The Vott Creator Index (VCI) is a recurring ranking of the most relevant content creators within a defined vertical and market. Each edition is built the same way, on the same five weighted signals, so editions are comparable over time and across verticals. This page documents exactly how it works.
1. The universe
Each edition is scoped to one vertical and one market (for example, Sports in Spain). A creator enters the candidate pool when they meet all of the following:
- Their primary content is in the edition’s vertical.
- Their audience is primarily in the edition’s market.
- They clear a minimum reach threshold (stated in each edition).
- They have been active within the last 90 days.
We assess creators across the platforms where the vertical lives — typically Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X — and use a creator’s strongest qualifying platform as the basis for cross-platform comparison.
2. The five signals
Each creator is scored 0–100 on five signals. The signals are normalised across the candidate pool so they are comparable, then combined into a single weighted VCI score.
| Signal | What it measures | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach (quality-adjusted) | Audience size, discounted for low-quality or inauthentic followers | 25% |
| Engagement | Real engagement rate (interactions relative to reach), not vanity counts | 25% |
| Growth velocity | Follower and engagement growth over the trailing 30 and 90 days | 20% |
| Consistency | Regularity and reliability of publishing cadence | 15% |
| Brand-safety & relevance | Content suitability for brand partnerships and fit with the vertical | 15% |
| VCI Score | Weighted composite, normalised 0–100 | 100% |
We deliberately weight engagement and growth over raw size. A smaller creator with a loyal, growing, brand-safe audience can — and should — outrank a larger one coasting on legacy follower count. That is the whole point: the VCI measures who actually matters now, not who got big first.
3. Data window & sources
Every edition uses a rolling 90-day window with a stated snapshot date. Metrics are sourced from established creator-analytics providers and public platform data, then run through the VCI scoring model. We do not scrape platforms, and we do not republish third-party rankings — we compute our own from underlying metrics.
4. The editorial layer
Numbers rank the list; judgment reads it. Each edition pairs the ranking with Vott’s analysis — the mover of the month, who to watch, and what brands operating in the market should take from it. That operator perspective is informed by experience built inside the world’s biggest media companies.
5. Cadence & versioning
The VCI is published monthly, rotating vertical and market, with a deeper quarterly “state of the creator market” report. Each edition is dated and archived, and shows movement versus the previous edition for that vertical.