In 2019, children were three times more likely to say they wanted to be a YouTuber when they grew up than an astronaut, according to a Lego study. And the creator economy has only grown since then—one Columbia Business School paper claims it doubled in size between 2019 and 2023.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
Many brands pay influencers to advertise their products or services on social media. Platforms such as YouTube, Substack, and Twitch also provide revenue-sharing opportunities for their top creators. Known as the creator economy, it's a system driven by individuals who produce online content for audiences that can be monetized.
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.
The words “influencer” and “creator” are used interchangeably to describe someone who posts consistent content to a significant number of followers on at least one social media platform. But the difference between the two is important. Especially to marketers seeking to tap social media stars to promote products and services.
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.
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.
"Mommy bloggers" chronicled the realities of their lives with kids on blogs in the early 2000s. Many eventually made some serious ad dollars too.
While the other children in your kindergarten class might have wanted to be firefighters or astronauts when they grew up, modern kids are different. Lego conducted a study that found children were more likely to say they wanted to be a YouTuber when they grew up than an astronaut.
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.
YouTube Creators Camp in Katy, Texas, is just one example of a new camp aimed at teaching kids how to develop their own YouTube channels. This short documentary explores the camp and what its campers suggest makes for a successful piece of content.
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