Peripheral Creator Cultures in India, Ireland, and Turkey

Abstract

Drawing on Indian, Irish, and Turkish YouTube creators’ perceptions of their work, this article focuses on peripheral creator work cultures to broaden the understanding of creator labor precarity. We situate creator labor within not only the platform architectures but also within the geographical specificities of media production, distribution, and consumption. In doing so, we demonstrate that peripheral creators face distinctive struggles for visibility and survival in screen industries that emerge from their heterogeneous sociocultural and linguistic contexts. Based on the interviews with creators and streaming service executives conducted between 2017 and 2023, the findings reveal that creators’ choice of language and place of practice distinctly affects their global reach, visibility, and their ability to sustain a career in screen industries.