MBO Partners recently released The Creator Economy: Staking Out New Territory, the third year of their ongoing tracking study of digital content creators.
A key finding is that the number of U.S. independent digital content creators (self-employed, solopreneurs, freelancers, etc.) who earn money by creating and distributing digital content increased by 14% in 2022, reaching 8.1 million. (click to enlarge the study chart below).
Creators report some of the highest satisfaction rates of all workers. Over nine in ten (92%) report being highly satisfied (83%) or satisfied (9%) with their work.
They're also passionate about being a creator - over two-thirds (68%) say pursuing a passion is the main reason they became creators.
And the vast majority plan to continue as digital content creators - 83% plan to continue as independent creators (57%) or build a bigger creator business (26%) over the next 2-3 years.
Regarding demographics, most creators are young - 71% are aged 40 or younger - and 57% are male. About 2/3rds report working in the creator economy part-time.
But despite the high satisfaction levels, creators face a number of challenges.
The well-known issue around creators' struggles to earn a living is evident from the study findings. Over half of the creators (61%) report earning less than $25,000 from their creator economy work, with 44% reporting earning less than $10,000.
Two other challenges jump out from the findings.
Almost four in ten independent creators (39%) say it's hard to be successful, and over one-third of all content creators (38%) report struggling with boundaries and burnout. These shares are substantially higher than reported by other types of independent workers.
But despite the challenges, many aspire to join the creator economy. The study found that 4.9 million Americans who say they are participating in the creator economy have yet to earn income from their creator economy activities.
And a stunning 41% of those with traditional jobs said they want to become digital content creators. Few of these workers will follow through, but these numbers illustrate how aspirational the creator economy is.
Despite the challenges and issues creators face, we expect their numbers to continue to increase over the next 3-5 years.
Becoming a content creator is easier and cheaper than even a few years ago - and the number of people aspiring to be creators is too large for the creator economy not to grow.
Emergent Research (that's us) worked with MBO Partners on this study.
