Can Content Creators Really Live Off 1000 True Fans?

In 2008, Kevin Kelly made a bold claim: in the modern economy, any creator (artist, producer, inventor , maker etc.) requires only 1000 true, dedicated fans to make a sustainable living.

At the time it seemed an interesting theory, but since then, the internet has undergone a sustained fragmentation and democratization, allowing many creators to interact directly with their clients (fans), and to sell content without the need to partner with agents, managers, distributors etc.

While we still see dominant behemoths (Google, Facebook, Amazon etc.) thriving, there has arisen a plethora of online platforms and services that cater specifically for content creators and their fans.

This change in the landscape is perhaps due to the proliferation open-source software (reducing licensing costs), cloud infrastructure (reducing scaling costs), and the ever-increasing number of software developers & entrepreneurs creating platforms and services for very specific creator verticals.

These platforms specialize in particular forms of content (writing, live-streaming, photography, gaming, podcasting, instructional videos), they use business models that go beyond the traditional advertising-revenue-share model used by social media, and they bring creators and their fans together in a mutually symbiotic and profitable relationship.

The opportunities for online content creators have subsequently improved dramatically from previous decades, but with certain caveats. While many artists, film makers, musicians, pod-casters and social influencers are now making great livings purely from these creator platforms, the economics of of such platforms typically exhibit a long tail, wherein the top 20% of all creators earn a disproportionate percentage of the revenue made off that platform. This is more severe on some platforms than others, but with varying degree, it applies to all of them.

With this in mind, I decided to do a comparison of some of the more popular content creation platforms, and to see (making some explicit assumptions) how many subscribers / followers / fans a creator would hypothetically require to gain pre-tax earnings of $5000 per month. Due to time constraints, I have limited my study to 6 platforms. I completely understand that there are literally thousands of platforms catering to very specific content creation use-cases and interests, so please bear with me if your preferred platform was excluded from the study.

Platform: Substack.

Substack is an online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. Writers have a mixture of free and paid subscribers.

Content creator revenue model: pay-walled, subscription-based. Substack claims 10% of all subscription revenue, and charges 3% payment processing fee.

Benefits: guaranteed monthly income that comes with a subscription model.

Caveats: writers need to consistently produce monthly written content to prevent subscriber churn, and they need to balance free and paid content to continuously grow their pool of free users (a percentage of which convert to become paid ones).

Estimated number of subscribers needed to make $5000 monthly pre-tax income: 16,000 (assumptions: 7% subscribers are paying, $5 monthly subscription fee)

Platform: TikTok

TikTok of a short-form video-sharing social networking service.

Content creator revenue model: advertising-revenue-sharing model.

Benefits: presumably users with large followings on other platforms can quickly gain a successful presence in TikTok. Success in TikTok can also lead to other revenue streams, such as endorsements and sponsored content.

Caveats: revenue-sharing model (called the Creators Fund) only applies to certain countries and users need at least 100,000 followers to be eligible.

Estimated number of followers needed to make $5000 monthly pre-tax income: 104 million (assumptions: 4 US cents per 1000 views, 1.5 views per user [some users will watch the video more than once], 80% of followers view one or more of videos in a month)

Platform: Youtube

YouTube is an online video sharing and social media platform. Its users watch more than one billion hours of videos each day.

Content creator revenue model: ad revenue sharing model.

Benefits: alternative revenue streams for popular Youtubers include merchandise sales and sponsored content.

Estimated number of followers needed to make $5000 monthly pre-tax income: 2 million (assumptions: $3 per 1000 views, 80% of followers view one or more of videos in a month)

Platform: Instagram

Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service.

Content creator revenue model: affiliate marketing / influencer model (creator gets paid to promote brands / products in their content).

Caveats: creators need to make sure they don’t alienate your followers with too much promoted content.

Estimated number of followers needed to make $5000 monthly pre-tax income: 100,000 to 500,000 (assumptions: $500-$1000 earned per post, 5-10 posts made per month).

Platform: Patreon

Patreon is a subscription crowdfunding website. A content creator has subscribers, a percentage of whom become paid patrons, allowing them access to exclusive and early-access content, patron-only shows, livestreams, loyalty gifts etc.

Content creator revenue model: pay-walled, subscription-based. Patreon claims 5% of all subscription revenue, and charges 3% payment processing fee.

Benefits: Content creators can create significant recurring earnings each month. The platform also allows for once-off purchases in addition to its subscription model. It is a good fit for entertainment-related creators.

Estimated number of patrons needed to make $5000 monthly pre-tax income: 90,000 (assumptions: 1–5 % patron conversion rate, average value per patron: $7).

Platform: OnlyFans

OnlyFans is a content subscription service. Content creators can earn money from users who subscribe to their content — the “fans”. It allows content creators to receive funding directly from their fans on a monthly basis, as well as one-time tips and the pay-per-view feature.

Content creator revenue model: pay-walled, subscription-based. OnlyFans claims 20% of all subscription revenue, and charges 3% payment processing fee.

Caveats: The top 10% of all the accounts on OnlyFans make 73% of the money. The majority of OnlyFans content creators make less than $150 per month.

Additional revenue sources: tips and paid messages.

Estimated number of subscribers needed to make $5000 monthly pre-tax income: 24,000 (assumptions: 2.5% subscriber conversion rate, average value per subscriber: $10).

Conclusion

Looking at these numbers, it is clear that, where content creators can garner a close relationship with their fans, they fare much better than those relying on advertising-revenue-share (which generally requires huge numbers to make financial sense). On those platforms where creators can maintain a pool of free and paying customers, it appears possible that for those creating compelling and fresh content, they can indeed make a living from 1000 true (and paying) fans.

It’s an exciting time to be a crafts-person, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor, so go forth and be bold in the expectations of what you can achieve!