The Current State of the Block Theme Market
Description
The conversation was a comprehensive discussion about the current state and future of WordPress block themes, featuring industry experts Brian Gardner (founder of
StudioPress/Genesis) and Head of Community at WP Engine, Mike McAllister (creator of Ollie theme), and Matt Cromwell and Zack Katz as hosts.
The discussion explored how the WordPress theme market has evolved from legacy PHP-based themes through page builders to the current block theme ecosystem, with particular focus on the challenges of adoption, developer experience issues, and market opportunities.
The conversation concluded with practical advice for newcomers: focus on vertical markets and specific niches rather than trying to build generic themes, and consider solving real-world problems that happen to use WordPress rather than building "WordPress themes" as the primary goal.
The discussion highlighted that while the block theme market is wide open for innovation, success requires understanding the new paradigm and targeting specific audiences with focused solutions.
United States
