How Big is the Creator Economy?

How many creators are part of the creator economy? How much is the creator economy worth? how big is the creator economy? Also known as the passion economy or the knowledge economy, The creator economy is big, and growing. In this video, we break down the current size of the #creatoreconomy by participants and financial value.

Number of Creators in the Creator Economy

How many creators are participating in the creator economy? Quantifying the number of independent creators participating is tricky because there is no centralized place to record them all. Plus, many individual creators are using multiple platforms. Influencer Marketing Hub reports that there are 50 million creators participating in the creator economy or passion economy.

We think this number seems accurate. Let’s look at the user base of some popular platforms to see why. Reports show there are:

38 million YouTube channels
11 million Twitch streamers
2 million podcasts
1 million Shutterstock Contributor creators

Plus, there are plenty of users on other social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn where some people monetize or generate leads but most people stick to personal use.

But there are also a number of specific platforms and marketplaces designed for people to monetize their content. Some of these, like Kajabi, focus on knowledge commerce, which is selling content about one’s expertise. This makes it part of the knowledge economy.

So, if we account for knowledge commerce platforms, the overlap between all platforms, and inactive accounts, that 50 million estimate that Influencer Marketing Hub reported seems about accurate. Some of these creators use this as their complete income while others work part time or supplement their income with content sales.

The Value of the Creator Economy in 2022

Now let’s talk dollars. Influencer Marketing Hub estimates the total size of the creator economy to be over $104 billion dollars.

Does this seem accurate? We think so. For example, Fortune Magazine reports that top YouTube channels were expected to earn between $30 to 50 billion in 2021. On Kajabi, our Kajabi Heroes processed up to 3.5 billion dollars in gross merchandise value on our platform in 2021. In 2020, Teachable reported processing $400 million in GMV.

Once you add in all of the other content monetization platforms and marketplaces, that $104 billion number definitely seems reasonable.

Another important number is the worth of companies that create the platforms. Kajabi is no stranger to this - we received a $550 million dollar investment led by Tiger Global in May of 2021 and Kajabi has a $2 billion dollar valuation. Other creator economy platforms have gotten outside investment and also have big valuations.

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Kajabi is the only all-in-one platform for Knowledge Commerce entrepreneurs. Kajabi empowers entrepreneurs, experts, creators, and influencers who are serious about their business to achieve success online. Easily publish a website, marketing pages, and sales funnels. We make it easy to sell online courses, membership sites, coaching program, podcasts, and digital downloads.

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