The Rise of the Creator Economy
If you’re on any social media platform, you probably follow an abundance of content creators. But did you know that upwards of 17 million creators (Fast Company) were found to actually earn revenue on major social media platforms? Today, 60 million Americans are working within the Creator Economy, which is up 10-15% from what it was in 1980.
Despite this sector’s growth, the financial sustainability of creators who participate in the dynamic worlds of e-commerce and social media still struggle to create sustainable businesses. The Future of Work requires new solutions for creators to monetize their creations fairly.
We’ve seen the Creator Economy boom thanks to social media and the immense amount of venture capital invested in startups built to support creators.
According to Fast Company, the Creator Economy comprises of professionals in the arts, education, and sciences whose economic purpose is to create new technology, content, and ideas. Professionals in the Creator Economy occupy a wide range of trades and include anyone who “makes and publishes unique content online, whether that’s videos, films, art, music, designs, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.”
Here are some additional statistics from Adobe report, “Creators in the Creator Economy: A Global Study,” that gives a snapshot of the creative economy:
6 in 10 content creators have a full-time job.
2 in 10 content creators have their own content-related business.
14% of content creators are influencers.
About 40% of content creators aspire to become business owners.
While the creator economy has grown in ubiquity across the globe, only a select few have become internationally or nationally recognized.
According to a Fast Company article: “Just 1.4% of creators make more than $1 million per year; and another 1.5% make between $500,000 and $1 million, according to an Influencer Marketing Hub study. Fully two-thirds of creators earn less than $25,000 annually, and more than a quarter earn less than $1,000.”
In The Creator Economy is the Future of the Economy, writer, Richard Florida, concludes that “Going forward, the key challenge for the Creator Economy is to create a larger and more sustainable “middle class” of creators. With support from platforms and the government, many more creators can earn substantial livelihoods from their creative production than they do today.”
Only time will tell how the Creator Economy evolves with younger generations diving into content creation.