Gushcloud International, a global creator and IP management and licensing company powered by AI, has been named among YouTube’s initial partners for its new Creator Solutions program in Southeast Asia (SEA). 

The program focuses on filling the monetization gap for mid-tier content creators and tackling the market’s revenue split in which only the top creators dominate earnings.

Operating from 12 global offices, Gushcloud will manage campaign executions and creator relationships while developing AI-powered platforms for influencer selection and brand partnerships.

The initiative comes as SEA’s brands have long struggled to measure return on investment from influencer marketing campaigns.

Veteran industry executive Nirote Chaweewannakorn, known professionally as “May,” oversees the efforts. He serves as Country Director for Gushcloud Thailand and Head of Talent for Southeast Asia. He boasts nine years of experience in influencer marketing, spanning the industry’s nascent stages when brands began exploring creator partnerships.

“Back then, the industry was the Wild West. Nobody knew things. Everybody was scrambling to find a way to work with content creators,” says Nirote. “Fast forward to nine years; everything has become more standardized these days.”

In addition to entertainment IP development and licensing, Gushcloud maintains operations spanning talent management, influencer marketing, and content production.

“We see that there’s a gap between brands and content creators. They don’t work well together on many occasions,” says Nirote. “With our help, brands can work with content creators better, and vice versa.”

Moreover, Gushcloud’s reach extends beyond traditional talent management through its sister company, Summer International, which handles product development and distribution for creator merchandise.

Nirote manages talent-related operations, focusing on creator acquisition and development. “We are planning to sign more and more content creators,” he says. “I create the talent strategy, which includes who we should sign and how we plan to develop them and grow their revenue.”

Boosting Creator Monetization

Gushcloud’s partnership with YouTube introduces Google’s platform as an active intermediary in creator-brand collaborations. 

Nirote explains, “YouTube comes in and says, ‘Let me be the one in the middle and help drive the performance of the campaigns.’ I will have rules if brands want to engage with content creators. And if followed, I will ensure a good campaign performance.”

The program targets mid-tier creators with 50,000 to 300,000 subscribers, addressing income inequality in the creator economy. 

“The 20/80 rule applies to the creator economy, where 20% of the content creators earn 80% of the money pools in the economy,” says Nirote. “This project will help distribute more income to the lower 80% and help grow the creator economy even more.”

For brands, the program offers enhanced performance tracking and targeting capabilities. “YouTube can control the number of views, who sees the content, and the ads,” says Nirote. “[YouTube] will make sure that the people who watch this content will be the people who are already in the market to purchase the product.”

As a partner, Gushcloud will manage campaign execution and creator relationships. “Gushcloud will be managing all content creators who join the campaigns that the brands would like to engage through this program,” says Nirote.

Filling the ROI Gap for Brands in SEA

YouTube’s new Creator Solutions program, with Gushcloud as an initial partner, takes on a longstanding challenge in influencer marketing: proving return on investment for brands while maintaining creator authenticity.

“This is what brands have been asking for [over the last] three to four years,” Nirote says, with clients complaining that although they got awareness, they still have issues driving sales. He believes the new program will help solve those problems.

The initiative aims to separate awareness campaigns from performance marketing. According to Nirote, brands will likely adopt a two-pronged approach: “Brands do need to create the awareness campaign and the branding campaigns… but then brands will use this program to approach the ROI.”

However, implementation faces some initial hurdles. While onboarding creators, particularly those with 50,000 to 300,000 subscribers, Gushcloud has encountered resistance from creators who have had negative experiences with previous Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs). “The old bad experience affects the decision-making of now,” Nirote explains.

Technical literacy presents another challenge, particularly among younger creators. “A lot of the content creators, especially the young ones, don’t understand the technical aspects,” says Nirote. Cultural factors also complicate the onboarding process. “In Asian culture, people don’t ask questions… if you ask ten of them if they understood it, they will say yes, but deep down they don’t know.”

Despite these challenges, Gushcloud remains optimistic about the program’s potential. The company is starting with its exclusive creators as pilot participants, planning to use their success stories to demonstrate the program’s value to other creators. 

“If it works, it will help answer all the brand’s doubts,” says Nirote. “The content creators will be happy, the brands will be happy.”

Indonesia as a Strategic Testbed for YouTube Creator Solutions

Indonesia‘s massive digital population and cost-efficient operating environment make it an ideal launching pad for YouTube’s Creator Solutions program, according to Gushcloud executives. The Southeast Asian nation is a critical testing ground for new creator economy initiatives.

“Indonesia is always the country that brands or platforms would like to launch initiative[s] for new products because of its population of over 200 million,” says Nirote. “The cost of operation in Indonesia is not high, so many brands and platforms will go there first when they want to launch an initiative.”

Nirote notes that Thailand typically follows as the second target market, citing its exceptionally high social media consumption rates despite its smaller population.

Gushcloud envisions itself becoming a comprehensive business partner for creators, many of whom excel at content creation but lack business acumen. 

“What content creators are good at is creating content. Some content creators are good at business, but it’s just a rare case,” says Nirote. “I bet 95% of the content creators out there don’t know about the business, and they don’t know the value of their skills.”

With offices across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the United States, Gushcloud aims to facilitate cross-border opportunities for creators. “We will build a bridge between content creators from different countries to earn and experience life elsewhere,” Nirote explains.

The company is bullish on the creator economy’s growth potential. 

“The content creators’ creative economy will keep growing. It will be one of the biggest economies in the world soon,” says Nirote. “It will change how people work, giving them the opportunity to be their own boss.”