The creator economy has become one of the fastest-growing industries ever. The term “creator economy” was mentioned 150,000 times online in 2021, an x17 increase from 2020. And ever since the pandemic started the creator economy has been supercharged, tens of thousands of creators have joined and hundreds of startups have been built to help them on their content creation journey.
This article shares the most mind-blowing creator economy statistics from recent years.
General Creator Economy Statistics
1. There are over 200 million creators worldwide. Source
2. The creator economy is worth $250 billion in 2023. [Source: Goldman Sachs]
3. The creator economy is expected to nearly double in market size by 2027. [Source: Goldman Sachs]
4. There are about 4.2 billion social media users. [Source: Linktree]
5. About 500 million people are part of the passion economy globally. [Source: Linktree]
6. American creator economy startups raised 79% less money at the end of 2022 than the previous year. [Source: The Information]
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(247M raised)
7. 52% of content creators are men. [Source: Adobe]
8. Only 13% of content creators are Gen Z. [Source: Adobe]
9. 67% of creators have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. [Source: Linktree]
10. Almost one in four people is a content creator. [Source: Adobe]
11. Half of all content creators started creating to express themselves. [Source: Adobe]
12. Only 20% of creators run a content-related business. [Source: Adobe]
13. 66% of creators do it part-time. [Source: Linktree]
14. 58% of content creators have a full-time job. [Source: Adobe]
15. 28% of creators make money through paid promotions and partnerships. [Source: Adobe]
16. In 2023, brands are spending a total of $6 billion on influencer marketing. [Source: Goldman Sachs]
17. Number of American creators per state in 2017: (9)
| California: 3,260,571 creators, a 21% increase |
| New York: 1,899,869 creators, a 16.8% increase |
| Texas: 1,033,292 creators, a 16.3% increase |
| Florida: 938,764 creators, a 15.4% increase |
| Illinois: 607,980 creators, a 15.7% increase |
| Alaska: 38,466 creators, a 13.8% increase |
| Delaware: 32,076 creators, a 13.9% increase |
| South Dakota: 31,560 creators, a 13.6% increase |
| Wyoming: 25,768 creators, a 14.6% increase |
| North Dakota: 22,843 creators, a 13.5% increase |
18. 70% of creators earn less than 10% of their total income from brand partnerships. [Source: Linktree]
19. 55% of creators said that finding and managing brand deals are their biggest challenges. [Source: The Influencer Marketing Factory]
20. 25% of creators earn revenue from affiliate marketing. [Source: Linktree]
21. 35% of creators earn money through ad revenue on online platforms. [Source: Adobe]
22. 67% of content creators who’ve monetized their audience sell some kind of product. [Source: Adobe]
23.50% of social media users tipped a content creator in 2023. [Source: The Influencer Marketing Factory]
24. 45% of creators have multiple income streams. [Source: Thinkific]
25. The top-earning creator on Forbes‘ Top Creators 2022 list was MrBeast, who made $54 million. [Source: Forbes]
26. 26% of creators monetize photography or photo editing. [Source: Adobe]
27. $200,000 in yearly earnings gave Vivian Tu the #50 spot on the Forbes Top Creators 2022 list. [Source: Forbes]
28. More than half (59%) of beginner creators haven’t made more than $100 in a year. [Source: Linktree]
29. Only about 4% of creators make more than $100,000 a year. [Source: Goldman Sachs]
30. The top five creators on TikTok made a total of $46 million in 2021. [Source: Forbes]
31. 52% of creators who make between $50,000 and $100,000 spend less than 10 hours creating content. [Source: Linktree]
32. The top 10 highest earning authors on Substack collectively make $20 million per year. [Source: Backlinko]
33. Favourite creators social media by age: (21)
| 18-24 Tiktok |
| 18-44 Instagram |
| 54+ YouTube |
34. Content creators earn an average of $59 per hour. [Source: Adobe]
Creator Funds
35. YouTubes creator fund “shorts fund” raised $100M
36. TikToks’ creator fund launched at $200M and is expected to grow over $1 billions in the US by 2023
37. Pinterest raised a $500k application based creator fund
38. Snapchat’s “Spotlight” provides up to $1M a day to creators
39. Facebook (and its leading brand, Instagram) pledged to invest $1b in creators (source: Meta)
Individual Creator Statistics
Creator Earning Statistics
40. How much creators earn per year (10)
| 33.69% of creators earn less than $20k yearly |
| 23.26% of creators earn $20k-$50k yearly |
| 20.86% of creators earn $100k-500k yearly |
| 20% of creators earn $50-$100k yearly |
| 1.6% of creators earn $500k-$1M yearly |
| 0.5% of creators earn over $1M yearly |
41. What platforms make creators the most money (21)
| TikTok for 24% of creators |
| Instagram for 22% of creators |
| Youtube for 20% of creators |
42. Creators main sources of income (21)
| Brand deals are the main source of income for 31% of creators |
| Their own brands/businesses for 25% of creators |
| Creator funds for 15% of creators |
43. Only 12% of full-time creators earn more or around $50K a year, while 46% of creators earn less than $1K in annual revenue. [Linktree report]
44. The global influencer market size has doubled since 2019, being worth $21 billion in 2023, up from $16.4 billion in 2022.
45. Around 2.1 million content creators are on the OnlyFans platform. [Source: Small Business Blog]
46. 97.5% of YouTubers don’t make enough to reach the U.S. poverty line.
47. Ad revenue for creators has declined by 33% during COVID.
48. The average global ad-blocking rate was estimated at 42.7% during 2022.
49. One in four Gen Zs across the US plan to have a social media influencer career. [Source: HigherVisibility survey]
50. Only 35,000 YouTube channels have over 1 million subscribers in 2023.
51. 3.32% of Instagram users have between 100,000 and 500,000 followers.
52. Twitch currently has over 61,782 partners and a little over 2 million affiliates as of April 2023.
53. Creators’ Primary Platform By Percentage
| 72% of creators prefer Instagram |
| 13% of creators prefer TikTik |
| 9% of creators prefer YouTube |
| 1.8% of creators prefer Blogs |
| 1.6% of creators prefer Facebook |
| 0.8% of creators prefer Twitter |
| 0.6% of creators prefer Twitch |
General Creator Statistics
54. How much time per month do creators spend on creating social media content (4)
| 52% of creators spent 0-39 hours |
| 22% spent 40-79 |
| 13% spent 80-124 |
| 14% spent more than 125 |
YouTube Statistics
55. 2.4% of Instagram users have between 100k and 500k followers (11)
56. 29,000 Youtube Channels Have 1 Million+ Subscribers (11)
57. 700 Youtubers Have More Than 10 Million Subscribers (11)
58. In 2016 there were only 2,000 channels that had over a million subscribers since then every day four YouTubers hit 1 million subscribers (11)
59. Almost half of the 10M+ subscriber channels are based in the US (11)
60. India has 60+ channels with more than 10 million subscribers (11)
61. In Germany, there is only one channel with 10 million+ subscribers Kurzgesagt (11)
Patreon Statistics
62. Patreon hosts more than 6 million patrons (active monthly supporters) (8)
63. 4 million of these patrons have joined in the last 3 years (8)
64. More than 210,000 creators are supported by at least 1 patron (8)
65. Patron has raised a total funding of $412.1 million (8)
66. Patreon is valued at $4 billion (8)
67. Creators on Patreon have made an estimated $2 billion (8)
68. Estimated $25.8 Million in Monthly Payouts on Patreon as of January 2022 (12)
69. 213,965 creators have at least 1 Patreon (12)
70. The top Patreon creator “True Crime Obsessed” has 49,824 patrons to date (12)
Gumroad Statistics
71. Gumroad creators earned $142 million in 2020, a 94% increase from the previous year (13)
72. The average Gumroad creator made $70 in 2020 (13)
73. The top 1% of creators earned 60% of the $142 million in 2020 (13)
74. 6,597,160 purchases were processed on Gumroad in 2020 (13)
75. An additional 8,151,195 free product purchases were processed in 2020 (13)
76. 48% of creators who make $100K-500K a year spent >10 hours a week on content creation.
77. 59% of beginner creators haven’t monetized yet.
78. 35% of beginner creators have monetized but earned below a “livable income”.
79. 6% of beginner creators have earned >$10K.
80. 12% of full-time creators make >$50K.
81. 46% of full-time creators make <$1K.
82. 3% of part-time creators make >$50K.
83. 68% of part-time creators make <$1K.
84. 12% of creators earned ≤$100 from a single brand collaboration.
85. 2% of creators’ largest audience is on their website/blog.
86. 67% of creators say they’ve never collaborated with a brand on social channels.
87. 25% of creators earn the most income on their website/blog.
88. 62% of niche creators think specializing is helpful for engagement and reach.
89. The platform’s highest-paid celebrities collectively earned $55.5 million in 2021, marking a 90. 200% increase from the previous year. (24)
91. TikTok stars typically earn between 30% to 50% of their income from sponsored content. (24)
92 .TikTok stars can charge as much as half a million dollars for a single post, with most generally earning an average of between $100,000 to $250,000 per post. This is more than double the rates from 2020. (24)
93. All of the top earners on TikTok are under 25 years old. (24)
94. E-commerce on Social Media: 25% of social media users age 18-44 have bought a product on a social app in the past three months. Social is the preferred product discovery platform for consumers age 18-44. 80% of social media marketers believe consumers will buy products directly in social apps more often than on brands’ websites or third-party websites, like Amazon, in 2023. (23)
95. Content Type: 45% of social media marketers most often post content that reflects their brand values. However, 66% of social media marketers reported funny content to be the most effective for their brand. 49% of consumers reported funny content as being the most memorable. (23)
96. Influencer Marketing: 80% of influencer marketers work with smaller creators and influencers with under 100K followers. 81% predict most companies will have a creator or influencer as the face of their brand in 2023. (23)
97. Instagram for ROI: Instagram is considered the platform with the highest ROI and engagement. 29% of social media marketers plan to invest the most in Instagram over any other platform in 2023. (23)
98. The creator economy’s market size is projected to reach $480 billion by 2027, up from its current $250 billion. (22)
99. This growth is in line with expected increases in global digital advertising spending. (22)
100. The primary drivers for this growth are influencer marketing and monetization of short-form video platforms. (22)
101. The number of global creators, currently at 50 million, is anticipated to grow at a rate of 10-20% annually over the next five years. (22)
Sources:
- SignalFire’s Creator Economy Market Map
- American kids today dream of being vloggers, not astronauts
- The State Of Influencer Marketing: Top Insights For 2022
- 22 Creator Economy Statistics That Will Blow You Away
- Social Media Creators Are More Influential Than Celebrities
- Why YouTube stars are more influential than traditional celebrities
- Mention
- Ad Blocker Usage and Demographic Statistics in 2022
- Re:create
- Creator Earnings: Benchmark Report 2021
- How Many YouTube Channels Are There?
- Graphtreon
- Last Year in the Creator Economy
- The Digital Creators Economy Is Broken
- What is the “Creator Economy”?
- Influencer Marketing: Social media influencer market stats and research for 2021
- Statista
- The Information
- GlobeNewswire
- How Creator Economy Investments Could Hit $5 Billion This Year
- The Creator Economy Survey by The Influencer Marketing Factory
- Goldman Sachs
- Hubspot
- Forbes
