What is the creator economy and how big is it?
Last updated · by Hüseyin Kaplan
The creator economy is the business ecosystem built around independent people who make online content, plus the platforms, tools, marketplaces and brands that pay them. Goldman Sachs valued it at about $250bn in 2023 and estimated it could reach roughly $480bn by 2027, but income is lopsided: a small minority of creators earn most of the money.
What is the creator economy?
The creator economy is the market that forms around independent people who publish content online and earn from it, plus every business that helps them make, distribute and sell that content. It includes YouTubers and TikTokers, and also newsletter writers, podcasters, UGC creators who make videos for brands' ads, and part-time creators who post a few times a week.
Money comes in from three directions, and around those flows sits a layer of software, marketplaces, agencies and payment providers. When someone quotes a size for the creator economy, the figure depends on which of these layers they count. That is why published estimates vary so much.
Brand money
Brands pay creators for sponsored posts, ad-ready UGC videos, affiliate sales and longer ambassador deals. This is by far the biggest flow: survey data puts brand deals at most of creator revenue, which is why people so often mix up the creator economy and influencer marketing.
Platform money
Platforms share advertising revenue or pay out through creator funds and rewards programmes, as YouTube does with its Partner Programme and TikTok with its creator rewards. Live-stream gifts and shopping commission count too. This income depends on views and on policy decisions the creator does not control.
Audience money
Fans pay creators directly through subscriptions, memberships, tips, paid newsletters, courses and merchandise. For most creators it is the smallest flow, but it is the most stable, because the creator owns the relationship and does not rely on a brand's budget or an algorithm.
How big is the creator economy?
On the broadest measure, the creator economy is worth about a quarter of a trillion dollars and heading towards half a trillion. Goldman Sachs Research put its total addressable market at $250bn in 2023 and projected it could roughly double to $480bn by 2027, growing at about the same pace as global digital advertising.
The same analysis counted about 50 million creators worldwide. It found that brand deals make up about 70% of creator revenue and that only about 4% of creators earn more than $100,000 a year. Treat these as the widest frame: they combine brand spend, platform payouts and direct fan payments, and they date from 2023.
Narrower measures, which count only the money brands deliberately spend on creators, come out much smaller. The growth section below uses one of them, because it is newer and is updated every year.
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How fast is the creator economy growing?
Brand spending on creators grows by double digits every year, much faster than advertising as a whole. According to IAB's 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report, US creator ad spend rose from $13.9bn in 2021 to $29.5bn in 2024 and was projected to reach $37.1bn in 2025. That is a 26% rise, about four times the media industry's 5.7%.
Between 2021 and 2024 that works out at a compound annual growth rate of about 28.5% (our arithmetic from the published figures). The 2026 forecast is $43.9bn, a slower 18% rise, so growth is easing even as the totals keep climbing. On the number of creators rather than the money, the 2023 forecast quoted above expected 10-20% growth a year.
This measure counts only spend that brands choose to make: direct partnerships, paid amplification of creator posts and planned ads placed next to creators. It leaves out affiliate income, subscriptions, tips and merchandise, which is why it is a fraction of the broad market-size estimates.
Who actually earns money in the creator economy?
Only a minority of creators earn a full-time income; most earn little from it. The Influencer Marketing Factory's 2026 Creator Economy Report surveyed 1,000 US creators in January. It found that 48.7% earned under $10,000 a year, 45.6% earned between $10,000 and $100,000, and 5.7% earned $100,000 or more.
The middle band is what has changed: more creators now run small, sustainable businesses instead of chasing viral hits. Just over half (51.5%) said their earnings grew in 2025. Product sales and affiliate marketing together made up 21.2% of creator income, which shows creators building revenue that does not depend on a single brand deal or algorithm.
For brands, the long tail is an opportunity: thousands of capable creators earning $10,000-$50,000 a year are open to fair, steady work. For creators, the message is to spread income across several sources early.
Where brand money is going
- $37.1bn Estimated US brand ad spend on creators, up 26% on the previous year.
- 4x Creator ad spend is growing about four times faster than the media industry overall.
- 48% of US ad buyers call creators a 'must buy', behind only social media and search.
- 3 in 4 brands pay creators flat fees, choosing cost certainty over performance-based pricing.
Source: IAB and Advertiser Perceptions, 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report, 2025
Which platforms and tools make up the creator economy?
The creator economy runs on five layers: the social platforms where audiences gather, the tools creators use to make content, the services that let them earn directly from fans, the shopping systems that turn content into sales, and the marketplaces and agencies that connect creators with brands. No single company owns all of it, so most creators and brands combine several.
Social and video platforms
TikTok, YouTube and Instagram hold most of the attention and most of the platform payouts. Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitch and LinkedIn serve narrower audiences. Each pays creators differently, through ad-revenue sharing, creator funds, live-stream gifts or shopping commission, and each has its own brand-partnership tools, such as YouTube BrandConnect and TikTok's creator marketplace.
Creation tools
Editing and design apps such as CapCut and Canva have cut the cost of polished short-form video to almost nothing. AI assistants now help with scripts, captions and clipping. For brands, cheaper production means many more creators can deliver ad-ready content, not only the ones with studios.
Monetisation and audience tools
Link-in-bio storefronts (Linktree, Stan, Beacons), newsletter platforms (Substack, Kit, beehiiv), membership services (Patreon) and course platforms (Kajabi, Teachable) let creators earn directly from fans. They matter because they move income away from reach that a platform controls and towards an audience the creator owns.
Commerce and affiliate rails
Social shopping has closed the gap between a recommendation and a sale. TikTok Shop, LTK, ShopMy and Amazon's creator storefronts pay commission on purchases. That means a creator can be paid on results instead of a flat fee, and a beauty or supplement brand can trace revenue back to individual creators.
Marketplaces, agencies and brand platforms
For brands, the options are the social platforms' own partnership tools, independent influencer software, creator marketplaces where creators apply to briefs, and agencies that run whole campaigns. Many brands use more than one. Which suits you depends on budget, volume and how much work you want to keep in-house.
How big is TikTok's role in the creator economy?
TikTok has changed the creator economy more than any other platform, because its feed rewards the content itself over follower counts and turns discovery straight into sales. In the UK, Public First's 2026 report for TikTok estimated that activity tied to the platform added at least £10bn to the economy in 2025 and supported 153,000 jobs.
The same report counts more than 30 million monthly UK users, including around 8 million 'casual creators' who post more than once a week. Among businesses, 39% of UK firms use TikTok in their marketing. Of those, 84% say it has lifted sales and 28% say a product has sold out because of TikTok or TikTok Shop.
These figures were commissioned by the platform, so they are not independent audits. The main point still holds: on TikTok, a small DTC brand can reach buyers through creators without a large media budget, and creators can earn from commission and brand work without a huge following.
What are the biggest creator economy trends right now?
The biggest trend is that brands now treat creators as a core media channel, not a social-media experiment, and most other trends follow from that. In IAB's survey of more than 450 US advertising decision-makers, 48% called creators a 'must buy', behind only social media and paid search. Three in four were using or planning to use AI for creator marketing tasks.
If you are a brand deciding what to act on now, three trends matter most. Lock in longer creator relationships, build measurement that links creator content to sales, and set rules for AI use before your creators or agency set them for you.
Creators as a planned media line
Creator budgets are leaving experimental pots and joining planned media, usually funded from social and creator-specific budgets. Expect creator spend to be planned next to search and paid social, with the same scrutiny on cost and return, and expect finance teams to ask for the same reporting.
Long-term partnerships over one-off posts
Brands and creators are moving away from single sponsored posts towards retainers, ambassador programmes and always-on affiliate deals. Seeing the same creator talk about a product again and again builds more trust than one post, and steady work gives creators predictable income and less time spent pitching.
Owned income and social commerce
Creators are building revenue they control: storefronts, digital products, newsletters and commission from shoppable video. For brands, that means more creators will accept commission or mixed fee-and-commission deals, and shoppable formats make it easier to see which creators actually drive sales.
AI in the workflow, people on camera
AI is spreading through editing, briefing and creator search. But the same survey found 95% of brands had concerns about using it, led by the fear of losing authenticity and human connection. Expect clearer disclosure rules for AI-generated content and more value placed on real people on camera.
Pressure to prove results
Proving ROI is the measurement problem brands rank first, ahead of attributing sales to individual creators. Expect wider use of discount codes, affiliate links, platform conversion tools and brand-lift studies, and more demand for creators who can show how their past work performed.
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What does the creator economy mean for brands and creators?
For brands, the creator economy means a large supply of people who can make content that sells, often at accessible prices. For creators, it means a real income is possible but rarely comes from one source. Both sides now treat creator work as a business, so briefs, usage rights and disclosure matter.
If you are a DTC beauty, skincare, supplement or fashion brand looking for your first batch of creator content, #Collabz is built for that need: a London-based marketplace where vetted UGC and influencer creators apply to your brief, with usage rights and payments handled in-platform.
For brands
Start small and specific: a handful of nano and micro creators in your niche, a clear brief, and usage rights that let you run the best videos as ads. Finding the right creators is the challenge brands rank first, so check audience fit and past work, not just follower count.
For creators
Treat brand deals as one income stream among several. Combine sponsored work with affiliate commission, UGC videos for brands' own ads and something you own, such as a newsletter or digital product. Then a change in an algorithm or the loss of one client will not wipe out your month.
Disclosure is part of the deal
The ASA and CMA's influencers' guide explains how to make clear that ads are ads. In practice, UK posts carry 'Ad' upfront and US posts '#ad'. Gifted product counts as well as paid deals, and brands share responsibility for getting the label right.
Sources and further reading
- ASA and CMA, Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads — Advertising Standards Authority
- Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers — Federal Trade Commission
- 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report — IAB
- The creator economy could approach half-a-trillion dollars by 2027 — Goldman Sachs
- Discover. Create. Grow.: TikTok's economic impact in the UK — Public First
- IAB and Advertiser Perceptions, 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report (PDF), 2025
- IAB, Creator Economy Ad Spend to Reach $37 Billion in 2025 (press release), 2025
- The Influencer Marketing Factory, 2026 Creator Economy Report, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is the creator economy the same as influencer marketing?
No. Influencer marketing is the money brands pay creators to promote products, and it is the largest single flow inside the creator economy. The creator economy also includes platform payouts, fan subscriptions, digital products, creator software and social commerce.
Why do estimates of the creator economy's size vary so much?
Each estimate counts different things. Broad market-size figures add together brand deals, platform payouts, fan payments and sometimes the software around them, while narrower trade-body figures count only what brands deliberately spend on creators. Always compare figures that use the same definition.
How can smaller brands afford creator partnerships?
Work with nano and micro creators, pay for UGC videos you own instead of posts on big accounts, and use commission or discount-code deals that pay out only when sales happen. Gifting product is the cheapest way to start, but the FTC's Disclosures 101 counts free or discounted products as a material connection, so gifted posts still need '#ad' in the US and 'Ad' in the UK.
Can you be part of the creator economy without a big following?
Yes. Many creators earn from brands by making UGC videos for those brands' own ads, where they are paid for the content, not their reach. Affiliate commission and social shopping also reward small accounts with engaged, specific audiences.
Is the creator economy still growing or is it a bubble?
Brand spending on creators is still forecast to grow faster than advertising overall, though the rate of growth is slowing. What is not spread evenly is income: most creators earn modest amounts, so the growth goes mainly to established creators and the platforms and tools around them.
What jobs exist in the creator economy beyond being a creator?
Creators rely on talent managers, video editors, scriptwriters, agencies, marketplace and platform staff, and brand-side creator marketing managers. As brands treat creators as a planned media channel, roles in creator partnerships, measurement and content licensing are growing inside marketing teams.