The creator economy has seen impressive growth over the past years, with the entire market reaching $104.2bn value in 2022. The surging number of bloggers, social media influencers, podcasters, TikTokers, and YouTubers has been followed by the rise of content creator companies, helping them grow and monetize their audience.
According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, the total number of content creator companies jumped to over 5,000 this year, and nearly 40% of them are from the United States.
US Content Creator Companies Raised $4B, 7x More than their European Peers
The creator economy has allowed ordinary people to become creators and find success with social media, no matter their degree or experience. That explains the surging number of people gravitating toward content creation and why it has become one of the top career choices for Millennials and GenZs.
The impressive growth of the entire market has created a huge space for companies providing digital tools and services for content creators to operate and monetize. According to Crunchbase data, there are now 5,015 content creator companies worldwide. Most of them, or nearly 40%, are based in the United States. Statistics show the number of US content creator companies hit 1,974 this year, with California as the leading hub. Europe is the second-largest market, with 1,466 companies working in the creator industry. Asia follows, with 822 companies as of this year.
Although the creator economy was a space few investors were paying attention to, that has also changed in the past five years. Statistics show US companies have raised $4bn so far, or seven times more than their European peers, which hit around $540 million in total funding. Although Asia has almost twice less content creator companies than Europe, they have also raised significantly more money in funding rounds or $1.8bn.
Content Creator Companies Hit $6.8B in Total Funding
With more and more investors willing to cash in on companies working in the creator industry, the total funding amount in this market almost tripled in the last four years. In fact, more than 60% of all funds, or around $4.2bn, were raised since the end of 2019, when the creator industry really kicked off.
The Crunchbase data show 2022 was a record year for the investment activity in the creator industry, bringing around $2.2bn of fresh capital to companies operating in the market and pushing the total funding amount to $6.5bn at the end of the year.
This value increased by another $300 million year-to-date, with content creator startups raising around $6.8bn in total.
