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The creator economy refers to the businesses built by independent creators, from vloggers to influencers to writers, to monetize themselves, their skills, or their creations. It also encompasses the companies serving these creators, from content creation tools to analytics platforms.
More than 50 million people around the world consider themselves creators, despite the creator economy only being born a decade ago. It’s become the fastest-growing type of small business, and a recent survey found that more American kids want to be a YouTube star (29%) than an astronaut (11%) when they grow up.
Despite the hype, the creator economy has some of the same flaws as the traditional workforce. This is seen in the distribution of creator earnings. While the creator economy may be empowering millions, there is a small subset of creators (~1%) who collectively earn a disproportionate amount of money.
While they may skew platform earning averages, it is useful to look at the top earning creators by platform, as a way of measuring the potential earnings in that sector of the creator economy.
This article will provide a a snapshot of the creator economy statistics on some of the most popular platforms in the creator economy:
Creator Economy Statistics on Top Earners
1. Patreon
Patreon is a membership based website providing a range of business tools to help creators monetize their products via subscriptions. Through Patreon, creators allow fans to access exclusive content, additional viewership, and other perks in exchange for a monthly fee.
Some useful platform earning statistics about the top earning creators on Patreon:
- In 2020, the top 15 creators on Patreon earned at least $200,000 per year.
- The actual earnings of these top 15 creators is almost certainly well above $200,000 per year.
- The top earning creator on Patreon is Chapo Trap House, which has averaged over $150,000 per month in 2021.
- Based on data collected by Graphetron on the top 1,000 Patreon creators, it would appear that even the creator with the fewest Patrons (Cuddle Pit,~1600 Patrons) earns roughly $9,000 per month.
- Based on this same data, it is safe to assume that the top 1,000 creators on Patreon are earning at least $3,000 per month.
2. Medium
Medium is one of the better known free blogging platforms. The site features amateur writers alongside well known writers for major media publications. Medium writers are paid through the platform’s Partner Program, which distributes money based on total article read time.
Some useful baseline statistics about the top earning creators on Medium:
- In September 2020, in the Medium Partner Program, the highest amount earned for a single story by a single author was $16,685.50 and the top payment received by a single writer (across multiple articles) was $49,705.40.
- Based on data collected from the bonuses paid to top earning Medium writers, there are about 500-700 writers earning over $1,000 per month. This includes all active writers on the platform who published at least 2 articles (or as I experienced personally one month, can include writers who have published no new stories that past month, but earn royalties on their back catalogue of content).
3. Gumroad
Gumroad is an e-commerce platform that helps creators get their products sold. Artists and creators, including musicians, filmmakers, comedians, writers, software developers, and educators sell directly to consumers using Gumroad.
In 2020 on Gumroad,
- 46,000 creators earned a combined total of $142,000,000.
- The top 1% of creators earned about 60% of the money in 2020. The top 10% of creators earned nearly 92% of the total revenue.
- 8 creators made at least $1,000,000 per year
- 179 creators made at least $100,000 per year
- 1,853 creators made at least $10,000 per year
- 7,945 creators made at least $1,000 per year
That’s roughly 2,000 creators on Gumroad earning at least $1,000 per month.
4. Shopify
Shopify is a subscription-based software that allows anyone to set up an online store and sell their products. Shopify store owners can also sell in physical locations using Shopify POS, the company’s point-of-sale app and accompanying hardware.
Some useful statistics on Shopify:
- Shopify is the third-largest online retailer in the U.S. after Amazon and eBay.
- Shopify has over 1,000,000 stores and over 5,300 Shopify Plus stores.
- The top 65 Shopify stores all generate at least a million dollars in revenue.
- Shopify businesses have contributed a whopping $319 billion to the world’s economy between the years 2016 and 2019.
5. Substack
Substack makes it simple for a writer to start an email newsletter that makes money from subscriptions. Substack provides web and newsletter publishing tools that are purpose-built for paid subscriptions. Substack is popular with many writers because it’s an all-in-one solution for writers looking to monetize their online content.
Some useful statistics on Substack:
- The top 10 writers on Substack collectively make over $15M per year.
- The top 12 writers on Substack each make an average of more than $160,000 per year.
- Blogging Guide itself reached $10,000 ARR after just a year of publishing.
6. Teachable
Teachable is an all-in-one platform that helps you create and sell courses online. Teachable handles everything from web hosting to payment processing.
Some useful statistics on Teachable:
- To start, it’s important to note one of the biggest milestones reached at Teachable: $1 billion in creator sales. That means creators across the platform have earned a billion in revenue.
- In 2020, Teachable creators earned close to $400 million and launched 154,500 new courses.
- With the launch of their new coaching feature in June, Teachable was able to help creators launch almost 15,000 new coaching products.
In 2020 on Teachable:
- 2 creators made over $10,000,000
- 56 creators made over $1,000,000
- 823 creators made over $100,000
- 4,385 creators made over $10,000
- 11,747 creators made over $1,000
That means that at least 5,000 creators on Teachable are earning $1,000+ per month.
7. YouTube
YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) which lets creators monetize their videos on YouTube. To qualify for YPP you need to be in good standing with YouTube and have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers.
Some interesting statistics on the top earners on YouTube:
- As of June 2020, nine-year old Ryan Kaji (Ryan ToysReview) was ranked first as top-earning YouTuber worldwide with earnings of approximately $29.5 million.
- The top 10 highest earning YouTuber’s each earned over $15 million in 2020.
- Thousands of channels are able to earn over $100,000 a year solely from their YouTube advertising revenue.
8. Roblox
Roblox is an online platform and storefront where users go to play games. Roblox is a place where people play games made by other developers. Although Roblox and all its games are freely available, many kids buy and spend a virtual currency called Robux on aesthetic items in Roblox games. Roblox developers get to keep a portion of these transactions in the form of Robux.
- Approximately 800 Roblox developers have earned over $30,000 in the last twelve months and 39 Roblox developers have earned over $1 million in the same period.
- Top developers earn over $100,000 per month for a single successful game on Roblox.
- Roblox paid its developers a total of $250 million in 2020.
9. Twitch
Twitch is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions.
Some interesting statistics about Twitch:
- The top ten highest earning Twitch streamers each earned over $1,000,000 in 2020.
- The top 30 Twitch streamers all make at least $100,000 per year.
- Twitch streamers are well represented on eSports top 500 earners, which is comprised of gamers who have each made over $300,000 gaming.
10. Amazon KDP
Amazon KDP authors earn money from the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select Global Fund for their participation in Kindle Unlimited, Kindle’s subscription service.
- In the last twelve months, authors earned more than $334 million from the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select Global Fund, totaling more than $1.2 billion since the launch of Kindle Unlimited.
- In 2019, several thousand independent authors earned more than $50,000 in royalties and more than a thousand surpassing $100,000 in royalties through Amazon KDP.
11. TikTok
TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app that allows users to create and share videos, on any topic.
- As of June 2020, it was estimated that TikTok video creator Charlie D’Amelio had annual earnings in excess of $4 million. Earnings include advertising revenues as well as sponsored content and event appearances. The highest-earning TikTok star was Addison Rae, with earnings of approximately $5 million during the measured period.
12. Etsy
Etsy is an American e-commerce company focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home décor and furniture, toys, art, as well as craft supplies and tools.
- Last year, Etsy’s annual merchandise sales volume totaled $4.97 billion.
- The top 100 Etsy stores all appear to have generated over $10,000 in the past 30 days.
- Top Etsy stores earn over $1,000,000 in annual revenue.
Conclusion
While the creator economy may be empowering millions, there is a small subset of creators (~1%) who collectively earn a disproportionate amount of money.
While they may skew platform earning averages, it is useful to look at the top earning creators by platform, as a way of measuring the potential earnings in that sector of the creator economy.
Based on the creator economy statistics noted in this article, it’s clear that already, 10,000+ creators make a living by pursuing their passions online. And with the rapid growth that all of these platforms are seeing, it is not a stretch to imagine 100,000 or even a million creators earning a high income in the United States, in the near future.
