The benefits of treating content creation as a profession rather than a fad could extend well beyond the screen.
Three out of four Pakistanis do not read a book on an average day. Meanwhile, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced a tax benchmark of Rs 195 for every 1,000 monetised views. Scrolling has been recognised by the state as an economic activity. However, it has not yet questioned whether that economy ought to generate anything worthwhile.
The term “brain rot” was named Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year in 2024 after its usage increased by 230% in one year. This helps explain the state of Pakistan’s social media feeds: a handful of people click on comprehensive explanations, while many others click on jokes and roasts.
The central question in this debate is whether Pakistan’s creator economy is more of a business than a cultural phenomenon and whether this shift could help viewers move from low-quality content towards meaningful material. The terms “cultural phenomenon”, “creator economy”, “expert industry” and “opportunities” in this debate merit further examination.
Cultural phenomenon
Most discussions about content creation in Pakistan revolve around gossip. Fame comes with virality, while controversy has become the yardstick.
Ducky Bhai (Saad ur Rehman) gained more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube through his family vlogs, pranks and roasts. In August 2025, he was arrested at Lahore Airport for allegedly promoting gambling and betting apps. He has pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing. The controversy has also kept him in the public conversation.
Meanwhile, in July 2026, Zulfiqar Ali of Government City Boys School, Dera Ghazi Khan, won a bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad in Colombia. More than 400 students from over 90 countries competed, and he was the only participant from Pakistan to reach the final.
It is unlikely that many Pakistanis would know his name. If a field is treated merely as a source of entertainment, it eventually begins to provide entertainment, while platform designs further reinforce this habit.
Gloria Mark, a researcher, found that the average amount of time users spent on a single screen dropped from approximately 150 seconds in her initial research to 47 seconds during 2016–2020.
Creator economy
However, the numbers point to an industry, not a fad.
In October 2025, DataReportal identified 79.9 million social media users in Pakistan. Google Pakistan has revealed that more than 95,000 local YouTube channels have reached 10,000 subscribers, over 13,000 have reached 100,000 subscribers, and more than 1,000 have reached one million subscribers.
According to Goldman Sachs, the global creator economy was estimated at around $250 billion in 2023 and is expected to approach $480 billion by 2027. The same study revealed that just 4 per cent of the world’s 50 million creators earn more than $100,000 annually.
The difference between an amateur and a professional is often determined by whether an industry is properly established or allowed to deteriorate.
Expert industry
There are standards, contracts and clear rules in established industries, along with proper training. For the most part, these are missing from Pakistan’s creator economy.
The new tax regime places the cost of being a creator first as a source of revenue. The rules are vague, and a flat 30 per cent cap on expenses does not account for actual equipment, editors and staff costs. This confusion may lead to payments going through informal channels, creators have said.
Meanwhile, India took an alternative path. In March 2025, it announced a $1 billion fund for its creative economy and a dedicated Indian Institute of Creative Technology (ICT) in Mumbai.
The ability to distinguish between low-quality material and meaningful content is also what sets experts apart. In 2025, a meta-analysis of 71 studies involving more than 98,000 individuals, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, reviewed the available research and found an association between heavy short-term video use and impaired attention and self-control, although many of the studies were correlational in nature.
Competition among experts would also help raise standards across the industry.
Opportunities
The potential benefits extend beyond advertising revenue.
Pakistan’s reading crisis is a reality. According to a survey conducted by Gallup & Gilani in 2019, 75 per cent of respondents did not read books, while only 9 per cent were avid readers. The claim that 75 per cent of people had “never read a book” is a misquotation.
This is also a worldwide trend. A study published in iScience in 2025 indicated that reading for pleasure in the United States dropped from 28 per cent in 2004 to 16 per cent in 2023.
A professional creator industry could emerge at exactly the right place and time. From science education to Urdu and regional-language storytelling, financial literacy, public health and examination preparation, all these areas offer potential careers and exportable services.
If you are one of the Olympiad winners, you could appear on popular channels that make physics as entertaining as a prank. Meaningful content does not have to be lengthy. It has to be well produced, and well-produced content requires patient investment and trained people.
The way forward
Low-quality content wins today because it is readily produced and comes at no cost to the viewer. If the incentives change, the content will change.
The FBR must consult creators and establish clear and fair rules rather than relying on assumptions. Accredited courses in production ethics, research ethics and media ethics should be made available at universities, financed by the Ministry of IT. The Higher Education Commission should also open a window for grants to support educational and regional-language content.
Brands and banks should do more than simply seek reach; they should support meaningful content. Academics should be rewarded for explaining their work to the public, and universities should encourage this practice.
However, audiences still have the final word. They can deactivate autoplay, limit their daily use of short-video applications and follow creators whose content offers useful knowledge.
The creator economy will continue to promote distraction if it remains a fad. However, with the right support and professional standards, it could become one of Pakistan’s strongest tools for encouraging knowledge, learning and critical thinking.
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