As 2025 approaches, many overhyped gigs face saturation and shifting market trends. Here’s a fact-based list of 10 new age gigs that may struggle to stay relevant, especially for small-scale players.
Are Side Hustles Losing Their Appeal?
The gig economy has unlocked countless opportunities for Indians to earn money, but the conformity effect has led many to chase trends without assessing their long-term viability. Inspired by the initial success of early adopters in new-age ventures, a lot of millennials are risking their time, money, and effort in the hopes of replicating that success. However, low-cost gig-based business ideas often saturate quickly, driven by low entry barriers, viral trends, and the hopes of easy profitability.
This oversupply intensifies competition, reduces margins, and leaves little room for new entrants to thrive unless they offer something truly innovative.
Here’s a look at ten such overhyped ventures in 2025, along with practical alternatives for even bigger probability of sustainable growth.
10. Fitness Influencers
Gyms are packed on January 1st more than any other day of the year, signaling the start of many New Year’s resolutions.
According to ‘India Watch statistics’, India has around 70,000 registered gyms, which make up just 14% of the organized fitness market.
A few years ago, every health-conscious millennial jumped on the fitness influencer bandwagon, but that led to market oversaturation. Today, the fitness influencer space is so crowded that standing out has become incredibly challenging. Established platforms like Cult.fit, Nike Training Club, and Gold’s Gym dominate the market, making it difficult for independent fitness efforts to thrive. In this competitive environment, earning potential often hinges on brand deals, which are scarce and highly competitive.
This has led to unethical practices, with some unregulated players resorting to selling potentially harmful protein slurries to make ends meet. These actions breed distrust in an industry that relies heavily on trust, ultimately driving genuine customers away.
As we approach 2025 and the rise of overhyped gigs, if you’re a dedicated fitness professional passionate about the industry, we recommend creating a unique fitness program or opening a boutique fitness studio. By offering personalized services, you can stand out and attract clients who seek more than generic online options.
9. Virtual Tutoring in Common Subjects
Virtual tutoring was a booming trend in 2020, with COVID sparking a surge in online learning. However, the excitement around it has since faded, as free educational content flooded the internet, diminishing the need for paid tutoring in mainstream subjects.
Now, as we approach 2025, online tutors in the realm of overhyped gigs are struggling to stay competitive by cutting prices, which is affecting income stability. For instance, we’ve seen Excel training offered for as low as ₹99, turning what was once a promising business into a race to the bottom. Those charging higher rates often rely on obscure affiliations that fail to add real value or credibility.
If you’re still passionate about teaching and want to make an impact in 2025, consider specializing. Focus on niche subjects, advanced courses, or exotic languages, where personalized instruction remains in demand and harder to find for free.
8. Social Media Management for Small Businesses
In the past, small businesses often relied on digital PR experts to manage their online presence, allowing them to focus on their core niche. But times have changed. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and now there are plenty of DIY tools available. Paid tools like Tailwind, Sprout Social, and Zoho, alongside free ones like Canva, Buffer, and Hootsuite, have made it easier for businesses to manage their digital presence in-house.
As a result, more small businesses are opting for user-friendly tools to handle social media, which has led to low retainers for millennials in the industry. Clients are offering fees that don’t reflect the time and effort required making social media management an overhyped gig.
If you’re not already recognized as a domain authority but still want to stay relevant in the field, consider expanding your offerings. Providing comprehensive digital marketing services, celebrity endorsements, including SEO and paid advertising, will help you deliver more value and stay competitive in the market.
7. Freelance Content Creation
Content creation has become a buzzword, with many hoping to turn personal hobbies and side gigs into profitable ventures. While some early entrants have cashed in big, newcomers often waste time chasing the dream of striking it rich.
AI tools like synthesia.io, murf.ai and beautiful.ai are increasingly taking over content generation, reducing the need for basic creativity and freelance work. The surge in freelancers has also triggered a pricing race to the bottom. Need a website? Just ask around, and some technical kid will offer to do it for a small fee. Need ads? Kids are using free apps to design flyers for birthday parties.
If you’re already in the game, consider specializing in areas that require advanced creativity and critical thinking, like strategic content planning, heavy data scraping or complex storytelling, to stand out and stay relevant.
6. Personalized Merchandise Stores
The success of online personalized merchandise stores like Bewakoof.com, Vistaprint, and Oye Happy has inspired many millennials to jump into this business. However, the main challenge lies in the seasonal demand, with sales heavily influenced by trends and events. This can make revenue inconsistent throughout the year making it an overhyped gig.
After factoring in production, delivery, and marketing costs, profit margins can be slim. This is especially true if you’re relying on your own online store, assuming it’s popular enough to drive traffic. If you choose to list your products on large aggregators like Amazon or Flipkart, you’ll face additional costs such as referral fees (ranging from 2% to 25%), closing fees, shipping charges, and extras like storage, packaging, and customer service.
If you’re still passionate about this business, focus on creating merchandise that aligns with strong personal branding or community-driven initiatives. This approach can help build a loyal customer base and ensure more consistent sales.
5. Mobile App Development
When discussing overhyped gigs in 2025, the once red-hot mobile app business is hard to ignore.
The mobile app market is now facing major challenges due to oversaturation. As of December 2024, AppBrain reports that the Google Play Store hosts about 1.59 million apps, with around 1,000 new apps launching every day.
This influx makes it increasingly difficult for new, non-unique applications to gain any real traction. Developing a quality app requires a significant investment, typically between ₹5 to ₹10 lakhs, with no guarantee of returns.
In fact, Statista data shows that only 0.1% of apps have surpassed five million downloads, underscoring the fierce competition and high failure rates.
To stand out in this crowded market, it’s crucial to focus on building apps that solve specific, unmet problems or cater to niche markets, improving the chances of success in the realm of overhyped gigs in 2025.
4. Drop Shipping
The dominance of e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, and Meesho reveals the harsh truth behind drop shipping monopolies. India’s e-commerce market, valued at $38.5 billion in 2017, is set to skyrocket to $200 billion by 2026, growing at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 51%.
While this might sound promising, with players like Printrove, IndiaMart, and vFulfill getting much of the attention, the real winners are often those selling resources and dreams to hopeful millennials.
While manufacturers profit from clearing out inventory, many drop shipping enthusiasts end up with unsold piles of random junk. Profit margins are typically slim—between 5% and 10%—due to cutthroat competition and market saturation.
The biggest hurdle in drop shipping, though, is quality control, making it an overhyped venture. Relying on third-party suppliers can lead to inconsistent product quality, leaving customers dissatisfied and risking reputational damage.
For those truly passionate about a product, a smarter move in 2025 would be to focus on building a private label brand. This allows for better quality control, fosters customer trust, and positions your business for long-term success.
3. Conventional Blogging
Once upon a time, everyone dreamed of being a blogger to rack up social clout—kind of like how today, everyone’s either a content creator or, worse, an influencer. But you know what, times are changing fast!
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, blogging faces significant challenges making it an overhyped gig. Generative AI tools now provide precise and immediate information, diminishing the demand for traditional blogs.
Monetization has become increasingly difficult, with ad revenues declining as readers shift to AI-driven solutions. Compounding these challenges is the sheer volume of content; approximately 7.5 million blog posts are published daily, contributing to over 600 million blogs among 1.9 billion websites worldwide.
To stand out in this saturated environment, creators should focus on developing specialized content that incorporates personal insights or experiences—elements that AI cannot replicate. Additionally, offering consultancy services based on your expertise can create alternative revenue streams beyond just ad monetization.
2. YouTube Content Creation
As of 2024, YouTube hosts an astounding 3.9 billion videos, including 826 million YouTube Shorts, with over 500 hours of content uploaded every minute. With a global population of around 8 billion, this amounts to roughly 3.75 minutes of video per person worldwide.
However, this flood of content has led to a decline in YouTube’s Cost Per Mille (CPM) rates—the amount advertisers pay for 1,000 ad impressions.
CPM rates vary significantly by region. For instance, in Australia, it stands at $36.21, while in Canada, it’s $29.15, and in the U.S., $32.75. Comparatively, India’s CPM is much lower, averaging just $0.70 (₹50 to ₹200 per 1,000 views), depending on the niche.
With over 476 million users in India, the platform has become oversaturated, making it an overhyped gig which is challenging for new creators to gain visibility and achieve meaningful earnings through ads alone.
For creators passionate about their niche, YouTube in 2025 should be best utilized as a supplementary platform—a space to demonstrate expertise in a specific field, such as specialized education or showcasing years of professional knowledge as social proof.
1. Cloud Kitchens
Food delivery platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, and EatSure have turned commercial cooking into a crowded space, attracting both amateurs and professionals. While street food remains popular in India, the cloud kitchen model faces significant challenges, including high setup costs (₹6-7 lakhs), food safety concerns, and strict licensing.
Small operators also face challenges in sourcing affordable ingredients and managing food waste, while delivery platforms take 10-30% in commissions, further reducing profits and making cloud kitchens one of the most overhyped gigs of 2025.
With net margins typically only 10-15%, cloud kitchens are an overhyped business. Although the entry cost is high, which discourages mad-rush, a better option for food enthusiasts might be starting a niche dine-in restaurant, offering a unique experience and reducing reliance on third parties.
Conclusion
The insights shared in this article are based on our personal observations and are not meant to discourage anyone. In today’s world, many sales tactics revolve around overhyping a common problem and offering a quick solution. The truth is, when this approach is overused, it becomes a recurring theme that ties both success and failure together.
While the business ideas mentioned may seem enticing, they come with their own set of challenges that could hinder success in 2025. Take influencer marketing, for example, which once appeared to be a lucrative career. But as the market became flooded with influencers of all kinds, it’s become harder for newcomers to make their mark.
Aspiring millennials should step back, conduct deep market research, and explore alternative paths that offer long-term sustainability and profitability. Real success often comes from identifying niches, innovating beyond the hype, and recognizing that quick fixes and blindly following overhyped gigs in 2025 are rarely the key to lasting success.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Why are certain gigs becoming overhyped in 2025?
As trends saturate and competition grows, many low-cost gigs face oversupply, shrinking profit margins and making it harder for newcomers to succeed without innovation.
2. What’s the issue with fitness influencers in 2025?
The market for fitness influencers is overcrowded, with established platforms dominating, making it difficult for independent influencers to stand out or monetize effectively.
3. Why is virtual tutoring struggling?
The rise of free educational content has reduced demand for paid tutoring, leaving many tutors slashing prices, which impacts income stability and growth potential.
4. What makes drop shipping an overhyped gig?
Due to market saturation, slim profit margins, and quality control issues, drop shipping has become increasingly difficult to profit from, especially for newcomers without a unique product.
5. Are cloud kitchens still a good investment?
Cloud kitchens face high setup costs, food safety concerns, and slim profit margins, making it a challenging and overhyped business model for small-scale operators.
