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It’s not each week that you simply lastly get the reply to a query that you simply’ve been requested for years and years.
Earlier than I get much more cryptic, let’s again up a bit and supply context. What’s this burning query that I’ve been requested so incessantly?
That half’s easy: how a lot do creators make?
I actually can’t rely the variety of occasions over the previous a number of years that I’ve fielded this query, with inquiries coming from everywhere in the map: manufacturers, teammates right here at CreatorIQ, creators themselves, my mother. Everyone has heard loopy figures being thrown round, and everyone desires to determine a baseline for an attractive, typically mysterious subject. We all know that there’s some huge cash within the creator economic system, however how a lot of that cash is flowing to creators?
What’s not so easy is discovering a solution. Till now.
See, our Analysis & Insights Supervisor Cherline Bazile—the identical powerhouse behind our State of Creator Advertising report sequence—is again with one other banger: the State of Creator Compensation. You possibly can think about my pleasure once I heard that Cher was taking over this matter. Eventually, solutions have been nigh!
Nicely, you don’t need to think about my pleasure: you possibly can really feel your individual as a substitute! Obtain our State of Creator Compensation report right here, and we will all bask within the solutions collectively.
However because you’re already right here on this weblog put up, I would as effectively stroll you thru a few of my favourite findings.
The Prime Report of All Time (of the Week): Creator Compensation
First, a phrase on our methodology. CreatorIQ partnered with Sapio Analysis—you may keep in mind our buddies at Sapio from the State of Creator Advertising report, or from the time they took Cher and me to have a look at a pirate ship (true story)—to survey 300 creators in late 2025. Then, we checked out a subset of manufacturers and companies who despatched creators flat funds through CreatorIQ in 2025. Double the datasets, double the insights!
In reality, with out additional ado, listed below are the solutions I’ve so lengthy been craving:
Annual Creator Earnings, 2025
Amongst our survey respondents, the typical creator reported incomes $44,293 over the previous 12 months. Solely 11% of creator respondents secured a 6-figure annual revenue. In the meantime, throughout funds utilizing CreatorIQ software program, creators earned a mean of $11.4k, whereas the median creator earned $3.0k.
So there you will have it. Remaining reply subsequent time anybody involves me asking about how a lot creators earn: both $44,293, or $11,400, or $3,000 per 12 months. No want for extra context.
Okay, clearly there’s a necessity for extra context, with that essential little bit of context being this: very like the common economic system, the creator economic system is form of lopsided.
Sorry to get all Bernie on you: normally I keep away from politics on this publication. Nevertheless, numbers are numbers, and we’ve acquired quite a few numbers to show it. It seems {that a} small proportion of creators seize a disproportionate share of whole compensation from manufacturers, whereas a overwhelming majority of creators are inclined to earn at decrease ranges. Once more, cease me in the event you’ve heard this one earlier than.
To additional quantify issues: the highest 10% of creators obtained 62% of the full quantity of creator funds, a disparity that’s—sorry to beat a useless horse with all these comparisons to actuality—growing with time. That’s up from 60% in 2024, and 53% in 2023. In the meantime, the highest 1% of creators have seen their share of whole funds rise from 15% to 18% to 21% over the identical time interval.
This disparity turns into much more obvious once you invoke the Illuminati and bust out the Nice Pyramid as a visualization method:
Creator Fee Distribution, 2025
*Full-on Bernie voice* 90% of the creators are incomes simply 38% of the wealth, whereas the highest 1% of creators earn 21% of the wealth! What we’re witnessing is a stratification of the economic system, and a vanishing of the middle-class.
For creators, I imply. Positively simply speaking about creators.
Very similar to, say, a record-breaking inventory market, these processes are going down amid a basic enlargement of the creator economic system at massive. Our analysis confirmed that in 2025, whole {dollars} paid to creators elevated by 59% year-over-year, whereas the variety of creators collaborating in campaigns inside CreatorIQ’s platform grew by 183%. In different phrases, creator advertising is scaling quicker than these good points in compensation flowing throughout the broader creator ecosystem.
2025’s notable surge in whole cost quantity aligned with our findings from the overall State of Creator Advertising report, with manufacturers reporting dramatically upscaled investments in creator advertising.
For all my financial populism, common creator compensation did develop in 2025, which is great for all of our hard-working creators. Nevertheless, a more in-depth take a look at the numbers tells a extra advanced story.
Common vs. Median Creator Earnings, 2023 – 2025
Although common funds are up, median earnings are stagnant in comparison with 2023, implying that these common funds are literally being inflated by funds to prime earners, fairly than a extra even distribution throughout the taking part in subject.
Nonetheless, small-scale funds are up considerably, with a ‘barbell’ construction—each extra small payouts and extra massive payouts—indicating continued funding in high-value creator partnerships.
These are much more solutions than I anticipated, and I didn’t even take you thru the total report. Along with extra particulars on creator compensation, there’s an evaluation of owned versus earned media for Fortune 100 manufacturers within the U.S., in addition to survey questions with creators about what they need extra of from manufacturers (trace: it’s not simply cash). Plus, on condition that this can be a report being revealed within the 12 months 2026, we’ve acquired loads of insights into creators’ ideas on AI. Cher really outdid herself, and I can’t advocate this superior report extremely sufficient.
To shut, what do all these figures imply for creators, and the manufacturers who pay them? Nicely, I couldn’t put it any higher than Cher herself. I’ll let her have the ultimate phrase:
“Creators are income catalysts and innovation companions. To the manufacturers that deal with creators like distributors as a substitute of value-drivers, that is your wake-up name. Cease undervaluing creators–your development will depend on it.”
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