In April 2023 Goldman Sachs Research estimated that the total addressable market of the creator economy would roughly double by 2027, from $250 billion to $480 billion. Newer projections put the same market above half a trillion by the end of the decade. The gap between individual figures runs into hundreds of billions, because each estimate counts something different.
For a brand director who has to justify a creator budget, this is an awkward starting point. The market into which they want to pour money appears in reports at a size that differs by a factor of two, depending on who holds the pencil.
Estimates measure different things
Goldman’s figure adds up spending on influencer marketing and the payouts platforms make to creators. Other models add e-commerce, subscriptions and direct audience contributions, and arrive at higher numbers. The weakness is visible in Goldman’s own methodology. Of the 50 million creators it counts in the market, roughly 4% earn more than $100,000 a year, the level at which they could be called professionals. The whole estimate therefore rests on a thin professional layer and a long tail that earns little or nothing.
Goldman expects the market to grow by between 10% and 20% a year, and creators to shift towards platforms that offer more ways to earn. According to the bank, the largest share of spending will be captured by platforms that give creators several forms of monetisation at once, from advertising to subscriptions to direct contributions. “As a result, we expect some element of a 'flight to quality' whereby creators will prioritize platforms with stability, scale and monetization potential,” wrote analyst Eric Sheridan. Where exactly the market will be by 2030 depends on whether more of the long tail becomes professional, and none of the models knows that reliably yet.
Capital can be counted
While the size of the market remains disputed, the movement of money within it can be counted. According to an analysis described by Digiday, the creator economy saw 52 mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2025, compared with 30 in the same period of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 73%. eMarketer estimates US brand spending on influencer marketing at $10.5 billion, rising to $13 billion by 2027.
“We are at this point now where every CMO understands that they need to be working with creators,” summed up Jasmine Enberg of eMarketer for Digiday. The capital behind this is institutional. The agency CAA and the fund TPG put $250 million into a joint company, Compound Creative, which is to buy and combine creator businesses. The wave is led by private equity alongside advertising holding companies and buyers from other sectors entering the creator economy for the first time.
European capital is inside the wave
Consolidation is also happening in Europe. The French advertising holding Publicis bought the platform Captiv8 in 2025 for $175 million and Brazil’s BR Media Group for $100 million, two of the deals Digiday counted in its tally. European capital therefore sits in the consolidation as a buyer, even though the largest acquiring vehicles, such as Compound Creative, remain in the US for now.
The range of market size estimates is unlikely to narrow until there is agreement on what exactly is counted as the creator economy. Where the numbers already agree is the direction of the money. Institutional capital treats creator companies as a portfolio that can be bought and assembled, just as it treats early technology firms.
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