STATE OF THE

CREATOR ECONOMY
2022
PRESENTED BY
 The creator economy is on the move. that tell the story of who creators are,
Upward, that is. how they get the job done, what they’re
struggling with, and so much more.
$800 million in venture capital has
poured into it since October 2020, and A little disclaimer before we jump
Google Trends interest for the term into all the beautiful details:
quadrupled from March 2020 to today. The data doesn’t represent a completely
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. randomized section of creators at
Let’s zoom out. large. Since we sent this survey
out to our audience, the majority of
As the creator marketing platform built respondents were ConvertKit creators.
for creators by creators, we believe
the future belongs to creators. That’s Now…onto the good stuff.
actually why we were so excited to put
together this survey.

After 2,704 creators responded,

we dove into the data to find some
insightful pieces of information

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
04. Chapter 1: What is the creator economy?
06. Chapter 2: The people fueling the creator economy

17. Chapter 3: Creators are gonna create (a little bit of everything)

25. Chapter 4: An audience is a creator’s most important asset

44. Chapter 5: The creator economy middle class is growing

56. Chapter 6: The creator lifestyle comes with challenges

66. Chapter 7: Creator tool stack

68. The Creator economy is just getting started

69. Acknowledgements
01
01
WHAT IS
THE CREATOR
ECONOMY?
THE CREATOR They use software and social media
to share their perspectives, build
This review of the Creator Economy
in 2022 is the culmination of

ECONOMY an audience, and sell products and

services.
nearly 3,000 creators sharing their
experiences. Together, these

IS A NETWORK
creators bring over 11,000 years of
Being a creator certainly isn’t a new combined audience-building expertise

OF CREATIVES,
concept, and some full-time creators and $66 million in 2021 earnings.
have been building an audience
for over a decade. But a surge in They’ve shown us that the creator
WRITERS, COACHES, new creators due to the COVID-19
pandemic has brought extra attention
economy is vast and ready to grow.

INFLUENCERS, to the creator economy.

AND MORE WHO We wanted to know who these

creators are, how they make money
WANT TO EARN A and what their plans are for the coming
year. So we asked them.
LIVING ONLINE.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 5

02
02
THE PEOPLE
FUELING
THE CREATOR People are at the heart of the creator
economy—it’s even in the name.
Before looking at what creators did this

ECONOMY
year, it’s only fitting to learn who they
are first.
NEARLY HALF CREATOR STATUS

OF CREATORS ARE
FULL-TIME
If you’ve ever doubted whether it’s possible to
be a full-time creator, buckle up—it’s not as rare as
you might think. Nearly half of the creators we
surveyed indicated that being a creator is their
full-time occupation.

One in 10 creators are in it just for fun and label

themselves as “hobbyist.”

And 43% of people run their creator business on the

side of another full or part-time job.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 7

The most common professional status of
people who aren’t full-time creators is salaried
EMPLOYMENT STATUS FOR PART TIME CREATORS
employees. To all the people working on their
business in the evenings and on your weekends,
we see you!
 Matt Ragland, a productivity expert and
full-time creator, shared that he wanted
to turn creating into his full-time job so his
time matched his ambition. He said,

“One of the reasons I decided to be a full-time creator

was because there were so many things I wanted to
optimize and do that I would have never gotten to with
just 10-ish hours of work a week. I was never going to
stay even remotely consistent with it at that level.”

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 9

THERE’S NO AGE DISTRIBUTION

“RIGHT” AGE TO
BE A CREATOR
Would you have guessed that our survey encountered
more creators over 71 years old than under 18?
Or that every age range had creator representation?
It can be easy to think of the creator economy as a
young person’s game since youthful faces dominate
social media feeds. But that just isn’t the case.

The single most popular age range for creators

is 31-40 years old, with people in this category
accounting for about a third of all creators.

People under 18 are more likely to be hobbyists

than full-time creators, but we don’t doubt that they’ll
catch up in time. If the 10% of full-time creators
over the age of 61 are any indication, the next
generation of creators can look forward to many
more years of creating.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 10

WOMEN GENDER DISTRIBUTION

OUTNUMBER MEN
BY NEARLY 2:1

Female creators outnumber male creators… by a We can only speculate, but we think there are women are more likely to be burned out, exhausted,
lot. 64% of survey respondents were women, a few leading causes of the gap. and chronically stressed than men. Plus, Black,
versus 35% who were men. 1% of creators identify LGBTQ+, and disabled women are more likely than
as non-binary, and that percentage is consistent First, being a creator is a flexible option for others to have their judgment questioned. When
between both full-time and part-time creators. homemakers. 12% of part-time creators and 7% women say “enough is enough,” the creator economy
of hobbyists list homemaking as their other is there waiting for them to take matters into their
The gap between the number of men and women or primary occupation. This role was the 4th most own hands.
creators increases when you focus on full-time common response for women and the 8th most
creators, with 67% being women. The population selected for men.
of people who create as a hobby is closer to evenly
split. However, women still come out ahead in Second, data shows that women are unhappy in
representation. the workplace. There’s still a gender pay gap, and

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 11

MOST
RESPONDENTS
WERE IN THE
UNITED STATES
The majority of ConvertKit’s audience is in the
United States, so this report is most indicative of
North American creators. 57% of respondents
live in the United States, 6% in Canada, 6% in the
United Kingdom, 4% in India, and 3% in Australia.

We know the creator economy is global, though,

so tell us where you’re from!

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 12

MOST MAKERS HAVE PARTNERS
Being a creator isn’t easy, and a support system is
MARITAL STATUS
invaluable for sharing your highs and lows. 61% of all
creators are in a marriage or domestic partnership.
We don’t have the data to understand how this might
impact creators, but we can guess.

Having someone to share responsibilities, finances,

fears, and hopes with could make it easier to
transition to being a full-time creator. 63% of full-
time creators are married versus only 48% of
hobbyists.

There does seem to be an advantage to single life

as a creator—free time! The highest concentration
of single creators who have never been married
is the hobbyist category. Maybe that intrepid group
is putting the dating apps aside in exchange for
a creative outlet. All we’re saying is that if any of you
single folks find the love of your life via your blog,
we’d like a wedding invite.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 13

MOST FULL-TIME CREATORS
ARE PARENTS, TOO
Speaking of family life, let’s talk about creating
as a parent. Our survey found that 55% of full-time
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
creators have at least one kid, and that number
is nearly the same for part-time creators.
The only creator segment who are more likely not
to have kids are hobbyists, which, if you’ll recall, is
also the group most likely to be single.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 14

 Nathan Barry, ConvertKit’s Founder and CEO,
commented on balancing family and a creator
business:

“I think life with kids is easier as an

established creator because you have
more flexibility, freedom, etc. But
the path to get there is much harder;
full-time work + kids + trying to become
a creator is so hard!”

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 15

COVID CAUSED WERE YOU A CREATOR BEFORE THE PANDEMIC STARTED?

A NEW WAVE
OF CREATORS

Let’s address the elephant in the creator economy; As people grappled with each new wave of For many COVID creators, their business isn’t a
COVID-19. A third of the U.S. workforce switched “unprecedented” events, global anxiety, and full-time gig (yet). Percentage-wise, double the
to working from home in Spring 2020 because uncertainty, some turned to creating. 24% of amount of part-time and hobbyists started creating
of the pandemic, and 20% were unable to work in creators who responded to our survey during the pandemic compared to full-timers.
May 2020 because their employer closed or lost said they became creators during the pandemic.
business because of COVID-19. That means that nearly one in four creators has
only known creating during “the new normal.”

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 16

03
03
CREATORS ARE
GONNA CREATE There’s no one type of person who
becomes a creator, and there is most
certainly not one type of content or

(A LITTLE BIT OF
niche they lean into. In 2021, creators
addressed a seemingly endless
number of topics ranging from home
improvement, mental health, and

EVERYTHING)
fashion to robotics engineering, travel,
and politics. They created social media
posts, emails, courses, and more,
often at the same time. While no two
creator outputs are alike, one thing’s
for sure; creators are gonna create.
CREATORS COME TOP 10 MOST COMMON CREATOR TYPES

IN ALL TYPES
When we think about what types of creators
exist, it’s helpful to group them by type. For example,
coaches, artists, musicians, and developers can have
different goals, preferred content types, and topics.

In 2021, 29% of full-time creators identified

themselves as coaches, the single largest
category. Rounding out the top five were educators,
bloggers, writers, and artists.

One prevailing trend across creator types was the

affinity to be multi-hyphenate. Creators often don’t
label themselves as just a designer or filmmaker.
They’re “artists, authors, illustrators” or “musicians,
photographers, writers.” The whole point of being
a creator is exploring and expressing your creativity
and individuality, so don’t box yourself in!
TOP EARNING DID YOU EARN REVENUE IN 2022?

CREATORS
Educators were the most likely to have earned
revenue in 2021, closely followed by coaches.
This year, though, we should all go support a local
band since musicians were the creator type least
likely to have made money in 2021.
THERE’S TOP 20 CONTENT TOPICS OVERALL

A MARKET FOR
EVERY TOPIC
If you’ve ever wondered if your interest is too niche,
think again. We asked creators about the topics
their content covered in 2021, and they told us, “oh,
ya know, everything!” We tallied the top 20 most
common topic responses, but if you don’t see your
interest on the list, don’t worry. Plenty of unique
themes like outdoor recreation, sustainability, and
parenting are out there, too.
We did notice a compelling split between topics While it’s possible, and somewhat likely, that the
that full-time versus hobbyists cover. Professional market for business topics is larger than creative
creators are more likely to lean toward business and pursuits, there may be something else at play.
career-focused content, like entrepreneurship and Most of us have heard from at least one well-meaning
marketing. At the same time, hobbyists favor topics adult that some interests simply aren’t “real jobs.”
sometimes deemed unable to make money, like art.

TOP 5 CONTENT TOPICS FOR FULL-TIME CREATORS TOP 5 CONTENT TOPICS FOR HOBBYISTS

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 21

 But guess what? The creator economy is carving out
a place for people who want to commit their full
attention to their passions. Take Shelby Abrahamsen
as an example. She’s an artist who shared:

“Society tells you that artists are starving, that they’re

waiting tables, that they’re irresponsible, that they’re
drug addicts. And then, of course, there’s people who
make it. But for every successful artist, 10,000 hopefuls
didn’t find their big break. I loved the idea of going into
the arts, but I never felt like it was really an option.”
Fast forward to today, and Shelby is a full-time
creator with more than 56,000 email subscribers and
330,000+ monthly page views. When you leverage
digital tools to reach a worldwide audience, the realm
of what’s possible vastly expands.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 22

CREATORS MAKE TYPES OF CONTENT CREATED IN 2021 BY FULL-TIME CREATORS

MULTIPLE FORMS
OF CONTENT
Creators did a lot of writing in 2021. The three
most commonly created types of content for pros
were social media posts, emails, and articles.
That’s likely because promoting your work and
connecting with an audience is just part of being
a creator. Communicating across platforms is
practically non-negotiable.

Professional creators were also more likely

than others to create a wide variety of content.
While hobbyists generate an average of 2.4
types of content and part-timers average 3.4,
professional creators consistently put out
an average of 4.4 content types.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 23

SHORT-FORM SHORT-FORM VS LONG-FORM VIDEO BY CREATOR TYPE

VIDEO IS ON THE
RISE
Only one creator type was more likely to create
long-form videos than short-form in 2021.
Take a guess. Could it be filmmakers? Surprisingly, no.
Filmmakers have embraced short-form video,
with 69% choosing this option compared to just 48%
who create long-form.

YouTubers were the only category who were more

likely to prefer long videos, with 70% using long-
form and 66% using short-form.

For the rest of the creator respondents, short-form

videos on TikTok, Instagram Stories or Reels,
and Facebook Stories were used more than long-
forms videos. These quick clips are a way to
connect with an audience that can range from simple
“talking head” conversations to mini-movies with
interesting transitions.
04
04
AN AUDIENCE
IS A CREATOR’S Without an audience, being a creator
is a bit like talking into a digital
void. An engaged and excited audience

MOST IMPORTANT
is the difference between making it
and walking away, but it takes
time to build relationships. We found
that full-time creators prefer email
marketing for building an audience,

ASSET
and the top performers work
smarter to automatically grow an
audience with referrals and SEO.
CREATORS SPEND HOW LONG AGO DID YOU START BUILDING AN AUDIENCE?

YEARS BUILDING
THEIR AUDIENCE
Stories of YouTubers who go viral with their first
video or influencers that seem to grow their
audience at warp speed are exciting and inspiring.
For most creators, though, building an audience
is a marathon, not a sprint. 67% of full-time
creators started more than three years ago,
and just over a quarter began growing an
audience a decade or more ago.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 26

Musicians have been at it for the longest.
This creator type has the highest concentration

64% 37%
of creators who have spent 10+ years building
an audience. On the other end of the spectrum,
the relatively new designation of “streamer”
has a newer creator base, with 64% starting within
the last 5 years.
of streamers started in of musicians have spent
The next time you feel discouraged as you
compare your journey to another creator’s,
the last 5 years 10+ years building an audience
remember that things worth doing can
take time. Everyone’s journey is different,
but perseverance pays.

7% of creators haven’t started

building their audience

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 27

YOU DON’T NEED
A HUGE AUDIENCE
TO MAKE A LIVING
In the same way that attention is skewed toward
stories of “overnight success,” it’s easy to be
drawn to the idea of a massive email list. In reality,
most email lists have under 1,000 subscribers.
YouTube was the most likely platform for
creators to have more than 500k followers, but
only 1% of respondents are at that level.

the average email list size is

645
— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 28
53%
of creators have less than 1000
1%
of creators who responded have
subscribers on their email list over 500k subscribers on YouTube

9.1%
have more than 10k
6.3%
have more than 10k
6.3%
have more than 10k
followers on Instagram followers on Facebook followers on Twitter

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 29

Luckily, creators don’t need a huge audience
to have a successful launch.

Corey Haines Louis Nicholls

made $7,000 during a
made $20,000 during
course launch to an email
pre-launch
list with 300 subscribers

Samar Owais Erin Flynn

earned $15,000 turned a waitlist of
from a course with a few 40 people into $10,000
hundred subscribers in revenue
THE PLACE HOW THE PLACE A CREATOR STARTS BUILDING AN
AUDIENCE HAS CHANGED OVER TIME

CREATORS START
THEIR BUSINESS
IS CHANGING
Five years ago, the blog was the most common
creator launchpad. In 2021, Instagram took its place.

We asked creators where they first started building

an audience, and noticed that when creators
started impacted their response. The blog has been
the primary channel for some time, since 44% of
creators with 10 or more years of experience first
started with a blog. Most creators who began at
least five years ago chose either a blog or Facebook
to start with.

But when we looked at responses just from creators

who began in the past year, Instagram was the
most popular channel. Creating a blog or Facebook
page for your new venture is still a popular choice,
but we may continue to see other channels encroach
on their throne.
WHERE PROFESSIONAL CREATORS
BUILT AN AUDIENCE THIS YEAR
We looked at where creators first grow an
audience, but what were the professionals doing
in 2021? Full-time creators use an average of 3.4
channels for audience engagement and growth,
which is more than part-timers and hobbyists.

Email and Instagram tied for the most commonly

used channel by professionals. Let’s look at
email first, though. While most full-time creators
prioritized email, only a third of hobbyists felt
the same. Making an effort to grow and nurture
that audience pays off in the long run, as evidenced
by the full-timers. Start your email list now, even
if you feel like a small fish in a big pond.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 32

 Gabby Beckford, a travel blogger, witnessed a
noticeable change when she started investing time
into email marketing. She shared that,

“The Instagram algorithm will change daily. TikTok

came out of the blue, and suddenly you’ve got to learn
that. Social media is so variable. It’s hard to rely on it
as a source of income. Once I started doing my weekly
newsletter, that’s when I saw consistent traffic to
my blog. That’s when people began to respond to my
emails, being like, ‘This is amazing.’”

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 33

Apart from knowing where creators connected with
their audience, we wanted to gauge how they felt WHERE FULL-TIME CREATORS GREW THEIR AUDIENCE IN 2021
about those channels. For 52% of creators, the
platform they enjoyed creating on the most was
also the one with the most engagement. Hooray!
We don’t know whether high audience engagement
makes the site more enjoyable or if having more fun
on a platform leads to more engaged audiences.

Sadly, 20% of creators picked Facebook as their least

enjoyable AND most engaged platform. Hopefully,
this year those folks can transition their audience to
another, more enjoyable channel.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 34

Hot take: Instagram is a polarizing place for
creators. Somehow, Instagram was simultaneously
Most likely to have an active audience Most likely to show growth

Instagram Instagram
the platform creators most enjoyed creating on
while also being the second most hated channel.
It seems that for creators, you either love it or
hate it. Of course, there could also be a segment
who hate to love it since they feel pressured
(As voted by 26% of full-timers) (As voted by 38% of full-timers)
to use a channel they don’t like but sees the most
audience growth.

Feeling worn out by Instagram? Favorite channel Least favorite channel

Instagram Facebook
Find out why some creators
are stepping away from the platform

Read our Instagram article here

(As voted by 22% of full-timers) (As voted by 27% of full-timers)

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 35

TOP CREATORS HOW A CREATORS AUDIENCE FINDS THEM

SET UP SYSTEMS
TO HELP THE
BUSINESS GROW
ITSELF
There’s a difference between how creators earning
$1,000 grow an audience vs. how those earning
$100,000 do. Instagram is the top way to find an
audience for newer creators with less revenue.
This makes sense, given we just learned that
Instagram is enjoyable for many creators and has
good audience engagement.

But once creators turn pro and want to increase their

income, the strategy changes. Instead of constantly
creating content to grow, full-time creators set up
systems to help the business grow itself. The two
most common ways creators who earn $150,000
or more a year grow their audience is through
word of mouth and SEO.
SEO as a growth strategy takes time to come to
fruition, but you can start leveraging word of mouth

10%
marketing today. Newsletter referral programs give
creators a way to incentivize their audience to share of full-time creators count email subscribers
their work. Creators who use a newsletter referral
program grow faster, like Nicholas Platt, who used
as their primary metric of success
one to grow to almost 50k subscribers in 5 months.

VS
The secret to faster newsletter
growth is already in your list.

4%
Learn about newsletter
referral programs in our guide.
of full-time creators use social media
Read the referral program guide followers as their primary success metric

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 37

EMAIL MARKETING COMPARATIVE IMPORTANCE OF CHANNELS FOR CREATORS

IS ONE OF THE
MOST IMPORTANT
TOOLS FOR
PROFESSIONAL
CREATORS
We asked full-time creators how important email
is to their business, and they ranked it 8.3/10.
Spoiler alert for the upcoming sections—this rating
means professional creators think email is
more important to their business than social
media or paid ads. Full-timers are also more likely
to consider email subscribers a priority metric
over social media followers. Perhaps this is because
email is their most impactful promotional channel.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 38

Our internal data supports this idea because we
witnessed creators send a lot of email in 2021.
WHAT WILL CREATORS CREATE IN 2022?
We don’t mean “a sort of impressive amount of
email”; we mean creators crafted a mountain
of messages they sent to the masses. In 2021,
ConvertKit creators sent a total of 16,744,567,735
emails. We’ll save you some tough mental math;
that’s 530 emails a second.

All creators are gearing up for another big year

in email, too. The number of creators using
ConvertKit to send emails and sell digital products
more than doubled from 2020 to 2021. Moving
forward, setting up an email newsletter is
the most common thing creators are planning to
create in 2022. And if our survey is any indication,
there will be about 400 new newsletters this year
just from respondents alone.
How-to: If you want to send emails like the pros,
set a schedule. 66% of professionals with an email

}
66%
list send messages on a schedule, compared to
58% of part-timers and 51% of hobbyists. For those
wondering, weekly emails are the most common.
of full-time creators
Once those emails hit inboxes, professional
with an email list
creators see an average email open rate of over
40%. A third of full-timers achieve a click rate
between 2%-5%. Of all creators, full-timers were
58% of part-time creators send messages on
a schedule
51%
the most likely to have email click rates above 21%,
which is way above average.
of hobbyists

Full-time creators see an average A third of full-timers achieve a Full-time creators are most likely to have
email open rate of over click rate between above-average email click rates over

40% 2–5% 21%

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 40
CREATORS POST
CONSISTENTLY ON
SOCIAL MEDIA
Full-time creators ranked social media’s
importance to their business at 7.4/10, putting TOP 5 SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS METRICS FOR FULL-TIME CREATORS
it just behind email marketing. Unsurprisingly,
the key success metric for creators on social media
is follower growth. Full-time creators ranked
revenue as a higher goal on social media than part-
time or hobby creators.

40% of full-time creators share on social media

2-5 times a week. Another 24% said that their
frequency varies too much between sites to choose
a single answer, though. Perhaps those creators
lean heavily into one channel and post to others less
frequently.
PROFESSIONAL CREATORS ARE MOST
LIKELY TO USE PAID GROWTH
In 2021, 34% of full-time creators used paid ads.
The pros rate this growth strategy as 6/10 in FULL-TIME CREATORS WHO USE PAID ADS
importance to their business, putting it behind email
and social media. Since paid ads represent a
greater cost investment than email or social media,
it makes sense that full-timers leveraged the strategy
more than part-timers or hobbyists.

While overall, the most common monthly budget

for ads was less than $100, the majority of
professional creators who run ads are likely to spend
more than $100 a month on them. On the whole,
creators are planning to increase their spending on
ads in 2022, with 11% of professionals planning
on spending more than $2000 a month on paid ads,
up from 7% that spent that amount in 2021.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 42

BUDGET FOR PAID ADS 2021 VS 2022

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 43

05
05
THE CREATOR
ECONOMY
MIDDLE CLASS
IS GROWING Now is the moment you’ve been
secretly waiting for—answering
the question, “How much money do
creators make?”
MOST CREATORS
MADE MONEY IN 47%
of creators list revenue as
66%
of all creators earned

2021 their primary success metric revenue in 2021!

We’re happy to report that 66% of all creators

earned revenue in 2021. It’s not just full-time DID YOU EARN REVENUE IN 2021?
creators having all the fun, either. 61% of part-time
creators and 23% of hobbyists made money, too.

The most common 2021 revenue was less than

$10,000, with 44% of respondents selecting
that option. Most full-timers earn above that level,
with 58% making $25,000 or more from their creator
business in 2021.

47% of all creators list revenue as their primary

success metric. That number jumps to 61% when
you only consider full-time creators.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 45

Some creators are making serious money moves,
like Ashley Massengill, who sold a million dollars ANNUAL REVENUE FOR FULL-TIME CREATORS COMPARED TO PART-TIME CREATORS
worth of courses in the first hour of launching.
But there’s also a growing group who fly under the

76%
radar; the creator middle class.

If we categorize the middle class as earning

annual revenue between $50,000-$150,000,
of creators said their revenue increased
22% of full-time creators fall in that category. in 2021 from the previous year
This group is growing, too, with Stripe reporting
that the number of creators earning a living wage
increased 41% year over year.

76% of creators said their revenue increased in

2021 from the previous year, and a staggering 88%
expect to grow their income yet again in 2022.
Plus, 81% of creators who didn’t earn income in 2021
expect to make money this year. To the 206 people
who chose revenue as their primary success metric
but didn’t generate revenue in 2021, we’re all rooting
for you in 2022!

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 46

PART-TIME TOP GOAL FOR PART-TIMERS IN 2021 COMPARED TO 2022

CREATORS ARE
READY TO TAKE
THEIR BUSINESS
TO THE NEXT
LEVEL
A creator’s goals say a lot about where they’ve
been and where they want to go. And our
survey revealed that part-time creators are gearing
up to go full-time in 2022. To the person who wrote in
“touching hearts and minds”
as their primary goal, we’d love
In 2021, only 11% of part-time creators chose to know how you track that!
growing their income as their primary goal.
But for 2022, that number nearly doubled to 20%.
Increasing revenue went from the fourth most
common goal to second place in one year.
We saw a similar trend for part-time creators who
want to start monetizing their content. 10% of part-
time creators set their sights on earning their first
digital dollars in 2021. 18% of that same group will
focus on that goal for the year ahead.

While growing an audience remains the top goal

for part-time creators, the rising focus on earnings
points to more part-time creators setting their
sights on turning their side hustle into a day job.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 48

THE CREATOR DID YOUR CREATOR BUSINESS EARN REVENUE IN 2021?

ECONOMY HAS A
GENDER PAY GAP
PROBLEM, TOO
Remember when we talked about how female
creators outnumber male creators by nearly 2:1?
We had some theories on what could make a creator
business so enticing to women, so we wanted
to dig deeper into how it’s playing out for them.

As it turns out, female creators were the most

likely to have earned revenue in 2021, with 69%
of women reporting earnings. Non-binary creators
were next, with 63% earning income, and men were
the least likely, with 61% making money in 2021.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 49

Yet the survey data still revealed a difference in
earnings between the groups. Men were more INCOME BRACKETS BY CREATOR GENDER
than twice as likely to earn over $150,000 annually
than women, and overall, 35% of men earn over
$100,000 compared to just 19% of women. Plus,
41% of male creators who had brand sponsorships
earned more than $1k a month from sponsorships
compared to 38% of female creators.

35%
of men earn over $100,000, compared to

19%
of women

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 50

Since income is only part of the creator experience,
we also asked respondents how happy they are HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH YOUR WORK AS A CREATOR RIGHT NOW?
with their work as a creator on a scale of 1-10.
Sadly, both full-time and part-time women creators
were overall unhappier than men. Non-binary folks
reported the lowest average happiness scores, so
we’re sending virtual hugs to them.

While we’re excited to see more women creators

taking control of their earnings and work, there’s still
progress to be made. Men are overall happier
and earning more, even if they do represent a smaller
proportion of creators. Moving forward, we’d love
to see women and non-binary creators feel happier
with their work and match men’s’ earnings. Onward
and upward!

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 51

FULL-TIME INCOME STREAMS

CREATORS
LEVERAGE
MULTIPLE INCOME
STREAMS
The more income streams, the more income.
Offering multiple products and services boosts
Average number of income streams
earnings and smooths out the financial
rollercoaster creators can find themselves on. Full-timers 2.7
Part-timers 2.1
Full-time creators have an average of
Hobbyists 1.8
2.7 income streams, which is more than
part-timers or hobbyists.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 52

Aside from the number of income streams, our
survey also revealed preferences between TOP 5 INCOME STREAMS FOR CREATORS WHO EARNED OVER $150K IN 2021
full-time, part-time, and hobbyists. For example,
full-time creators are more likely than part-timers to
make money from recurring revenue streams
like communities. On the flip side, hobbyists are most
likely to leverage tip jars and donations. Since
full-time creators have more time to dedicate to
creating and updating additional income streams,
it makes sense that they have more complex
systems than other groups.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 53

The income stream creators are most excited
to add to their lineup this year is digital products. NEW INCOME STREAMS CREATORS INTEND TO START IN 2022
53% of full-time creators who earned income in
2021 are planning to add one or more new income
streams in 2022 while 54% of part-timers and 40%
of hobbitiest are planning for similar expansion.
What an ambitious bunch!

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 54

When it comes to monetizable content, there are
two leaders: digital products and courses. Both offer FULL-TIME CREATORS MOST FULL-TIME CREATORS MOST LIKELY
a way to scale your impact and turn a one-to-one
LIKELY TO CREATE DIGITAL PRODUCTS TO CREATE COURSES (WITHIN THEIR
service business into a one-to-many creator business.
(WITHIN THEIR CREATOR TYPE) CREATOR TYPE)

However, one format doesn’t beat the other, and

different creators prefer each. Educators Coaches
Hot take: NFTs will become more popular in the
creator space. Access NFTs grant owners entry to
exclusive communities or experiences, making them
an exciting strategy for creators.
Designers Educators

Want to grow your product

lineup this year?
Developers Podcasters
Check out the ins, outs, ups, downs, and

Marketers Marketers
everything in between of selling digital products
in our guide.

Read the digital product guide here

Coaches Authors

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 55

06
06
THE CREATOR
LIFESTYLE
Creators are nothing if not resilient.
In a time when 61% of creators
faced burnout, and a third felt their

COMES WITH
earnings contract because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, they found
solutions and forged on. Creators
worked hard (often alone) from homes,
offices, and coffee shops to create

CHALLENGES
something from nothing. And they’re
ready to do it all again next year.
MONEY DOESN’T AVERAGE HAPPINESS LEVELS FOR...

ALWAYS BUY
HAPPINESS
Creating isn’t always easy, but the positives
outweigh everything else for most creators.
On average, creators rate their happiness with
their work as a 6.6/10. Full-time creators are
the happiest, but we were sad to see that hobbyists
rate their satisfaction with creating at a 5.7/10,
which is just over “indifferent.” Here’s hoping they
can find more joy this year.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 57

If you’ve ever wondered if money buys happiness, it
does… to an extent. Creators earning at least $25,000 FULL-TIME CREATOR HAPPINESS BY INCOME BRACKET
a year were happier than creators earning less.
And pros who made more than $150,000 in 2021
reported the highest happiness levels. But, there
wasn’t much difference in happiness levels between
creators who focused on income-based, audience-
based, or creating-based goals. It seems that the goal
creators aim for doesn’t impact the way they feel
about their work.
CREATOR
BURNOUT IS
MORE COMMON
THAN NOT
Let’s talk about burnout. It manifests differently
for everyone, but prolonged stress can spiral HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED BURNOUT IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS?
into mental exhaustion, apathy for your work, or a
lack of motivation and creativity. And unfortunately,
it’s a prevalent enemy in the creator experience.
61% of creators experience burnout in 2021,
and full-timers were the most likely group to
contend with it.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 59

Within the full-time community, some creator types
felt burnout more than others. Those most likely to BURNOUT CAUSES FOR FULL-TIME CREATORS
have experienced burnout in 2021 were streamers
(76.02%), influencers (74.11%), and photographers
(68.42%). Considering the leading cause of burnout
was the pressure to post everywhere, it makes
sense that niches with an expectation for constant
new content felt the effects of burnout the most.
Other common burnout causes were content
fatigue, pandemic stress, and the emotional labor of
maintaining a brand based on your personality.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 60

Once burnout set in, it slowed down content
production for 75% of creators. 69% of creators WHAT FULL-TIME CREATORS DID TO COMBAT BURNOUT
also said burnout made them feel less creative, which
can be crushing when creation is what pays your
bills. Thankfully, burnout only lasted a month or less
for most creators. 33% of full-time creators bounced
back in a few weeks, but 30% felt it for months, and
11% contended with burnout for the entirety of 2021.

Nobody wants to spend time feeling burnt out,

so creators are taking steps to combat it. The most
common ways full-time creators combated the
burnout were getting outside, managing stress with
movement an self-reflection through journaling
or therapy.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 61

THE WHERE FULL-TIME CREATORS WORK MOST OFTEN

DISTRIBUTION
OF WORK
90% of professional creators worked on
their business from home in 2021. This
61.4% 29.1% 5.4%
makes sense, considering the global pandemic. HOME OFFICE AT HOME (BUT NOT IN A OFFICE SPACE AWAY
Most had a dedicated home office space, DEDICATED OFFICE SPACE) FROM HOME
but 30% built their business from the kitchen
table, couch, or wherever else they wanted
to at home.

2.5% 1.6%
COFFEE SHOP COWORKING SPACE

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 62

A significant portion of full-time creators run their
homegrown businesses completely solo. 37% WORKING ALONE VS HIRING HELP
of professional creators have no employees or
contractors on the team whatsoever. If full-timers do
have help, it’s most likely from a contractor. 52% of
full-timers work with contractors, as opposed to 30%
who have part-time employees and 20% with at least
one full-time team member.

Pro tip: find a community! Just because you work

alone doesn’t mean you have to work in a silo. 60%
of professional creators often spend time connecting
with fellow creators, which is a great way to check
ideas, commiserate, and get inspired. The top three
places to connect with fellow creators are Facebook
groups, Instagram, and private memberships.

47%
of pros want to hire more help this year

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 63

Many full-time creators don’t plan on changing
their current team status. 36% will remain solo in TYPES OF PAID HELP THAT FULL-TIME CREATORS HAD IN 2021
2022, and 16% will keep their team as is. 47%
of pros want to hire more help this year, and hiring
contractors is the most popular way they plan
to do that.

Hot take: If creators hired people to help with

work, they could spend more time creating. Only
36% of creators spend more than half their time
actually creating. That means most creators spend
the majority of their time on business growth or
admin tasks! Hiring help frees up time to work on
creating new content, and outsourcing work is also
HIRING PLANS FOR 2022
how 10% of creators keep burnout at bay.

36%
of creators spend more than half
their time actually creating
FULL-TIME CREATORS OFTEN WORK
OVER 40 HOURS A WEEK
When you’re your own boss, you can set your
schedule. When you have big ideas, goals, and to-do HOURS WORKED PER WEEK IN 2021 VS PLANS FOR 2022
lists, though, finding work/life balance can be tricky.
A 40+ hour workweek was the most common
choice for full-time creators in 2021. 28% of
creators chose this option, followed by 23% of pros
who work 30-40 hours and 21% who commit 20-30
hours a week.

It seems that the longest-working creators want

to make a change this year. 32% plan to work
30-40 hours a week, which is the most common
answer. Super long work weeks aren’t the goal for
full-time creators in 2022, and they don’t have to
be. Multiple “one to many” revenue streams, self-
growing strategies like referral programs, and email
automations can help you have a greater impact with
less hands-on time.

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 65

07
07
CREATOR
TOOL
Every industry has “tools of the
trade,” and the creator economy is
no different. For more than half of
full-time creators, the essential

STACK
tech stack consists of a website,
landing pages, a tool for selling
products, email marketing, and
community space.

Curious what the pros use?

Here are the most popular full-time
creator tools.
THE TOOLS THE MOST COMMON TECH STACK TOOLS FOR PROFESSIONAL CREATORS

THE PROS USE WEBSITE BUILDER

88% HAVE A WEBSITE
EMAIL MARKETING TOOL
81% USE AN EMAIL MARKETING TOOL
SALES TOOL
80% USE A TOOL TO SELL PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Every industry has “tools of the trade,” and the
creator economy is no different. For more
than half of full-time creators, the essential tech
stack consists of a website, landing pages, a tool for
selling products, email marketing, and community
space. When it comes to budget, more revenue leads
to higher tool stack investments. 28% of full-time
creators spend more than $500 a month on
LANDING PAGE COMMUNITY PLATFORM COURSE TOOL
78% USE A LANDING PAGE TOOL 55% HAVE A COMMUNITY BUILDING PLATFORM 45% USE A COURSE TOOL
tools, and 9% of top earners spend over $5,000.

Curious what the pros use? Here are the most

popular full-time creator tools.

SMS TEXT SERVICE SOCAL MEDIA SCHEDULER MEMBERSHIP MANAGER PATRONAGE & TIP JAR
94% OF FULL-TIME CREATORS SAID THEY DON’T 34% USE A SOCIAL MEDIA SCHEDULER ONLY 28% HAVE A MEMBERSHIP TOOL ONLY 20% HAVE A WAY TO ACCEPT TIPS
USE AN SMS TEXT SERVICE. EMAIL IS STILL THE
PREFERRED WAY FOR THE PROS TO REACH THEIR
AUDIENCE ONE ON ONE

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 67

THE CREATOR creativity, setting your own schedule,
and earning a livable wage all
As we move through 2022, full-
timers and COVID creators alike will

ECONOMY IS JUST contribute to a generally happy bunch

of creators.
use email marketing, courses, social
media, digital products, communities,

GETTING STARTED
and more to reach a global audience
Whitney Manney, a fashion designer, and earn a living online. Whether you
talked to us about her creator journey. want to replace your income or reach
Being a creator isn’t a new concept, but She said there were times when she heights beyond your wildest dreams,
creator tools and a growing community considered how other routes would be there’s a whole creator community
of support are certainly changing what easier, but in the end, she decided to working alongside you.
it means and gaining some serious persevere. She said,
steam. But if you’re looking for a get- So, we ask you, what will you create
rich-quick path, being a creator isn’t it. “Even if it’s 10 years from now, I can this year?
go teach, I can go be a third-grade art
Passionate people spend years building teacher. But 10 years from now, are you
an audience. And for people wanting going to have the energy, the drive, the
to take matters into their own hands imagination to do what you’re doing right
or break away from traditional work, now? I don’t know if that’s a chance I’m
the reward can be great. Embracing willing to take.”

— State of the Creator Economy Report 2022 68

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to these creators and • 30X500 Academy • Planoly
companies for sharing the survey • Alignable • Rachel Rodgers
with their audience. Your help in • Amy Porterfield • Roberto Blake
spreading the word made this research • Digital Deepak • Sahil Bloom
more of a reflection of different
• Ellen Mackenziee • Sendible
corners of the creator economy.
• Food Blogger Pro • Shannon Mattern
• Glo Atanmo • Shelly Rees
• Heather Rasban • Stacking the Bricks
• Indy Hall • Steph Smith
• Jason Resnick • STORY
• Jay Clouse • Taha Khan
• John Meese • Teachable
• Katie Steckly • Thinkific
• Khe Hy • Tiago Forte
• Lucy Moon • Transistor FM
• Justin Jackson • WAHJobQueen
• Mindful Biz Club • Webflow
THANKS FOR
READING
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