Patreon, like the Czech Herohero, sells a direct relationship between creator and audience, with no algorithm speaking into it. The creator brings their own fans and gets paid through subscriptions, and the platform does not decide who sees whom. On Thursday 20 August, Patreon launched more than thirty new and reworked features that add exactly that kind of algorithm to the product.
Short videos, a feed and topic communities
The most visible novelty is Clips, which turn creators’ longer videos into short shareable clips and launch on iOS for now. Alongside them are Quips, a short-post format, and Niches, communities around specific topics and fandoms, both in testing. Patreon has also rewritten its recommendation algorithm to rank content by topic, craft and style rather than by similar creators. Added are live Q&A, fan profiles, more detailed earnings analytics and tools against scraping of content for AI training.
A network that brings in paying members
Patreon says its network brings creators more than a million new members a month. The platform has over 300,000 creators and almost 80 million fans, pays creators roughly $2 billion a year, and the number of free memberships has climbed to 165 million, almost double the level at the start of last year. Discovery is the engine of subscriptions for Patreon. “Our network optimizes for connection, not attention,” summed up Vice President of Product Drew Rowny.
From a tool to a platform with its own algorithm
For a long time Patreon built its identity against social networks. Creators brought their audience from elsewhere, and Patreon was the place where they turned it into income, with no algorithm deciding reach. The feed, short videos and recommendations reverse that logic. Who the platform shows is no longer the creator’s choice and becomes Patreon’s choice.
CEO Jack Conte frames it as a fix for a broken web. “The current version of the web is a failed promise for creators and fandoms. As creators, we can’t even reach our followers on the platforms anymore,” he said. He added: “I refuse to believe that this is the best or only way that the internet can work for creators and fans.”
In Czechia, Herohero sells the same promise, that no algorithmic screen stands between the creator and their paying subscribers. Once a platform builds discovery in, however, it also gains the power to decide who grows. Instagram made the same move when it pulled creators into its own editor and kept both the format and the performance data. Patreon is chasing growth that used to be left to creators. The price is that visibility is now decided by the platform.
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