Arizona State University is making a pretty strong case that “content creator” is no longer just something people put in their Instagram bio.
Starting this fall, the university’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is offering a bachelor’s degree in content creation, a program designed to prepare students for careers in the rapidly growing creator economy.
The curriculum covers everything you’d expect from a modern creator toolkit: video and podcast production, social media strategy, audience analytics, content planning, integrated communication and personal branding. Students will also work on real brand campaigns, complete media internships and create content for platforms like TikTok as part of their coursework.
“By the time they graduate, they will have demonstrable audience growth,” Jessica Pucci, senior associate dean at the Cronkite School, told AZ Family. “They will have a platform of their choice with real content and real followers and a real audience behind them.”
The program arrives as the creator economy continues to explode. Goldman Sachs projects the industry will reach $480 billion by 2027, fueled by full-time creators, brand partnerships and companies investing more heavily in digital personalities than traditional advertising.
Whether your dream job is running a brand’s TikTok account, launching the next great podcast or building your own media company, Arizona State is betting there’s finally enough demand to make it worth four years of college.
Somewhere, a parent who once said, “You can’t make a living posting videos online,” is having a long, quiet think.