Creator income inequality is rising as top influencers rake in big paydays from brands

• Creator income inequality is rising, with the top 1% earning 21% of brand spending, per new CreatorIQ data.
• The trend has continued in each of the last two years.
• Big brands often favor top creators, making it harder for smaller influencers to compete.

Creators are raking in the ad dollars — but the wealth is being shared less and less equally.

New data from the influencer-marketing platform CreatorIQ shows that the income gap in the creator economy is widening. The top 10% of creators on CreatorIQ's platform received 62% of ad payments in 2025, up from 53% in 2023.

Similarly, the top 1% received 21% of the total ad payment volume, up from 15% in 2023.

CreatorIQ, which included the 2025 data in a new report released on Wednesday, examined 65,000 payments over a three-year period from brands and agencies to creators who received flat payments through its software.

The data reflects an overall pattern in the creator economy.

Brands are shifting more of their marketing dollars to creators, with payments more than doubling over the last two years in CreatorIQ's dataset. Overall, US advertiser spending on creators was expected to hit $37 billion in 2025, according to a November report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

At the same time, much of the ad money is going to a relatively narrow segment of top talent. While many creators also make money outside influencer marketing — such as from subscriptions or direct payments from platforms like YouTube — brand sponsorships are generally the industry's top revenue source.

Jasmine Enberg, cofounder and co-CEO of Scalable, a new media company focused on the creator economy, said the numbers show the industry is starting to resemble traditional entertainment, where top players rake in substantial sums, leaving smaller ones to compete for the leftovers.

Enberg said the divide would only grow as big creators get larger projects, such as TV campaigns or Netflix deals.

"We need to empower brands to diversify their investment more confidently," Brit Starr, CMO of CreatorIQ, said of the industry.

CreatorIQ's survey of 300 creators found that only 11% earned $100,000 or more. About one-quarter of the creators surveyed fell into each of the "$50,000 to $100,000" and the "$25,000 to $50,000" categories.

CreatorIQ's report included additional data points that help explain the current dynamics of the creator economy.

The number of creators receiving payments within CreatorIQ's network more than doubled from 2023 to 2025, which could indicate an overall surge in influencers entering the market. While the average earnings per creator rose to $11,400 in 2025 from $9,200 in 2023, the median actually declined slightly, from $3,500 to $3,000. That suggests that top creators are pulling the average higher, while the typical creator is earning less.

What's driving the pay gap

Enberg said major advertisers have contributed to the sector's income inequality because they're more likely to allocate their budgets to a small number of top creators.

Talent managers who spoke with Business Insider said earnings distribution had been lumpy.

Budgets have definitely grown, but they haven't kept pace with the expansion of the creator population, said Kyle Hjelmeseth, CEO of G&B Digital Management.

"There are now many more small accounts that will take $25 to post, for example," he said.

Meanwhile, advertisers often spend a large chunk of their influencer budgets directly with social media platforms, making it harder for creators — especially smaller ones — to develop direct and potentially lasting relationships with brands, creator-industry insiders said.

Becca Bahrke, the CEO of Illuminate Social, a creator management firm, said the CreatorIQ payment concentration data reflect what she's seeing among her own clients. She said she'd seen some full-time creators take the off-ramp to a different job.

"You may have earned over $400,000 in one year, but if you're not showing up consistently on the platform, treating it as a full-time job, you can see the earnings fall," Bahrke said. "It's a lot of work. It's not for the faint of heart."