A new study from CreatorIQ and Influencers.club found that 67% of creators earn less than $10,000 annually from content creation. That detail was part of The State of Creators 2026 report, released Tuesday.
More than half (62%) of the 5,095 creator respondents across 100 regions stated that content creation is not their primary source of income. The report also found that creator earnings are more likely to correlate with follower count and views than engagement metrics. That insight goes against advice from industry experts, who have spent the past year emphasizing that engagement is more important than follower count.
“Brands have spent years saying that authenticity, relevance and community trust are what make creators valuable. But the economics of the industry still disproportionately reward scale, like larger followings. That disconnect risks pushing creators toward the very behaviors audiences distrust — more commercial content and less creative freedom,” said Jennifer Cho, CreatorIQ’s chief customer officer. “The next phase of creator marketing cannot just be about directing more dollars into the channel; it has to be about empowering teams to invest in the right creators, and about building an ecosystem where creators and brands can grow sustainably together.”
The report also found that 50% of creators have either launched or plan to launch a brand of their own, meaning that business ownership still remains a vital way for creators to earn a reliable income from their work. Creators who earn more than $250,000 annually reported building drastically different businesses and having different demands than creators who earn under $10,000 a year. There is also still a divide between creators and brands. Altogether, 42% of creators noted there has been tension between the content their audiences want to see and the content brands ask them to produce. That figure goes up to 53% when it comes to creators with 500,000 or more followers on Instagram.
Speaking of Instagram, the Meta-owned platform remained the best place for branded content among top creators, according to the study. When it comes to creators earning more than $250,000 a year, 60% named Instagram as their primary platform for branded content compared to 30% for TikTok.
The surveyed creators ranked TikTok as the best platform when it comes to where they post most branded content (52%), platform monetization (48%) and content performance (51%). However, Instagram was named as the best platform for creators looking at long-term potential for building a sustainable creator business, ranking as No. 1 for 38% of surveyed creators. That was then followed by TikTok (35%) and YouTube (23%).
The survey also examined AI use among creators. Almost three-fourths (72%) of creators report using AI tools for brainstorming, writing or editing, tasks that are considered to be more basic. Only 4% of creators use the technology for strategy, and 1% use it to automate workflows. Most creators surveyed noted that they do not feel pressured to use AI in order to remain competitive.
