Best definition of "content" I ever heard: https://youtu.be/kHe4wwF9O6Q?t=149 "content is a commodity that fills social media feeds so we can be sold as a collection of preferences [...] attention but not understanding, engagement but not exploration" Every time I hear "content creator" I perceive it as Styrofoam. Filler used to convey a product.
A good chunk of the use of the word "creator" is the lack of a word to capture the work of someone who uses multiple platforms to distribute their work. Someone can be simply a YouTuber, but if they also do Twitch streams, they have no choice but to be a "content creator". If they're primarily one or another, they can call themselves a YouTuber or a Twitch streamer, but not if they do both. If you add Substack, Twitter, podcasting, and TikTok into the mix (often with significant cross-posting), you really don't have a word except for "creator". And what captures all the things you're creating - "media" or "content" or something equally nebulous.
No doubt a lot of it is filler. But a lot of it isn't. I spent last night learning a bunch of cooking techniques on YouTube. Quite valuable for me!