Nicole Lapin

So there is more potential for growth if you happen to pick the winning newsletter company who will own the creator economy.

But there's also more potential for loss if you pick the runner up.

There are also new companies popping up every single day in the space.

So it's unclear if the winner even exists yet.

Option two, the obvious plays.

Alphabet, which owns YouTube, is the clearest proxy for creator economy growth.

Every time the creator ecosystem expands, YouTube's ad revenue goes up and so does Alphabet's bottom line.

Same logic applies to Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, two of the most active creator monetization platforms on the planet.

These are large cap publicly traded companies that you can buy today, if you do your research, of course, with meaningful exposure to creator economy tailwinds.

Option three, the less obvious play.

Shopify is one of the most underrated creator economy beneficiaries.

The creator to consumer goods pipeline runs directly through platforms like Shopify.

Similarly, hello, beyond YouTube, Apple and Spotify and other platforms are benefiting from the explosion of podcast content and direct creator monetization.

If you believe the creator economy continues to grow, owning the platforms where creators monetize is one of the most durable ways to invest.

For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank.

Instead of buying creator-branded consumer products themselves, like the chocolates, the energy drinks, the merch, buy stock in the companies that manufacture and distribute them.

When Mr. Beastables lands on shelves at, let's say, Walmart, Walmart definitely captures margin on every unit sold, and so does the distribution network behind

Creator brands are built on attention, which is so volatile.

But the distribution infrastructure that they depend on, Walmart, Target, Shopify, Amazon, is not.

So the next time you're tempted to spend $4 on a Feastables bar because you love, love, love the brand, think about spending that $4 on fractional shares of the actual company that put that product on the shelf.