Taking Root:The Growth of America’s NewCreative EconomyRobert Shapirowith Siddhartha Aneja2Taking Root: The Growth of America’s New Creative EconomyEXECUTIVE SUMMARYLast year, we conducted the first rigorous analysis of the millions of Americans who produce and disseminate their own creative content on the internet — from videos on YouTube and books through Amazon Publishing, to photographs on Instagram and handmade objects on Etsy — and earn money from doing so. We focused on nine major platforms for this new creative economy, finding that nearly 14.6 million Americans earned more than $5.8 billion in 2016 from posting their personal creations on those nine platforms. Those totals capture only one prominent piece of this new creative economy, since they cover only Americans posting on one of nine platforms. For this updated study, we can now report that this new economy grew at a robust rate in 2017.Here is a summary of the updated study’s principal findings:• In 2017, nearly 17 million Americans earned income posting their personal creations on these nine platforms, an increase of more than 2.4 million U.S. creators, or 16.6 percent, in one year. The numbers of income-earning creators grew most rapidly in percentage terms on YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram. • All told, these American internet creators earned a baseline of $6.8 billion on the nine platforms in 2017, a one-year increase of nearly $1 billion, or 17 percent. Those earnings increased most rapidly for the creators on Instagram, Twitch, Tumblr and YouTube. TABLE 1: ESTIMATED TOTAL EARNINGS OF U.S. CREATORS ON NINE LEADING PLATFORMS, 2016PLATFORMU.S. CREATORSCHANGEEARNINGS BY U.S. CREATORS CHANGE2016201720162017Amazon Publishing177,647177,042- 0.3%$216,870,288$220,447,3681.6%eBay23,80223,797- 0.02%$35,713,819$36,974,3013.5%Etsy862,778928,3437.6%$1,286,154,632$1,458,513,95213.4%Instagram3,573,0015,639,99657.9%$307,791,034$460,100,00049.5%Shapeways20,50924,52619.6%$1,393,452$1,701,80422.1%Tumblr2,560,6813,138,96222.6%$145,210,567$178,003,58622.6%Twitch6,1689,79658.8%$67,035,588$87,147,72330.0%WordPress6,128,1014,851,266- 20.8%$439,261,046$347,737,771-20.8%YouTube1,205,4182,187,10781.4%$3,307,333,333$4,004,000,00021.1%Total14,558,10516,980,83416.6%$5,806,763,759$6,794,626,50517.0%We also found that social media continues to amplify the reach of U.S. creators. Most visitors to the nine platforms visit directly or through search engines, but a significant share use links from social media websites such as Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit and Twitter.Executive Summary3Taking Root: The Growth of America’s New Creative EconomyEXECUTIVE SUMMARY• We estimate that the traffic coming to the nine platforms from seven leading social media sites — the four above, plus Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube — generated earnings of more than $504.6 million for creators in 2017, nearly the same as the estimated $512.2 million in earnings generated in 2016 from links on the seven social media websites. However, these estimates capture only a fraction of the earnings linked to those websites, because available data cover only traffic from desktop computers.• Most social media traffic now originates from mobile devices; and in September 2018, an estimated 65.4 percent of such traffic came from mobile devices. Similarly, an estimated 60.2 percent of traffic to the nine platforms now comes from mobile devices. While data on mobile devices from social media websites to the platforms are not yet available, it is very likely that U.S. creators derived more income in 2017 from mobile traffic directed from social media.The nearly 17 million Americans who earned income in 2017 posting their creations on the nine platforms are located in every state and the District of Columbia. Using U.S. Census Bureau industry-level data, we have estimated the numbers of creators and their earnings — by platform — in each state, and how much each state’s creators and their earnings increased in 2017. For example, here are the top five states in 2017 based on their numbers of creators.• California: 3,260,571 creators, a 21% increase• New York: 1,899,869 creators, a 16.8% increase• Texas: 1,033,292 creators, a 16.3% increase• Florida: 938,764 creators, a 15.4% increase• Illinois: 607,980 creators, a 15.7% increase The numbers of creators and their earnings increased in every state, including the five states with the smallest numbers of income-earning creators in 2017.• Alaska: 38,466 creators, a 13.8% increase• Delaware: 32,076 creators, a 13.9% increase• South Dakota: 31,560 creators, a 13.6% increase• Wyoming: 25,768 creators, a 14.6% increase• North Dakota: 22,843 creators, a 13.5% increaseThe states with the fastest growth in their numbers of new creators span the country, demonstrating the wide geographical reach of the new creative economy.• California: 21.0% increase in creators• Utah: 18.3% increase in creators• District of Columbia: 17.5% increase in creatorsThe nearly 17 million Americans who earn...
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