Most creators making six figures have less than 1 million followers, new study finds

A new study sheds new light on how influencers make money and how the creator economy may change in 2024. Titled “State of Creators,” the report examines the business strategies of 2,000 creators who make more than $100,000 a year posting to social media.

The study was conducted by Kajabi, a platform that helps creators monetize digital content like courses and podcasts, and the company doesn’t say if it tapped its own creator clients to answer the survey. However, the study results do support the idea that digital content is one of the most sure-fire ways for creators to make money. We rounded up the rest of its most fascinating findings.

Income diversification is the fastest way to make $100K

Of the creators surveyed, 75 percent of respondents said that multiple revenue streams were needed to be financially successful, which means they don’t just rely on payouts from social media platforms to stay afloat. When asked what digital products they made the most money from in the past year, the top answers were: online courses, digital downloads, subscriptions or memberships, and online consulting or coaching.

95 percent of creators making six figures have less than 1 million followers

For top-earning creators, more followers does not equal more income. Just 5 percent have more than 1 million followers, and 25 percent have less than 10,000.

These findings suggest that proper monetization of diversified income streams means you don’t have to be a star on social media star to make money off of it.

46 percent of top-earning creators would join a union

Unions could be especially helpful for safeguarding the livelihoods of high-earning creators, who say that their top two concerns in 2024 are impacts from inflation and platform volatility. Creators are vulnerable to algorithmic change and account suspensions that can upend their entire business models, and a creator union could help its members negotiate fair pay, platform policies, content rights, and more.

Kajabi also reports that six-figure creators are more likely than lower-earning creators to seek the employment standards and protections that a union could offer.

Top-earning creators use AI twice as often as other creators

Artificial intelligence is a generative tool, so it’s no surprise that 29 percent of creators say they use it every day while an additional 43 percent use it every week. The technology has huge upsides for content creators, 73 percent of whom believe it will help them save over 26 hours a week on work in 2024. And 56 percent think AI tools will be one of the best ways to reduce burnout in 2024.