Europe’s Creator Economy now counts 8.64 million income-generating creators, according to a new quarterly report published by Creator’s Hub in May 2026. The report, which draws on data from financial institutions, platform disclosures, and regulatory filings, places the European market at €28 billion in 2025 and projects it will reach €135 billion by 2032, a compound annual growth rate of 25.1%, citing Coherent Market Insights and BNP Paribas.
For context, Goldman Sachs placed the global Creator Economy at $250 billion in 2023 and projected it would reach $480 billion by 2027, a roughly 14% CAGR.
Global creator advertising spend reached $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year over year, according to data cited in the report, growing at approximately four times the pace of total media spending. eMarketer projects that figure will rise to $43.9 billion in 2026. Separately, eMarketer forecasts that 45.5% of Influencer Marketing spend in 2026 will flow to micro- and nano-influencers, up from 16.4% in 2021.
Audience data from the Reuters Institute’s “2025 Digital News Report,” covering 48 markets, found that 44% of adults aged 18 to 24 use social media or video as their primary news source. The same study found that 38% of adults aged 25 to 34 reported the same behavior, and that under-35s are more likely to consume news from creators than from mainstream media outlets by a margin of 48% to 41%.
Deals and Platform Activity
Creator Economy mergers and acquisitions totaled 81 deals globally in 2025, a 17.4% increase year over year, according to Quartermast Advisors. Fifty-two of those deals occurred in the first half of the year alone. Software and SaaS companies represented the largest share of transactions at 26%, followed by agencies at 21%, media at 16%, and talent management at 14%. North America accounted for 71% of transactions; European-specific deal volumes were not broken out in the Quartermast data.
Reported valuation multiples for 2025 transactions ranged from 4.9 to 9.0 times EBITDA for agencies, 8.0 to 17.0 times EBITDA for media companies, 4.5 to 7.4 times ARR for software, and 4.0 to 8.0 times EBITDA for talent management firms.
Platform disclosures cited in the report show YouTube paying creators a 55% share of advertising revenue under its Partner Program. Meta reported paying $3 billion to creators in 2025 through its Creator Fast Track program, without breaking out European figures. TikTok Shop posted $33 billion in global gross merchandise value in 2025, up from $20 billion in 2024, with its EU rollout covering Germany, France, and Italy since March 2025.
In the newsletter segment, Substack reported 5 million paid subscriptions in 2025, up from 4 million in late 2024, with creators retaining approximately 90% of subscription revenue. Beehiiv reported 255 million unique readers, 28 billion emails sent, and $19 million in paid subscriptions across more than 65,000 newsletters. The platform posted its best quarter on record in Q1 2026, adding $4.5 million in annual recurring revenue.
YouTube reported 700 million monthly podcast hours watched on television screens in October 2025, a 75% year-over-year increase. Spotify disclosed more than 530,000 video podcasts on its platform and 390 million users who watched video podcasts globally, per its Q4 2025 earnings. Netflix has reportedly targeted an initial slate of 50 to 75 licensed and original video podcasts for 2026.
Regulatory Milestones
Three European Union regulatory instruments carry material enforcement dates in 2026. The AI Act’s Article 50, which covers transparency obligations including labeling of AI-generated and AI-manipulated content, deepfake consent requirements, and voice-cloning restrictions, takes general effect on August 2, 2026.
The Platform Work Directive, which creates a rebuttable presumption of employment for platform workers and extends to creator monetization programs where relevant criteria are met, carries a national transposition deadline of December 2, 2026. The Digital Services Act has been fully enforced since February 2024 and carries fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for violations.
France holds the most granular national Creator Economy data publicly available in Europe. BNP Paribas counted 348,000 monetized creators in France in 2025, a 14.6% year-over-year increase, and projects that figure will reach 1.47 million by 2032, implying a roughly 22% CAGR. The bank also estimated 1.7 million indirect jobs tied to the Creator Economy in France, spanning agencies, studios, and software tooling.
“A creator manages an audience, a brand, partners, sometimes a team,” said Alexandre Jacquemin of BNP Paribas in comments included in the report. “In other words, they run a business.”
Creator’s Hub plans to publish a second edition covering Q2 2026 in August 2026.
Image source: Creator’s Hub The full report is available here
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
Europe’s Creator Economy now counts 8.64 million income-generating creators, according to a new quarterly report published by Creator’s Hub in May 2026. The report, which draws on data from financial institutions, platform disclosures, and regulatory filings, places the European market at €28 billion in 2025 and projects it will reach €135 billion by 2032, a compound annual growth rate of 25.1%, citing Coherent Market Insights and BNP Paribas.
For context, Goldman Sachs placed the global Creator Economy at $250 billion in 2023 and projected it would reach $480 billion by 2027, a roughly 14% CAGR.
Global creator advertising spend reached $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year over year, according to data cited in the report, growing at approximately four times the pace of total media spending. eMarketer projects that figure will rise to $43.9 billion in 2026. Separately, eMarketer forecasts that 45.5% of Influencer Marketing spend in 2026 will flow to micro- and nano-influencers, up from 16.4% in 2021.
Audience data from the Reuters Institute’s “2025 Digital News Report,” covering 48 markets, found that 44% of adults aged 18 to 24 use social media or video as their primary news source. The same study found that 38% of adults aged 25 to 34 reported the same behavior, and that under-35s are more likely to consume news from creators than from mainstream media outlets by a margin of 48% to 41%.
Deals and Platform Activity
Creator Economy mergers and acquisitions totaled 81 deals globally in 2025, a 17.4% increase year over year, according to Quartermast Advisors. Fifty-two of those deals occurred in the first half of the year alone. Software and SaaS companies represented the largest share of transactions at 26%, followed by agencies at 21%, media at 16%, and talent management at 14%. North America accounted for 71% of transactions; European-specific deal volumes were not broken out in the Quartermast data.
Reported valuation multiples for 2025 transactions ranged from 4.9 to 9.0 times EBITDA for agencies, 8.0 to 17.0 times EBITDA for media companies, 4.5 to 7.4 times ARR for software, and 4.0 to 8.0 times EBITDA for talent management firms.
Platform disclosures cited in the report show YouTube paying creators a 55% share of advertising revenue under its Partner Program. Meta reported paying $3 billion to creators in 2025 through its Creator Fast Track program, without breaking out European figures. TikTok Shop posted $33 billion in global gross merchandise value in 2025, up from $20 billion in 2024, with its EU rollout covering Germany, France, and Italy since March 2025.
In the newsletter segment, Substack reported 5 million paid subscriptions in 2025, up from 4 million in late 2024, with creators retaining approximately 90% of subscription revenue. Beehiiv reported 255 million unique readers, 28 billion emails sent, and $19 million in paid subscriptions across more than 65,000 newsletters. The platform posted its best quarter on record in Q1 2026, adding $4.5 million in annual recurring revenue.
YouTube reported 700 million monthly podcast hours watched on television screens in October 2025, a 75% year-over-year increase. Spotify disclosed more than 530,000 video podcasts on its platform and 390 million users who watched video podcasts globally, per its Q4 2025 earnings. Netflix has reportedly targeted an initial slate of 50 to 75 licensed and original video podcasts for 2026.
Regulatory Milestones
Three European Union regulatory instruments carry material enforcement dates in 2026. The AI Act’s Article 50, which covers transparency obligations including labeling of AI-generated and AI-manipulated content, deepfake consent requirements, and voice-cloning restrictions, takes general effect on August 2, 2026.
The Platform Work Directive, which creates a rebuttable presumption of employment for platform workers and extends to creator monetization programs where relevant criteria are met, carries a national transposition deadline of December 2, 2026. The Digital Services Act has been fully enforced since February 2024 and carries fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for violations.
France holds the most granular national Creator Economy data publicly available in Europe. BNP Paribas counted 348,000 monetized creators in France in 2025, a 14.6% year-over-year increase, and projects that figure will reach 1.47 million by 2032, implying a roughly 22% CAGR. The bank also estimated 1.7 million indirect jobs tied to the Creator Economy in France, spanning agencies, studios, and software tooling.
“A creator manages an audience, a brand, partners, sometimes a team,” said Alexandre Jacquemin of BNP Paribas in comments included in the report. “In other words, they run a business.”
Creator’s Hub plans to publish a second edition covering Q2 2026 in August 2026.
Image source: Creator’s Hub
The full report is available here
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