What is the creator economy?

The creator economy is a system powered by people creating online content for monetizable audiences. These “creators” and “influencers” make money off their digital audiences through brand deals or revenue shares with social media platforms.

While influencers try to make money off of their posts, that's not always the case for content creators.

Estimates say the creator economy market size will reach $500B by 2026

The creator economy, a system powered by people creating online content for monetizable audiences, has democratized fame and influence. Much of influencers' recent power comes from Gen Z's preference for authenticity over the polished approach of legacy media.

Here is a visualization of the creator economy as an ecosystem

From social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, to major advertisers paying influencers to promote their brands, to the consumers watching online content, quite a few engines have to keep firing to make the creator economy run smoothly.

The global creator economy is worth roughly $250B

That number is derived from multiple sources (such as brand deals and affiliate links), and the projections for how much the creator economy will be worth in the future are even more complicated.

Calculate creator economy platform costs

The creator economy continues to be an attractive way to earn money for many people. While many platforms exist to help creators monetize their work, each has different feature sets and pricing models. This calculator helps workers decide which platform works best for them.

Top creators get paid millions of dollars per post

From the Kardashians to the world’s top soccer players, a handful of celebrities average hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, per sponsored post. But brands aren’t willing to shell out that money for a high follower count alone. Creators must have high engagement rates on their content, too.

A small fraction of creators make money on YouTube

YouTube has become one of the world's leading entertainment platforms almost entirely on the back of users who upload their own content. An estimated 3.7 million new videos get uploaded to YouTube each day, but only a small, very popular fraction are able to make money from their content.

Despite many influencers having loyal followings, creator-led brands often fail when the hype from first-time buyers dies down and doesn't translate into repeat purchases.

In 2022, there were 4.2 billion social media users across the globe

Among them were 200 million creators. Linktree, a company that helps create links in people’s social media bios (and much more), gathered the most important numbers from 2022 to get a more accurate picture of what the creator economy looks like, numerically speaking.

Hank Green on the problem with being a creator

YouTuber Hank Green takes over The Financial Diet's platform to talk about the creator economy. He walks the audience through the financial decisions involved when making content. He also describes brand deals, and who actually owns the content posted on social media platforms—the creator or the platform itself?

A creator economy timeline

Long before anyone memorized a TikTok dance, the creator economy began with regular people blogging about their personal lives. Eventually, it snowballed into the creator economy we know today. The Washington Post created an interactive timeline to help visualize how the creator economy got from point A to point B.

Some influencers are facing the dark side of being a public persona

From burnout to stalkers, a content creator’s life can quickly become complicated as their following grows. Women’s Health recently spoke with some creators about what they wish they’d known before they started their careers on social media.

How YouTube's biggest creator changed the platform forever

Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, has accrued 241 million subscribers on YouTube by obsessing over content and spending sometimes millions to produce a single video. He is known for recording himself doing extreme stunts, like staying underwater for 24 hours, and gifting people with large amounts of money. Creators have imitated his style ever since. Dive into how MrBeast transformed YouTube here.

There are 'YouTube camps' that teach children how to create content for the video platform.

Today's money-making influencers might not have existed without the 'mommy bloggers'

"Mommy bloggers" chronicled the realities of their lives with kids on blogs in the early 2000s. Many eventually made some serious ad dollars too.

'Deinfluencing' explained

You’ve probably heard of influencers, but have you heard of “de-influencers?” Basically, the de-influencing trend started when creators began making videos about products you shouldn’t buy, rather than sponsored content promoting things you should purchase. Comedian Taylor Tomlinson recently cracked some jokes about the trend, and its companion “under consumption-core.”

There's a college course teaching influencing 101

A class at Duke University called Building Global Audiences promises to teach students how to grow their social media followings, master the art of content creation, and, of course, eventually monetize it all. One writer took the class and wrote about what it was like to be a student.

TikTok's top 10 users have over 1B followers

Influencers like Charli D'Amelio and MrBeast, as well as more traditional stars like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, produce content that keep people scrolling.

Inside the life of a 13-year-old beauty influencer

Thirteen-year-old Evelyn started posting get-ready-with-me style videos the summer before she entered 7th grade. Pull back the curtain on how she rose to internet fame through cutting observations of her peers at school, and how platforms like TikTok have responded to those under 13 joining the creator economy.

People are making careers out of playing claw machines

As it turns out, winning at a claw machine arcade game over and over again makes for great social media content. Influencers like Erik Kane are taking advantage of this—and making money off of it, too.

MrBeast is one of YouTube's biggest creators

Jimmy Donaldson always wanted to be an entrepreneur. His drive to succeed helped create the world's most successful YouTube channel through his media personality MrBeast. This in-depth interview with Steven Bartlett reveals the intimate details of Donaldson's experience as a big-time creator and more.

Twitch is a live-streaming platform popularized via the broadcast of esports events and users playing video games.

Explore internet usage data, including how humans consume 1.2 billion years of content yearly

About half this time consists of content from social media platforms, where the average user spends about 18.5 hours weekly. An estimated $3.66T was spent on consumer goods by online shoppers in 2025, though nonconsumer goods, such as flights and hotel stays, greatly increase this estimate.

MrBeast became one of YouTube's biggest creators

Jimmy Donaldson, aka "MrBeast," has racked up more than 312 million subscribers on the platform thanks to high-energy videos that mostly feature challenges, stunts, and philanthropy. He joined YouTube in February 2012, and his 800-plus videos have racked up more than 57 billion views.

Advertising-related activity may have supported roughly one in five American jobs as of 2024

That’s according to a study commissioned by The Advertising Coalition, conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence, which also found that the advertising industry powered more than 20% of total US economic output at the time.

Social media platforms benefit not just from ensuring they have satisfied users, but also from the personal data they scoop up and can then sell to online advertisers.

The 30 most popular YouTubers

From music superstars like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift to streamers like PewDiePie and MrBeast, the ranks of YouTube’s most-subscribed-to accounts includes a mix of everything from celebrities whose YouTube presence complements the rest of their persona to stars who made a name for themselves solely from the platform. This ranking from Search Engine Journal breaks down the 30 biggest YouTube accounts as of June 2004.

Full-time employees can cost up to 1.4 times as much as an independent worker.

YouTube brought endless content—and endless culture wars

How did YouTube grow from a startup in 2005, to a media powerhouse with more than 2.5 billion monthly logged-in users who watch more than 1 billion hours of video every day? That’s what this podcast interview with Bloomberg tech reporter Mark Bergen on NPR’s Fresh Air explores.

'Instagram traps' are changing art museums

In the creator economy era, it feels like anyone has the potential to become an influencer—if they can just capture the right content. Naturally, some places are better suited for an Instagram photo than others. Museums-turned-photo-backdrops (think: the Museum of Ice Cream) are the best of the best.

How the YouTube algorithm works, according to MrBeast

In this brief interview clip, the YouTube savant "MrBeast" summarizes how the YouTube algorithm—which he relies on to make his content go viral—actually works.

WeChat has become China's primary news platform, due to expansive user base and legacy media's adoption of the platform.

TikTok can turn everyday users into stars

TikTok is such a cultural force, it’s now a platform for turning ordinary users into stars. This "Planet Money" podcast episode performs a deep dive into how Tai Verdes went from working a day job and dreaming of becoming a successful musician to using TikTok to gain a following.

The majority of Meta's revenue comes from advertising

Since introducing Facebook Ads in 2007, ads have become the main way Meta makes money and keeps the social media platforms free for users. Meta's targeted ad program allows businesses to set a maximum advertising budget and be charged only for the actual number of impressions an ad receives. In 2025, $196.175B of Meta's $200.966B annual revenue came from advertising.

Viral pop artists create systems of participation, not just music

Musicologist (and Swift expert) Paula Clare Harper weighs in on the factors that make music go viral. Tracks designed for shareability that feed well into content algorithms on streaming platforms are able to grow in popularity, with traditional human gatekeepers sidelined.

New rules introduced in 2021 let college athletes profit from their name, image, and likeness.

The NFL makes most of its money through media licensing deals

The NFL, which reportedly earned more than $20B in 2023, generates its revenue through several key streams. The largest comes from media licensing deals, where networks and streaming platforms pay billions for the rights to broadcast games. Corporate sponsorships are another major contributor.

Meta Platforms Inc., which owns both Facebook and Instagram, is the largest social media company in the world.