Top 10% of Creators Earned 62% of Payments in 2025 as Creator Compensation Inequality Widens

New CreatorIQ report finds aggregate creator compensation grew 59% YoY, but is increasingly concentrated at the top 

LOS ANGELES — JANUARY 21, 2026 — According to the State of Creator Compensation report from CreatorIQ, the operating system for creator-led growth, creator marketing is scaling faster than compensation is being distributed across the ecosystem. While total payments to creators continue to rise, earnings are becoming more concentrated among the top earners, putting the long-term growth and stability of creator partnerships and the creator economy at risk. 

Key Findings: Creator Compensation is Growing—but Unevenly

Brand investment in creator marketing continues to accelerate, reaching an estimated $32.6 billion in global market value in 2025. Average influencer marketing spend increased 171% year over year, exceeding growth from the previous four years combined.

Yet despite this rapid expansion, the benefits of growth are not evenly shared across the creator ecosystem.

• The top creators’ earnings are accelerating: The top 10% of creators earned 62% of total payments in 2025, up from 53% in 2023. The top 1% earned 21%, up from 15% in 2023.
  
  
• Aggregate creator payments grew 59% YoY, reflecting strong market momentum.
  
  
• Median earnings remain stagnant: While creators earned an average of $11.4K per campaign, the median creator earned $3K, signaling limited gains for the majority of creators.

The Stability Gap: Creator Marketing Has Professionalized, But is Not Predictable

The report highlights a structural mismatch between how creators operate and how they’re paid:

• 62% of creators work with operational support, such as teams or outsourced services—operating more like businesses than contractors or freelancers.
  
  
• Revenue remains episodic and unpredictable, driven by one-off campaigns rather than repeatable programs.
  
  
• Creators cite platform algorithm volatility, inconsistent brand deals, and undervaluation of content as major barriers to success.

“Creator marketing is driving meaningful growth for brands—and while creators are earning more in aggregate, most aren’t building momentum or predictable income. That gap is creating real instability in the creator ecosystem,” said Brit Starr, CreatorIQ CMO. “Creators are being asked to do more across more channels without stable compensation or access to the same information brands use to define value. Closing that gap is essential—not just for fairness, but for building sustainable, high-performing creator programs that benefit everyone in the creator economy.”

Creators Are Powering Brand Performance at Scale

Despite compensation challenges, creators are the primary drivers of brand reach and engagement. The study found that in 2025, creators produced 33x more brand-related content than brand-owned channels, generated 11x more impressions, and drove 14x more engagement across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for Fortune 100 brands.

As brands increasingly rely on creators across paid, owned, and earned channels, accurately measuring—and fairly rewarding—creator value has become more complex and more critical.

What Comes Next: Intentional Investment

The next phase of creator marketing will be defined not by scale alone, but by partnership quality and how value is shared.

“The future of creator marketing isn’t only about activating more creators—it’s about investing more intentionally,” said Starr. “Brands that shift toward longer-term partnerships, clearer communication, and shared success models will be better positioned to retain creators, build trust, and drive durable growth.”

The State of Creator Compensation report can be accessed here.