“The next media empire won’t be built in a Hollywood studio or a New York skyscraper. It’ll be crafted in living rooms, home offices, and coffee shops worldwide.”

This prediction comes from Kyle Scott, the newly appointed General Manager of High Growth Creators at Thinkific. With the platform facilitating over $2 billion in creator sales by nearly 900,000 creators, he isn’t just theorizing.

Kyle believes that content creators, once relegated to the fringes of the entertainment industry, are already becoming the next generation of media moguls.

However, according to him, this transition must overcome the challenges of platform ecosystems, monetization, and audience expectations.

In light of his new role, Kyle takes on a trip to the heart of the creator economy, exploring monetization, niche markets, and Thinkific’s role in empowering digital entrepreneurs.

From NBC to Digital Entrepreneurship

Kyle’s career spans a decade as a producer at NBC News, where he worked on flagship programs like the TODAY Show and NBC Nightly News. This experience helped him become an expert in audience building and content creation. 

He later co-founded Sell It, a creator-led sales training business that grew to $10 million in annual revenue. In June 2024, Kyle was appointed GM of High Growth Creators at Thinkific.

In his new role, Kyle focuses on helping creators succeed, noting that “the data shows that once you are successful on our platform, you will stay for a long time.” 

He highlights the potential for long-term monetization in digital product businesses, citing examples of Thinkific users “making tens of thousands of dollars a month and doing very little promotion because they did the hard work upfront.”

Kyle’s move to Thinkific aligns with his belief that “creators are the new mass media companies.” He points to declining traditional media audiences and the growing influence of individual content creators.

Scaling Support for Creator Success

At Thinkific, Kyle is developing a comprehensive strategy to help creators scale their businesses. His approach focuses on creators’ business success because when they are successful, they retain — the key to driving acquisition and advocacy.

“For our successful customers, the more successful they are, the more likely they are to stay and be amazing advocates for our brand, in turn attracting more successful creators,” Kyle explains.

His five-part plan, set to roll out in 2025, centers on community building, services from partner experts, a playbook library, events, and coaching.

Kyle says this combination of resources is designed to give creators the tools and knowledge they need to thrive on the platform. He believes his experience as a creator-business operator will lead to success.

“I’ve done this as a creator-business operator, and now I’m building the same playbook within Thinkific to help other creator-operators scale their business,” Kyle tells us. 

Keys to Success and Pitfalls to Avoid

Kyle points out three factors for high-growth creators looking to scale their businesses: consistency in message, value, and business fundamentals.

“Creators need to remember that they are running a business,” he asserts. “Once you start making money, you owe something in return. You owe something to the person who’s paying you, and you owe something to your audience.”

Kyle stresses the importance of treating creator endeavors as legitimate businesses, focusing on sales, marketing, finance, and operations. He warns against the pitfall of scaling too quickly or losing sight of core messages.

“I have seen too many times where creators try to scale too quickly — they try to niche up too quickly — and they start to think it’s about them,” Kyle cautions. He reminds creators that followers are attracted to the personal brand, not necessarily the multi-faceted individual behind it.

Staying consistent in value delivery is crucial. “You have to remember the value your audience is getting from you being on that platform,” Kyle explains. “The moment you forget why they’re following you, you lose.”

Data’s Role in Driving Growth

For creators aiming to scale, Kyle recommends leveraging data to guide growth strategies. However, he cautions against getting lost in excessive data analysis, especially for lifestyle businesses that can sometimes be run on intuition.

“You have to know when to stop asking for data,” Kyle advises. “It goes back to asking yourself, ‘What I am trying to build here?’”

For those focused on growth, the creator economy veteran highlights several key metrics:

1. Lifetime Value (LTV) to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Ratio: Kyle recommends aiming for an LTV three times the CAC for a healthy business.
2. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This metric helps evaluate the effectiveness of advertising efforts.
3. Revenue Per Thousand Views (RPM): Kyle notes that while ad-based content might generate $5-8 RPM, digital products can yield $1000-2000 RPM.
4. Funnel Metrics: Tracking website visitors, checkout page visits, and conversion rates can reveal areas for optimization.

These metrics must be understood in context. For digital product businesses, Kyle recommends focusing on funnel metrics to identify drop-off points and opportunities for improvement. 

“That’s where you get to start to play,” he explains.

Education: The Cornerstone of Creator Success

Kyle argues that nearly all content creators, regardless of their niche, are essentially educators.

“If you look at what I did as a network news journalist for ten years, it was education,” he says. 

“At the end of the day, what does NBC News do? Inform, inspire, and entertain… It’s education… whether it’s about the personal impact of mortgage interest rates on NBC Nightly News or the latest back-to-school trends on TODAY. Doesn’t that sound much like what digital creators do every day?”

Kyle believes this educational aspect extends to most social media influencers, whether focused on personal finance, fashion, or skincare. 

He emphasizes leveraging this educational content to build owned audiences and diversify their income.

“To achieve long-term success as a creator, you must diversify your revenue and own your audience,” Kyle advises. “If you’re making most of your money on a social platform with a following you do not own, you have risk.”

To mitigate this risk, Kyle recommends creators develop educational products such as lead magnets (e.g., digital downloads), online courses, and coaching programs.

The “Flywheel” Approach

“Brands are pulling back their advertising spend on creators,” Kyle observes. He points to a “hollowing out of the middle,” where micro-influencers and mass influencers still thrive, but mid-tier creators face challenges.

To address this, Kyle recommends a “flywheel” approach to monetization, starting with converting followers to subscribers. 

“The first step is to turn your social media followers into email subscribers,” he explains. “Use lead magnets like a free newsletter or digital downloads to entice them.”

Next, he recommends implementing a “value ladder” strategy to convert free subscribers into paid customers. 

“Start with low-cost digital downloads,” Kyle advises. “Then, progress to more comprehensive online courses. As you build trust and demonstrate value, you can offer high-ticket coaching programs.”

But the journey doesn’t end there. Kyle sees potential for creators to leverage their growing influence for even bigger opportunities. As the audience and influence expand, creators can explore TV appearances, speaking engagements, and even book deals.

“It is a never-ending cycle,” Kyle states. “You are constantly gaining more followers, converting them to subscribers, earning income, selling them value, expanding your presence through third parties like speaking engagements and podcasts, and then using those big-audience opportunities to gain more followers..”

He also highlights the role of platforms like Thinkific in supporting these diverse revenue streams, particularly for creating and selling educational products.

However, building this monetization flywheel takes time and effort: “To people who say that’s a lot of work, what I always say is, ‘Yes, but the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The second best time is today.’”

Riches in Niches

While at NBC, Kyle observed three key themes regarding niche markets:

1. “Riches in niches”
2. People’s willingness to pay for quality information in areas crucial to their wealth, health, and family
3. The increasing value of subject-specific communities

Kyle notes a trend towards “tribalism,” where individuals are drawn to hyper-specific communities that align with their interests. 

“People who hyper-identify with those subjects will be drawn to each other because there is nowhere else to find someone who’s hyper-obsessed with something like Christmas ornaments than an online community,” he explains. “People are willing to spend time where they find people similarly obsessed with their passions.”

This niche focus presents significant financial opportunities for creators. Kyle argues that the deeper and more specific the niche, the more passionate the audience becomes. 

This passion translates into a willingness to invest time, energy, and resources into content and products related to their interests.

“The more you can find a community that is truly a tribe, hyper-identified with a specific subject, the more likely you are to be able to monetize that,” Kyle concludes.

The Rise of Creator-Driven Media Empires

Kyle sees creators as the next wave of mass media companies, arguing that this transformation is already underway. 

We asked him about the trends behind the shift, and he listed the three main ones.

First, there is direct access to audiences. “You no longer have to pitch yourself and convince someone who holds access to the distribution channels that your message should be distributed,” Kyle explains.

Second, riches in niches or the ability to cater to particular interests and communities.

Third, there is the scalability of digital products. “You can create one digital course, and millions of people could buy it,” Kyle notes, referring to the high-margin potential of digital content.

Kyle says that while traditional mass media meant reaching everyone simultaneously, the creator economy is more fragmented but equally impactful. 

“People are consuming media with their favorite creators in the same way that they used to be with [NBC’s] Today Show, Nightly News, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” he observes. “They’re just not all doing it in the same stable as a few broadcast personalities.”

Kyle sees platforms like Thinkific as empowering individuals towards self-employment and financial freedom.

“What we are doing is unlocking the ultimate freedom in life, which is self-employment,” Kyle states, underlining his company’s mission to enable creators to build sustainable businesses by sharing their unique genius with the world. “With a business on Thinkific, you can control your own income while having a massive impact on other people who share a similar passion.”