Roundtable discussions enrich 1 Billion Followers Summit

The fourth edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit, the world’s largest summit dedicated to the content creation economy, featured six roundtable discussions.

Experts and specialists from leading technology companies, global social media platforms, and top global influencers and content creators explored developments taking place across multiple sectors of the new media content industry, the key challenges they faced, and the opportunities they presented, as well as the latest trends and directions shaping the future of the global content industry, the paths it was taking, and the most prominent practices in this sector - enabling talented and aspiring creators to develop their skills and enhancing their opportunities to scale, expand their reach, connect with target audiences, and grow their follower base.

The roundtable discussions aimed to enrich the expertise of current and future content creators and equip them with practical knowledge and skills across diverse aspects of content creation, refining their experiences and strengthening their presence on social media platforms.

More than 15,000 content creators and influencers participated in the fourth edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit, organised by the UAE Government Media Office at Emirates Towers, the Dubai International Financial Centre, and the Museum of the Future, under the theme “Content for Good.”

The summit featured 489 speakers and 150 CEOs of leading global companies, reached more than 3.5 billion followers worldwide, and included over 374 panel sessions and interactive workshops.

Alia AlHammadi, Vice Chairperson of the UAE Government Media Office and CEO of the 1 Billion Followers Summit, affirmed the importance of the roundtable discussions in shaping the future of the new media industry and building bridges of collaboration among key stakeholders across the content creation sector and the creative economy.

She said, “The roundtable discussions represented a real platform for open dialogue and the exchange of creative ideas that contributed to developing the content creation sector, strengthening its sustainability, and enabling creators, brands, investors, and entrepreneurs to face challenges and capitalise on promising opportunities amid rapid technological shifts.”

The roundtable series opened with a discussion titled “Creators x Investors: Building and Funding the Future of Ideas.”

The session connected creative ideas with funders and investors through practical insights that addressed challenges and identified solutions.

Participants discussed how creators could develop their ideas and turn them into investable businesses, how investors assessed creators and creator-led ventures before offering support, and how dialogue between both sides could be encouraged to strengthen collaboration.

Participants explored how to transform creativity into business and how creators could structure ideas as scalable business models.

They also examined funders’ and investors’ concerns, including revenue continuity, feasibility, market demand, scalability, and the factors that enable a creator to evolve into an entrepreneur or investor.

Investors participating in the discussion outlined key requirements prior to investing, including a clear and realistic business plan, a defined roadmap with milestones, financial projections with transparent monetisation strategies, and clarity around the founding team, roles, and operational discipline.

The session also addressed challenges facing both creators and investors. Creators cited gaps in business literacy, limited financial planning knowledge, difficulties translating ideas into formal business structures or pitch decks, trust concerns related to creative control, inconsistent performance driven by platform algorithms, and reliance on personal brands.

Investors highlighted risks related to brand dependency, unpredictable revenue models, reputation exposure, lack of structure, and concerns around long-term scalability.

The fourth edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit also featured a travel-focused roundtable titled “Tourism Boards and Content Creators: A New Era of Tourism Promotion Campaigns.”

The session brought together representatives from tourism boards in Malta, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Hong Kong, alongside travel content creators, to examine the challenges and opportunities of creator-led tourism campaigns.

WAM