Creator Report
Your career.
Your industry.
Your future.
It doesn't matter which platforms you're on or how many followers you have: If you produce and seek to monetize content, you’re a creator.
Being part of a new growing economy like ours can leave you with a lot of questions. That's why – backed by our industry, our own data, and the input of more than 9,500 creators – we kicked off an investigation to start surfacing the answers. Dive into what it means to be a creator today, and what it takes to make it on the web.
Chapter 1
Meet Your Fellow Web-Cohabiting Creators
From gamers and streamers to NFT-makers and artists, creators are part of both the passion economy and the creator economy. But, what's the real size of the opportunity you share with your fellow creators?
The Creator Economy's
Total Addressable Market
If every single person who could potentially find value in social media, the passion economy or the creator economy acted on it today, how big would these markets be? That's how we calculate Total Addressable Market (TAM). It's the maximum potential size of the opportunity we're looking at.
Social Media Users
Total market size for the global social media network involved in the creator economy
Passion Economy Users
People who engage in any activity to monetize individuality and non-commoditized skills supported by digital platforms
Creators
Individuals who use their influence, creativity, or skills to aggregate and monetize their audience
Creator Breakdown
Globally, by Audience Size
Audience size
# of creators
Recreational
0-1K followers
23,000,000
Semi-Pro
1K-10K followers
139,000,000
Pro
10K-100K followers
41,000,000
Expert
100K-1M followers
2,000,000
Expert
1M followers
2,000,000
From the source
“It’s a fun job that brings a lot of cool opportunities. Creators are more relatable and genuine than brands, so people gravitate towards them.”
linktr.ee/luiscapecchi
BoyNamedLuis
1.7M followers on TikTok
“We live in an amazing time where the ordinary person gets to become a creator and find success with social media. It’s the wave of the future.”
linktr.ee/psychicstina
Psychic Stina
213.1K followers on TikTok
Chapter 2
The Common Ground We Share
Creators defy a one-size-fits-all definition, but they still have a few things in common. For starters, it turns out content creation isn't the main hustle for many in the creator economy.
Overview of time spent
on content creation
66%
of creators consider themselves part-time creators
43%
of creators spend less than or equal to 5 hours per week creating content
36%
of creators have been making content for less than or equal to 1 year
Annual Income and Time Spent
on content creation
The relationship between how much creators work and how much revenue they make isn’t an exact science.
53%
of creators who make
less than $100 a year spent less than 5 hours a week on content creation
32%
of creators who make
$100-10K a year spent greater than 10 hours a week on content creation
52%
of creators who make
$50K-100K a year spent less than 10 hours a week on content creation
48%
of creators who make
$100K-500K a year spent greater than 10 hours a week on content creation
Beginner* creators and monetization
When people first dip their toes into the creator economy, they struggle to monetize.
Annual Income
$0-100
$100-1K
$1K-5K
$5K-10K
$10K-50K
$50K-100K
$100K-500K
$500K
59%
of beginner* creators haven’t monetized yet
35%
of beginner* creators have monetized but earned below what can be considered as a “livable income”
6%
of beginner* creators have earned greater than $10K
Annual revenue for
Full-Time Creators
12%
of full-time creators make greater than $50k
46%
of full-time creators make less than $1K
Annual revenue for
Part-Time Creators
3%
of part-time creators make greater than $50K
68%
of part-time creators make less than $1K
creat0r-reported stress levels
Creators say they feel stressed regardless of income, but full-time creators tend to feel more fatigue than part-timers.
Full-time creators
Part-time creators
Drag to Explore
From the source
“It’s hard to know what your brand is worth until you start getting multiple deals. You’ll need experience negotiating.”
linktr.ee/mechanicallyincleyend
Mechanicallyincleyend
1.8M followers on TikTok
“Giving away free content can help with monetization. My sales are highest when I host free webinars that inspire people to continue learning with me.”
linktr.ee/missexcel
Miss Excel
749K followers on TikTok
Chapter 3
What the future looks like for creators
No matter what you’re creating – or who you’re creating for – we’ve got tips that can help you take your content, communities, and monetization to the next level.
Tip 1
Seek out quality audiences over quantity
You can monetize small, engaged audiences that know and love your work. Rather than chasing bigger follower counts or brand colaborations, focus on growing your owned plaforms.
12%
of creators say they earned ≤$100 from a single brand collab
2%
of creators' largest audience is on their website/blog
67%
of creators say they’ve never collaborated with a brand on your social channels
25%
of creators earn the most income on their website/blog
Tip 2
invest in niche content creation
If you want to connect with new audiences, going mainstream isn't your only option. Find superfans by choosing to specialize.
62%
of niche creators think specializing is helpful for engagement and reach
37%
of niche creators had engaged in a brand collab at least once (vs. 26% of non-niche creators)
7%
of niche creators earn >$100K per year (vs. 5% of non-niche creators)
Niche content creation's
Impact on Monetization
Channels that earn creators revenue
Niche creators
Non-niche creators
Premium newsletters
3%
2%
E-courses
10%
3%
Paid downloadable resources
10%
5%
Affiliate marketing (excl. Amazon)
15%
10%
Ads
13%
9%
Influencer marketing
14%
9%
Own physical products
23%
18%
Tip 3
Switch Up Channels and Format Types
Emerging channels like Twitch, OnlyFans, and TikTok, and long-time favorites like Reddit and Snapchat, all offer growth opportunities. Beginners* are more likely to have their largest communities on these platforms than experienced** creators.
12%
of beginner* creators consider TikTok as their biggest platform (vs 6% of experienced creators)
16%
of beginner* creators consider Facebook as their biggest platform (vs 22% of experienced creators)
number of content formats creators develop
Platform popularity tends to ebb and flow, so show up where your audience is with content tailored to their favorite channel. Most creators are already producing in multiple formats including long-form video, podcasts, and for apps.
Drag to Explore
From the source
“Diversifying platforms gives you more opportunities to get bigger. Not everyone uses the platform you’re on the most.”
linktr.ee/tommydraws
TommyDraws
1.1M followers on TikTok
“We all have that one app we love, but join the latest trending ones too. Who knows, you may just become the best account on that platform!”
linktr.ee/earlyretirementsq
Early Retirement Squad
212.2K followers on TikTok
Thanks for Reading
About Linktree
The creator economy is an exciting space to be in. Linktree is making sense of this evolving economy by working with the people who lead it–the creators. We’re the go-to partner for creators, and thanks to this one-of-a-kind relationship, we can connect the rest of our industry to their world.
From partnerships with key players to unique interactive tools that can't be found anywhere else – everything we do and make exists to help creators thrive.
Interested in being in a future campaign? Enter Here.
Research Methods
*Beginner creators: <12 months of experience
**Experienced creators: 3 years of experience
Methodology
Linktree Creator Economy Research (2021): Referenced internal Linktree data and external data from Statista, Omnicore Agency, Global Media Insight, and the social media platforms referenced. Total active users for each platform were broken down by the number of followers. TikTok analysis did not include Douyin.
Linktree Creator Survey (2021): Surveyed 9,576 Linktree users. The survey had a 95% completion rate. Response rates to individual questions varied due to open-ended questions and qualitative data. Percentages for all quantitative data were rounded to the nearest tenth or the nearest whole number as fit.
Linktree Creator Outreach (2021): Emailed select creators on Linktree with interview questions. Responses were tweaked for flow and length with respondents’ permission and approval. Follower counts noted are from early February 2022.
Sources
Chapter 1: Linktree, Creator Economy Research, 2021.
Chapter 2-3: Linktree, Creator Survey, n=9,576, 2021.