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More than 55,000 people descended on Anaheim last weekend for VidCon 2023, a 10% increase from last year. 

Why it matters: The creator economy may be in a funding crunch, but the excitement around creators hasn't slowed down. 

Axios caught up with VidCon senior vice presidents Sarah Tortoreti and Colin Hickey to talk about this year's show and look toward their first East Coast edition this fall. 

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity: 

Axios: What were the top themes that you saw emerge this weekend?

Tortoreti: Gaming right now is king. We are seeing these kids go wild for the gamers, which we saw last year, too. I just think that has continued with this year. We're also seeing a bunch of more sponsors in that space come through and on the expo floor.

Hickey: Shopping has been pretty big too, especially for the platforms like YouTube, with YouTube shopping. TikTok's creator lounge is all about their shopping app as well. And so that seems to be a focus for the platforms this year.

You're doing your first East Coast version this fall. What went into the decision to pick Baltimore?

Tortoreti: It really came down to trying to find a city that we can grow. It's not going to be as big as Anaheim. We're going to start small and establish awareness and grow year-over-year to get it to Anaheim level. Baltimore felt like a mid-tier city that would allow us to do that.

It just felt like a centralized location that can still pull from all of the major cities on the Eastern Seaboard.

Baltimore itself actually has a pretty big base of creators. That's part of the appeal of it. It doesn't have to be all of the huge ones; we will bring some of them, obviously, but it's also about tapping into the city.

What's been the feedback from sponsors? Is there a similar excitement to be part of that there is to Anaheim?

Hickey: We'll probably see a lot of the same sponsors, for sure. When we did this announcement, it was our most-liked post of the entire year. It blew up.

The sponsors are happy, the platforms are happy and so it just kind of validated this decision.

Q&A: VidCon executives look toward first East Coast edition

The creator economy convention hits Baltimore this fall.

YouTube returned as the title sponsor this year. Photo: Tim Baysinger/Axios

Creator economy

More than 55,000 people descended on Anaheim last weekend for VidCon 2023, a 10% increase from last year. Why it matters: The creator economy may be in a funding crunch, but the excitement around creators hasn&#x27;t slowed down.

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Q&A: VidCon executives look toward first East Coast edition

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