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With incomes threatened, content creators turn abroad

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Some eye US, British markets as law worries advertisers

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Smaller domestic players face severe losses

By Christine Chen

SYDNEY, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Australia is home for YouTube

star Jordan Barclay, the place where he was born, went to school

and built a company worth $50 million by age 23 that produces

gaming content for 23 million subscribers.

Now, with a world-first social media ban on Australian

children younger than 16 set to take effect on December 10, he

is thinking of leaving his Melbourne studio and moving abroad.

"We're going to move overseas because that's where the money

is going to be," said Barclay, whose seven YouTube channels

include EYstreem, Chip and Milo, and Firelight.

"We can't afford to keep doing business if advertisers leave

Australia."

Nine participants interviewed by Reuters in Australia's

social media industry, estimated to generate annual revenue of

A$9 billion ($5.82 billion), did not put a dollar figure on the

ban's impact but agreed it could lead to a drop in advertisers

and views.

YouTubers, who get paid 55% of ad revenue and up to 18

Australian cents per 1,000 views, could be hit hardest, said

social media researcher Susan Grantham at Griffith University.

"If it is one clean sweep and all these accounts disappear,

then instantaneously, it's going to be detrimental to the

influencer economy."

The law requires companies to block the accounts of more

than a million people under the cut-off age, punishing "systemic

breaches" with penalties of up to A$49.5 million.

While teenagers can still watch YouTube without an account,

the site's algorithm will fail to drive traffic to popular

posts, reducing views.

Equally, creators on YouTube, TikTok and Meta's

Instagram stand to lose earnings through promotions if the

number of their followers fall, Grantham said.

Advertisers are also on edge about campaigns targeting

younger audiences, said Stephanie Scicchitano, general manager

at Sydney-based talent agency Born Bred Talent.

FEWER SPONSORSHIP DEALS AS BAN DEADLINE NEARS

Barclay's company Spawnpoint Media sells advertising to

companies such as Lego and Microsoft ( MSFT ), but clients' interest in

sponsorship deals has declined as the ban approaches, he said.

"They're worried about what the ban could mean later," he

said. "If it expands, if it grows ... it makes sense for us to

invest overseas and not here."

The United States could be among his options, he said,

pointing to more favourable laws and government support in such

markets.

Some creators are already leaving to avoid the curbs, such

as influencers the Empire Family, who told followers in October

they were relocating to Britain.

The careers of those creating content featuring children

younger than 16, such as family vloggers and child influencers,

were particularly at risk, said Crystal Abidin, the director of

the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab.

"They agree that in order to continue, it's an easy decision

to immigrate," she said.

Children's musicians Tina and Mark Harris, whose Lah-Lah

YouTube channel has 1.4 million subscribers, said, "Any negative

impact on income is going to hurt."

CONCERN ABOUT LASTING REPUTATIONAL HARM

But their main concern was lasting reputational damage from

the government's description of YouTube's harm to children.

"Parents will get the jitters and stay away from YouTube in

droves," Mark Harris said.

"Maybe that's hyperbole, we just don't know."

Initially exempted from the ban, Alphabet-owned

YouTube was added later at the urging of Australia's internet

regulator, which said 37% of minors reported seeing harmful

content on YouTube, the worst showing for a platform.

The ban "does a disservice" to creators of high-quality

content for children, said Shannon Jones, who runs Australia's

largest YouTube channel, Bounce Patrol, with more than 33

million subscribers.

Byron Bay creator Junpei Zaki, 28, whose output is mostly

drawn from interactions with 22 million followers across TikTok

and YouTube, expects the ban to cause a "guaranteed drop" in

likes and comments from Australia.

"It ... does feel like I'm ignoring my Australian audience

that helped get me here, because they can't interact."

HIT MAGNIFIED FOR SMALLER CREATORS

Zaki estimates he will lose 100,000 followers to the ban, a

blip in his global reach, but warned that smaller creators with

domestic audiences would be hit harder.

At the House of Lim food stall in Sydney's west, 15-year-old

owner Dimi Heryxlim has built a following by posting vlogs of

his routine running the kitchen after school.

Losing access to his TikTok and Instagram accounts "will be

a bad thing", he said, as some customers recognise him from his

videos, but he plans to return as soon as he turns 16.

"If I can't get my account back, I'll just get a new account

and start everything from scratch," said Heryxlim.

($1 = 1.5475 Australian dollars)