"There are many misleading claims about becoming an influencer online, and how ordinary people can get rich overnight, as if everyone has the same opportunity simply because of their smartphone. But that's not the case: the phone has changed a lot, but the structures of the industry remain largely the same." The statement is from researcher Caio Motta, a doctoral student in Communication at the Postgraduate Program in Communication at the Federal University of Santa Maria (POSCOM/UFSM) and author of the book "How Influence Became a Business," published by Viseu Publishing. The work investigates how content creators build business models and generate income from their activities on digital platforms.
To understand the dynamics of this market, Caio participated in industry events and also became a content creator, in order to experience the logics he was researching. This experience led to the podcast "Não São Vozes da Minha Cabeça," which aired from 2024 to 2025 and became the main tool for collecting data for the research.
"There were needed interviewees who could bring different perspectives on the influencer industry, calledcreator economy(economy of creators),and the daily work of creators in building their businesses. I sought to speak with all possible sides: creators with decades of experience, newcomers who went viral during the pandemic, people who left their jobs and changed careers to live off content creation, journalists from traditional media who adapted to the digital medium, industry experts, professionals working behind the scenes of events, creator entrepreneurs, and leaders of agencies and consulting firms. It was through this plural, theory-based perspective that I found the main answers for the research,” explains Motta.
Among the 19 interviewees are Luciano Potter, from Grupo RBS and podcaster, and Lucas Galdino, from Histórias de Ter.a.pia. Also participating are professionals from agencies and industry experts, such as Rafa Lotto, CEO of Youpix; Vitor Bastos, founder of Tambor.biz; and Marcus Vinícius Freire, co-founder of Play9. Deh Bastos, a publicist and creator of the profile Criando Crianças Pretas; Ana Paula Passarelli, from Brunch; and Carlos Scappini, co-founder of Music2/Mynd and partner at Billboard Brasil, are also part of the research.
The research began with Caio Motta's master's dissertation, defended at POSCOM/UFSM in 2025, and was deepened during the first year of his doctorate, also in the Program. For the researcher, the publication represents an opportunity to contribute to the debate about an expanding area that is still concentrated in the major centers of the country. "I am very proud to be able to contribute to an area that is growing and is concentrated in the Rio-São Paulo axis, from a scientific research that has its roots in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul," says Motta.