ConvertKit released its third annual State of The Creator Economy report in May 2024, representing the sentiments of 1000 creators that it surveyed on the economic conditions and effective practices that creators experienced in 2023 and how they view the prospects for their businesses in 2024 and beyond.

The report is thorough and visually engaging with many informative charts and graphs, and we encourage you to obtain a copy. Given its depth, it is also 62 pages in length which may present challenges for time-starved Newsletter Business subscribers to consume it all, so Newsletter Business has prepared this condensed set of key insights gleaned from the report intended for you to be able to skim in only a few minutes.

Newsletter Business is a proud partner of ConvertKit; while the insights featured here were selected by us, all data and graphics are courtesy of ConvertKit’s thorough research.

Creator Profile : Aside from being a concentrated group of entrepreneurs, bloggers, coach/educators and writers, the majority of creators surveyed were female and struggling to earn more than $10,000 per year via their creations. Generational categories showed differences in time commitment and earning potential, but it is understandable why their #1 priority was to grow income.

1. Gender distribution

   • Female: 65%

   • Male: 33%

   • Non-binary: 2%

2. Majority earn less than $10k per year

   • Earn <$10k: 60% of women, 64% of men

   • Earn >$100k: 18% of men and women alike!

3. Generational differences in time commitment and earning potential

   • Gen X most likely to be full time creator (43% earn > $10k)

   • Millennials most likely to earn >$100k (41% earn > $10k)

   • Gen Z most like to run a side hustle (Only 13% earn > $10k)

   • Boomers: 34% earn > $10k

4. Priorities

   • Grow my income: 42%

   • Grow my audience: 18%

   • Build a more engaged relationship with audience: 11%

   • Automate parts of business: 8%

   • A cumulative 10% said they wanted to expand into a new platform, create new products, collaborate with other creators and hire team members.

Creator Output : With respect to content formats they like to produce as well as which channels drive engagement, creators gave the advantage to email/newsletters because of the direct audience relationship afforded and the fact that the channel is not as subject to algorithmic changes (although the Google/Yahoo policy changes affecting deliverability sure feel like one), as well as being a platform-agnostic, transferrable channel. 27% of creators are planning to start a newsletter.

1. Content formats favored by creators

   • Emails / newsletters: 58%

   • Articles / blog posts / books: 51%

   • Created educational courses: 30%

   • Short form video: 23% (50% drop)

   • Youtube: 16% (4x increase)

2. Top engagement formats

   • Email/newsletter: 27%

   • Instagram: 15%

   • Facebook: 12%

   • Blog posts: 11%

3. Top 3 uses of AI (which 66% of creators use)

   • Generating written content: 41%

   • Editing: 23%

   • Marketing: 11%

4. Top reasons for not using AI

   • Lack of familiarity with AI Tools: 28%

   • Don't feel the need to: 25%

   • Concerned about keeping content original (24%) / creative (20%)

Creator Monetization : Monetization is a struggle, with the majority earning less than $10,000 annually. The upper end of the scale, however, saw growth of 4% more creators earning > $100k. YouTubers, Designers, Educators, Bloggers and Authors were the top 5 creator types that had the largest percentage earning more than $100k. Not surprisingly, creator satisfaction increased with higher earnings.

1. The bulk of annual earnings are still on the low end or non-existent

   • $0-$10k: 54% (24% made $0)

   • $10k - $100k: 27%

   • >$100k : 16% (of which 6% earned >$250k)

2. Easiest ways to monetize from the perspective of creators

   • Digital products: 24%

   • Prof. services: 20%

   • Advertising: 11%

   • Affiliate: 10%

   • Subscription/Membership: 7%

3. Actual income streams are few for part-timers, but full-timers may have as many as 6 including:

   • Prof. services: 32%

   • Digital products: 17%

   • Advertising: 11%

   • Physical Products: 8%

   • Subscriptions / Paid Memberships: 6%

   • Affiliate: 6%

   • Brand sponsorships: 4%

4. Top monetization challenges

   • Balancing content creation with monetization efforts: 43%

   • Marketing/making sales of my product: 36%

   • Understanding what audience will pay for: 34%

   • Time management/task prioritization: 33%

   • Lack of recurring revenue: 23%

   • Overcoming fear/stigma of selling: 21%

   • Lack of traction: 19%

   • Deciding how to monetize: 19%

   • Diversifying income streams: 15%

   • Setting the right pricing strategy: 14%

Future of Creator Economy : Optimism is strong across all creator types for increased income in 2024. This is generally the result of plans to increase product offerings, time commitments and altering rates and product mixes within creator businesses.

1. How creators expect to increase income in 2024

   • Additional income streams: 49%

   • New product/service launch planned: 48%

   • Going all in: 33%

   • Optimism: 32%

   • Taking on more clients: 25%

   • Raise rates: 15%

   • Switching from services to product-based income: 13%

   • Set up sales funnels: 8%

2. Challenges/concerns creators have about making more in 2024

   • Economic downturn: 42%

   • Google Helpful Content Update SEO changes: 35%

   • Turning business into side hustle: 27% (for job or family reasons)

   • Can’t spend more time on business: 15%

   • Dropping clients: 8%

3. Time commitment to creator business

   • More time: 63%

   • Same amount: 28%

   • Less time: 9%