Stripe Data: Creator Economy Growth Is Holding Steady
Two years ago, the creator economy seemed to be nearing its peak. Pandemic-era hobbyists were monetizing their passions, and venture capital was flooding into new platforms built to serve them. Since then, funding has cooled and attention has shifted to crypto and AI, pushing the sector into what some call the "trough of disillusionment."
Data from Stripe, however, tells a different story. Stripe Connect, its platform for onboarding and paying out creators, is used by many of the largest creator platforms. Aggregated data from 50 of those platforms shows the sector is still expanding at roughly the same pace as in 2021.
In 2021, those platforms had onboarded 668,000 creators who received $10 billion in payouts. By 2023, the same platforms had crossed 1 million creators and distributed over $25 billion in earnings.
Global Growth Outpaces the US
The creator economy started in the US, but it is now clearly international. New creator sign-ups in the US are slowing, down 25% year-over-year, while growth accelerates elsewhere. The fastest-growing creator countries on Stripe are Thailand, Brazil, and Romania. Europe and the Middle East have nearly doubled their share of creators, from 11% to 22%.
"In 2012, Ko-fi started as a weekend project to let developers accept contributions of coffee," said Simon Ellington, cofounder of Ko-fi, a UK-based Connect platform. "Since then, creators have signed up from six continents. They're accepting tips for PlayStation streams and selling online jazz club memberships. Creators are now earning $100 million a year on Ko-fi. Last year, that number was less than half."
North America's share of creators has dropped from 85% to 72%. In the last month, the first creators from Tanzania, Mozambique, and El Salvador began monetizing on these platforms. X also launched a monetization program this year that sends Connect payouts to creators in over 115 countries.
A Nigerian X creator
Education and Subscriptions Drive Revenue
Platforms like Kajabi, Teachable, and Thinkific, which help creators sell online courses, are seeing the strongest performance. These education platforms grew revenue 120% over the past two years and now represent the largest creator category by revenue. Latrina Walden, a double board-certified nurse practitioner, has used Thinkific to help 5,000 prospective healthcare workers pass nursing exams.
Monthly subscriptions are becoming a popular way for creators to build reliable income. Creators in Asia Pacific gravitate toward this model and earn some of the highest monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Year-over-year, Hong Kong and Japan posted the second and third fastest-growing MRR, behind only the US. Hong Kong creators led in average MRR at $6.6K, followed by the Netherlands at $3.2K and the UK at $2.6K.
For most creators, though, this income remains supplemental. Only 2.8% of US creators earn a living wage, down from 4% in 2021.
As platforms add monetization features and expand globally, the creator economy has room to grow. It may not be the center of attention, but it is not mutually exclusive with newer trends. Runway recently launched a program to equip creators with AI video tools, and Braintrust now allows freelancers to get paid in crypto. Stripe reports that the creator economy is stable and increasingly part of the broader global economy, and the company continues to develop onboarding and payout infrastructure for it.
