The Massive and Accelerating Creator Economy: 50 Million Today, 2 Billion Tomorrow?
Picture an 18 year old in suburban Ohio, filming comedy sketches in his basement after school. Or a young mother in London sharing healthy family recipes between grocery runs. Now imagine either attracting millions of viewers and earning incomes rivaling lawyers or corporate middle managers.
Five years ago, such a feat would have been unfathomable outside of catching a once in a lifetime viral break. But in today’s rapidly emerging creator economy, scenarios like this play out on a daily basis across digital platforms.
The numbers tell the story – a soaring economic sector minting the next generation of media moguls and microentrepreneurs. Let’s dig in on the size and trajectory of this booming industry.
Creator Economy Value Soars Past $100 Billion – With $250 Billion in Sight
According to Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2022 research, the total market size of the creator economy ballooned to over $104 billion in 2021. This represents a stunning 730X increase over the course of a decade:
Year - Market Size
2012 - $634 thousand
2019 - $6.4 billion
2020 - $13.8 billion
2021 - $104.2 billionWhat’s driving such astronomical growth? An estimated 50 million individual creators now earn incomes directly from fans across social media, video, blogs, and marketplaces – up from essentially zero 10 years ago.
And monetization pathways have increased in lockstep with audience numbers as creator economy infrastructure matures. Advertising revenue shares, platform subscriptions, tipping, merchandise – billions in value now flows directly from audiences to the creators they love.MetaObject co-founder and former Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer calls this transformation:
“The interface between creator and fan changing from analog one to many to digital many to many. And that underlying platform shift is enabling and creating the creator economy.”
Projected creator economy market size over time – via SignalFire
Venture investment firm SignalFire projects this market will further balloon to $138.5 billion by 2025 based on current growth curves as monetization pathways improve, more people go independent, and international reach expands. Their researchers envision a $250 billion+ market materializing by the end of the decade.
What does a quarter trillion dollar creator industry look like in practice? Let‘s analyze the vanguard platforms powering incomes today and the emergent middle class they enable.
YouTube: Birthplace of Digital Media Millionaires
No platform has done more to revolutionize entertainment and empower individual creators than YouTube. Originally scoffed at as an amateur video site upon 2005 launch, it has grown into the internet’s top video platform with over 2 billion monthly active viewers – about triple Netflix’s audience.
And YouTube enables anyone to effectively self-publish to the entire world for free. This unprecedented distribution power has minted a new generation of creative media moguls rising from humble bedrooms rather than Hollywood film sets.
YouTube boasts over 2 million channels earning six figure annual incomes just from ads and sponsorships. The top .01% like MrBeast, PewDiePie or the D’Amelio sisters attract tens of millions of loyal followers that translate videos into 8 figure paydays through merchandising and strategic sponsorships. Thousands more creators easily earn low to mid six figure incomes with just hundreds of thousands of engaged subscribers across passions like gaming, beauty, music, comedy and more.
But the platform also serves as launchpad for multimedia influencer careers across other social platforms. Top YouTubers expand their personal brands to merchandise, podcasts, books and additional monetization based on loyal audiences aggregated in one place.
Rapid growth in YouTube channels crossing million views and 100,000 subscribers milestones – via Tubics
Tubics analysis shows the hockey stick acceleration in high income YouTube channels over the past decade as cited by Forbes:
Year - Channels w/ 1M Views/Mo - Channels w/ 100k Subscribers
2015 - 2,000 - 50,000
2019 - 10,000 - 500,000
2021 - 37,000 - 1.5 million
Current - Over 50,000 - Over 2 millionYouTube serves as microcosm of the entire creator economy – normal people turning passion projects into full businesses virtually overnight with the right content and community recipe.
Instagram: Fueling The Rise of Influencers
Instagram emerged in 2010 as simple photo sharing app. But its acquisition by Facebook accelerated integration of social, visual, and shopping elements synthesizing an uber-addicting digital collage experience.
Today Instagram counts over 1.4 billion monthly active users sharing their (often carefully curated) personal moments. Visual browsing enjoyment pairs with obsessive habits making it one of the highest engagement apps on earth.
And this massive attention funnel has enabled the rise of social media influencers – everyday people leveraging visual social talent to promote brands. Full-time careers are now built through this promotional channel rather than traditional media gates.
In all, over 500,000 creators now earn incomes on Instagram via sponsored posts, in-app shopping links, online store promotions, and ancillary podcasting and blogging income streams.
Micro-influencers with as little as 1,000 genuinely engaged followers can earn $100 per promotional post. Those with 100,000+ followers easily earn $500 to $5,000 for an integrated, on-brand campaign. And celebrities like Kylie Jenner reportedly earn over $1 million per sponsored post.
This branded content ecosystem birthed on Instagram feeds into a broader influencer marketing industry estimated at $16.4 billion in value globally by Influencer Marketing Hub.
And the barriers to entry remain tantalizingly low for aspiring influencers – simply build a sufficiently large audience for your personal brand. Gain their trust interacting across posts and Stories. Then monetize through conscience yet lucrative brand sponsorships. Rinse and repeat indefinitely once momentum is reached.
Emerging Platforms Like TikTok & Twitch Further Widen the Creator Funnel
While YouTube and Instagram provide the clearest creator economy on-ramps today, emerging platforms indicate how much wider the market funnel can stretch tomorrow.
Consider TikTok, the Chinese owned short video app that has conquered teenage attention spans globally since 2017 international launch. It has been downloaded over 3.3 billion times, with over 1 billion monthly active users and about 800 million of those located internationally.
A headline grabbing 67% check the addictive vertical video Feed daily according to audience figures tracked by Oberlo. The app’s machine learning algorithmically surfaces personally tailored videos, ensuring a bottomless well of tailored content from both amateur creators and media brands.
This creates fertile proving grounds for creators going viral based on the app‘s internal visibility mechanics rather than external marketing push. Funny dancing or acting routines now drive more predictable breakouts than hoping traditional studio execs pick your script.
Accordingly, TikTok has already produced influencer stars boasting follower counts on par with top YouTubers and Instagrammers. 19 year old dancer Charli D’Amelio holds the record at 146 million followers – more than most Hollywood A-listers. Thousands more creators easily earn a healthy living with over 500,000 engaged followers.
Income stacking options include multi-million dollar brand sponsorships, custom creator content available via TikTok’s new subscription features, tips, ecommerce links, and selling ancillary merchandise. Top personalities are projected to earn 8 to 9 figure incomes in 2022, rivaling YouTube’s highest fliers.
Video game streaming platform Twitch reflects another emerging creator cash cow. Launched in 2011 to leverage live streaming for gaming content, it has bloomed into oversight of 30 million active streamers out of 140 million monthly viewers.
Built in monetization tools like channel subscriptions to unlock exclusive content, one-time virtual tips called “Bits”, and robust sponsor/brand deals allow savvy gamers to profit while, well, playing games for a living.
Over 300,000 streamers now enjoy “affiliate” status share in the advertising revenue pie. Thousands boast coveted “Partner” accounts with enhanced branding and income percentages reflecting seven figure earning potential.
As example, gaming superstar Tyler Blevins “Ninja” routinely generates 8 figure annual incomes between streaming subscriber fees, sponsorship deals, and selling branded apparel to his loyal fans. All enabled by Twitch elevating his early gaming passion into a global phenomenon beyond expectations.
Between TikTok viral challenges and Twitch’s gaming ecosystem, more niches organically arise for possible superstardom outside previous Hollywood or label filters. Expect both platforms to massively widen the creator funnel over the coming decade.
The Passion Economy Fuels Creator Middle Class Explosion
Yet for all the headlines grabbed by fresh faced millionaires and mega influencers, the creator economy’s biggest impact centers on empowering everyday entrepreneurs to profit from their talents.
Passion economy startups have emerged enabling writers, teachers, coaches, musicians and more hobbyists to cultivate paying audiences at whatever scale works for their life. The gains manifest less in Lamborghinis than mortgages paid, kids put through college, and freelancing independence serving personal purpose.
This middle tier of creators utilizes diverse tools but shares common themes – passionate niche knowledge, direct community relationships, and stacking income streams between advertising, subscriptions, tips and virtual goods.
Let‘s analyze some top platforms evidenced in SignalFire‘s latest Wave report facilitating full to part-time small business careers:
- Teachable/Podia/Thinkific – Host over 150,000 course creators collectively earning over $250 million per year teaching specialized skills online
- Patreon – Over 200,000 active creators earn predictable monthly incomes upwards of $100+ million per year from fans paying subscription access
- Etsy – Over 5 million shop sellers cashed out $13 billion in lifetime creative earnings selling homemade items
- Teespring – Enables over 75,000 merchant partners profit selling custom designed apparel
These companies leverage the internet’s effectively infinite digital shelf space and distribution reach so that even tiny niche pursuits like crochet, resin art, or Norse history lessons find paying supporters.
John Paul Aguiar, Co-Founder of Substack (newsletter creation platform used by over 250,000 writers) cites this newfound leverage empowering creative careers:
“Today’s creators possess capabilities out of reach for all but the very richest in human history. You need only look to their smartphones — tiny studios for podcast production, editing suites for cinematography, galleries with global distribution.”
Passion startups uniquely fuse lifestyle business pursuits with backend creator economy plumbing – handling hosting, payment processing, audience communication tools so makers can simply create.
Expect participation in this segment to hockey stick as niche interests digitize. SignalFire suggests up to 1 billion people may actively create for supplemental earnings within the decade.
Who Exactly are These 50 Million Creators?
Per Influencer Marketing Hub‘s 2022 research, the current 50 million and counting creator pool skews relatively young in age but participates across generations:
- 53% are between ages 18 and 34
- 31% are 35 to 54 years old
- Only 5% are 55+ in age
So while Generation Z and young millennials drive growth, mid-career professionals increasingly recognize social media‘s value for skills development and personal brand cultivation.
In fact, creators age 35 to 44 represent the fastest growing cohort as of 2022 with 9.8 million older millennials planning more content output according to Insider Intelligence consumer surveys. They eagerly tap creator economy infrastructure to pad resumes and unlock new career options.
Geography wise, creators largely correlate with internet access globally:
- United States – 17 million or 34% of global creator population
- India – 8 million
- Brazil – 6 million
- Russia – 5 million
- Japan – 5 million
The United States houses the world‘s largest creator population with barriers like widespread broadband connectivity, strong free speech protections, and early adoption of key platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch.
American cultural embrace of celebrity and entrepreneurship further fans interest. A Junior Achievement survey found a staggering 29% of US kids now want to become YouTubers when they grow up compared to 26% aspiring musicians or 18% teachers.
But developing countries show imminent creator growth as mobile devices become ubiquitious. Already Brazil as hotbed of Instagram culture cracks the top five economies with 5 million homegrown creators.
Nations like Indonesia, Vietnam, and Nigeria house another 20 million+ hungry creators in the making pending better internet infrastructure in coming years.
Key Creator Economy Takeaways
Given the statistics above, what overarching trends define the state and trajectory of the creator economy?
Massive existing market eclipsing traditional media – The over $100 billion in annual revenues across 50 million working creators puts the industry on par with global music sales and far ahead of streaming television by revenue. Expect continued growth curve steepening.
Young people enamored – Gen Z/Young Millennial adoption of creator careers outpaces other professions by large margins in survey data. TikTok dances can literally pay better than programming jobs out of college.
Still early innings – Less than 3% of worldwide population actively creates income online today. Emerging global connectivity through mobile translates to billions more participating in decades ahead.
Power laws & winner take most – While everyday creators expand in aggregate, breakout stars on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok continue hoovering up a disproportionate share of attention and incomes. Yet unpredictability remains baked in; new entrants constantly remixing culture.
Passion economy empowers small scale – Easy to use creator tools enable profitable middle class microbusinesses around niche interests without needing fame or corporations. Million person reach not required.
In all, the creator economy appears poised for continued exponential growth in coming years revolutionizing how entertainment media, culture, products and even education get created and consumed.
The Creator Economy is Just Getting Started
Even reviewing statistics suggesting an over $100 billion annual industry supporting 50 million full to part-time jobs, we‘ve likely only scratched the surface of the creator economy‘s disruptive rise.
Tens of millions of more people now hold internet connected cameras in their pockets and have growing examples to emulate earning incomes from online popularity.
While breakthrough social media stars with millions of adoring fans snag headlines today, teenagers experimenting with personal branding on TikTok or Twitch streamers serving niche gaming communities point the way towards a billion person creator future.
Perhaps we eventually view the 2010s as period introducing the career model while providing enough proof points for long term viability. Expect the 2020s to cement the creator economy as a dominant form of internet commerce and cultural production.
Fifty million working creators down – billions more to financially empower in the decades ahead. However the precise trajectory shakes out, one conclusion is certain:
The individual creator is now firmly placed at center stage with no signs of fading back into the audience anytime soon.
