest despite these challenges. He has developed a five-year plan for the business, with ambitious goals for event frequency. 

“We want to do an event every 13 weeks,” he says, envisioning a rotation between Creator Live and TubeFest each quarter.

This regularity aims to keep the community engaged and informed. “I want people to know that there’s always new things coming, that we’re bringing new speakers, that we’ve got a thriving community,” Hughes explains.

A Vision for the Creator Economy’s Future

When discussing trends, Hughes emphasizes the importance of a balanced approach. 

“Trends are important and that’s great for growth. And it’s a shorter-term strategy to follow trends,” he notes. 

He also advocates for a more sustainable strategy: “Creating a long-term strategy where you can encompass trends is probably more important. And being agile with that when you’re creating content.”

Regarding industry changes, Hughes wants YouTube to extend the duration of Shorts beyond the current 60-second limit. 

“I want to see shorts not be 60s,” he says, noting that other platforms like TikTok and Instagram have embraced longer short-form content.

More significantly, Hughes calls for increased support for smaller creators in the ecosystem. 

“What most people in the creator economy need is that gap closing from being a huge creator and being a small creator,” he explains. In his view, this support should include both financia and other forms of assistance.

This vision for a more inclusive creator economy aligns with Hughes’s efforts through Creator Live and TubeFest to provide platforms for both established and emerging voices in the digital content space. 

By advocating for structural changes that support smaller creators, Hughes aims to foster a more diverse and sustainable creator ecosystem, potentially shaping the future direction of events like Creator Live.