More than half of live sellers now generate most of their annual revenue through livestreaming, according to new cross-platform research commissioned by Whatnot.
The live selling platform’s “State of Live Selling Report 2026” found that 53% of live sellers now derive most of their annual revenue from live commerce, up from 41% in 2024. The survey included 4,016 sellers operating across multiple platforms, 1,670 of whom were active exclusively on Whatnot. The research was conducted between October and December 2025.
The report also points to a broader professionalization of live selling. One in eight Whatnot sellers now operate full-time, with the number of full-time sellers up 20% year over year.
“Live selling is becoming a full-time job,” the report states. “Sellers worldwide now spend an average of 23 hours per week live streaming and managing their businesses, up from 19 hours last year – clear proof this isn’t just a side hustle anymore.”
Revenue Scale Supports Full-Time Commitment
The economics of live selling increasingly supports that level of time investment. Sellers who livestream daily on Whatnot average nearly $60,000 per month, according to the report. The number of sellers earning more than $10,000 per month more than doubled year-over-year, while the number of sellers surpassing $1 million in lifetime sales also more than doubled in 2025.
Across platforms, average sellers report earning 24% more year over year, with nearly 90% reporting higher sales through live commerce than through traditional e-commerce channels. Among Whatnot sellers, live commerce accounts for 74% of total sales in the U.S. market, 67% in the UK, 61% in France, and 59% in Germany.
Age-based data shows younger sellers leading in revenue generation. Gen Z sellers aged 18-28 reported the highest average monthly revenue of any age group, suggesting live commerce is increasingly viewed as a primary career path rather than a supplemental income source.
As revenue concentration increases, sellers are also investing in physical and operational infrastructure. Nearly 80% of live sellers now operate from commercial spaces, including brick-and-mortar locations (34%), warehouses (31%), and traditional office environments (14%). Only 21% report working primarily from home.
“What started online is driving real demand for local real estate,” the report notes. Among sellers reporting growth, 24% said they had rented additional space, while 15% reported hiring between one and three employees.
That trajectory is illustrated by Scott Kerner, Nolan Friedman, and Brandon Oken of @3sfootball in Boca Raton, Florida. “Our business started as a brick-and-mortar card shop, where social media and foot traffic drove all business,” the sellers said. “Ever since adding live selling to the business model, we have expanded from two to 39 employees in eight months … revenue has grown from $40,000 in-store to $1.5-3 million per month since adding our online operation.”
Seller Motivations Reflect Long-Term Intent
Seller motivations remain varied, but indicators of long-term commitment continue to rise. According to the report, building an online community (36%), pursuing a passion or hobby (36%), and supplementing income (35%) were cited at similar rates, with earning primary income close behind at 33%.
More broadly, 93% of sellers said live selling is important to their business’s long-term success. Sellers cited faster audience growth, expansion into new product categories, the ability to turn hobbies into businesses, higher conversion rates, and increased repeat customers as the top benefits of live commerce.
Customer acquisition, identified as a leading challenge for small businesses overall, appears to improve through live selling. More than 41% of sellers reported faster audience growth after launching live channels.
Regional Variations Follow a Consistent Pattern
While motivations vary by region, income reliance follows a consistent global pattern. U.S. sellers most frequently cited income as their primary motivation (43%), while UK sellers emphasized passion (42%). Community-building ranked highest among sellers in France (46%) and Germany (47%).
Earnings among daily sellers also varied by market. U.S. sellers averaged $69,000 per month, while UK sellers reported £30,000, French sellers €17,000, and German sellers €106,000. Across all regions, sellers who streamed daily earned between 100 and 250 times as much as those who livestreamed once or twice per month, according to the report.
Category Expansion Extends Beyond Collectibles
Although live commerce initially gained traction through sports cards and trading card games, the fastest year-over-year growth is now occurring in lifestyle categories. Beauty sales increased 791%, electronics grew 444%, jewelry expanded 259%, and women’s fashion rose 223%.
The expansion has enabled a broader range of sellers to pursue live selling as a primary source of income. In the UK, beauty sellers reported earning nearly £3,000 per month, while in the U.S., fashion-related live commerce generated more than 12 million monthly orders, with nearly 6,000 items sold per hour.
Platform Scale Supports Seller Growth
Whatnot reported $8 billion in gross merchandise value for 2025, more than doubling its 2024 results. The platform recorded more than 500,000 hours of live shows hosted per week, representing 186% year-over-year growth, with 333 million hours watched in the U.S. market alone.
Globally, users spend an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, up 19% year over year. First-time buyers increased 285% year-over-year, while monthly customer retention exceeds 80%, according to the company.
Seller-side infrastructure has scaled alongside demand. Sellers create more than five million listings daily, and over 20 million accounts were created on the platform in 2025.
Outlook for 2026
A total of 88% of sellers surveyed plan to increase their live selling efforts in 2026, and nearly 90% agree that businesses that fail to adopt live commerce risk losing competitiveness.
“By the end of 2026, live shopping will be widely recognized as a mainstream and trusted form of commerce by retailers and consumers alike,” said Grant LaFontaine, co-founder and CEO of Whatnot. “Live shopping is no longer the future of retail. It’s the present.”
Image source: Whatnot The full report is available here
Cecilia Carloni, Interview Manager at Influence Weekly and writer for NetInfluencer. Coming from beautiful Argentina, Ceci has spent years chatting with big names in the influencer world, making friends and learning insider info along the way. When she’s not deep in interviews or writing, she's enjoying life with her two daughters. Ceci’s stories give a peek behind the curtain of influencer life, sharing the real and interesting tales from her many conversations with movers and shakers in the space.
More than half of live sellers now generate most of their annual revenue through livestreaming, according to new cross-platform research commissioned by Whatnot.
The live selling platform’s “State of Live Selling Report 2026” found that 53% of live sellers now derive most of their annual revenue from live commerce, up from 41% in 2024. The survey included 4,016 sellers operating across multiple platforms, 1,670 of whom were active exclusively on Whatnot. The research was conducted between October and December 2025.
The report also points to a broader professionalization of live selling. One in eight Whatnot sellers now operate full-time, with the number of full-time sellers up 20% year over year.
“Live selling is becoming a full-time job,” the report states. “Sellers worldwide now spend an average of 23 hours per week live streaming and managing their businesses, up from 19 hours last year – clear proof this isn’t just a side hustle anymore.”
Revenue Scale Supports Full-Time Commitment
The economics of live selling increasingly supports that level of time investment. Sellers who livestream daily on Whatnot average nearly $60,000 per month, according to the report. The number of sellers earning more than $10,000 per month more than doubled year-over-year, while the number of sellers surpassing $1 million in lifetime sales also more than doubled in 2025.
Across platforms, average sellers report earning 24% more year over year, with nearly 90% reporting higher sales through live commerce than through traditional e-commerce channels. Among Whatnot sellers, live commerce accounts for 74% of total sales in the U.S. market, 67% in the UK, 61% in France, and 59% in Germany.
Age-based data shows younger sellers leading in revenue generation. Gen Z sellers aged 18-28 reported the highest average monthly revenue of any age group, suggesting live commerce is increasingly viewed as a primary career path rather than a supplemental income source.
Commercial Infrastructure Expands Alongside Revenue
As revenue concentration increases, sellers are also investing in physical and operational infrastructure. Nearly 80% of live sellers now operate from commercial spaces, including brick-and-mortar locations (34%), warehouses (31%), and traditional office environments (14%). Only 21% report working primarily from home.
“What started online is driving real demand for local real estate,” the report notes. Among sellers reporting growth, 24% said they had rented additional space, while 15% reported hiring between one and three employees.
That trajectory is illustrated by Scott Kerner, Nolan Friedman, and Brandon Oken of @3sfootball in Boca Raton, Florida. “Our business started as a brick-and-mortar card shop, where social media and foot traffic drove all business,” the sellers said. “Ever since adding live selling to the business model, we have expanded from two to 39 employees in eight months … revenue has grown from $40,000 in-store to $1.5-3 million per month since adding our online operation.”
Seller Motivations Reflect Long-Term Intent
Seller motivations remain varied, but indicators of long-term commitment continue to rise. According to the report, building an online community (36%), pursuing a passion or hobby (36%), and supplementing income (35%) were cited at similar rates, with earning primary income close behind at 33%.
More broadly, 93% of sellers said live selling is important to their business’s long-term success. Sellers cited faster audience growth, expansion into new product categories, the ability to turn hobbies into businesses, higher conversion rates, and increased repeat customers as the top benefits of live commerce.
Customer acquisition, identified as a leading challenge for small businesses overall, appears to improve through live selling. More than 41% of sellers reported faster audience growth after launching live channels.
Regional Variations Follow a Consistent Pattern
While motivations vary by region, income reliance follows a consistent global pattern. U.S. sellers most frequently cited income as their primary motivation (43%), while UK sellers emphasized passion (42%). Community-building ranked highest among sellers in France (46%) and Germany (47%).
Earnings among daily sellers also varied by market. U.S. sellers averaged $69,000 per month, while UK sellers reported £30,000, French sellers €17,000, and German sellers €106,000. Across all regions, sellers who streamed daily earned between 100 and 250 times as much as those who livestreamed once or twice per month, according to the report.
Category Expansion Extends Beyond Collectibles
Although live commerce initially gained traction through sports cards and trading card games, the fastest year-over-year growth is now occurring in lifestyle categories. Beauty sales increased 791%, electronics grew 444%, jewelry expanded 259%, and women’s fashion rose 223%.
The expansion has enabled a broader range of sellers to pursue live selling as a primary source of income. In the UK, beauty sellers reported earning nearly £3,000 per month, while in the U.S., fashion-related live commerce generated more than 12 million monthly orders, with nearly 6,000 items sold per hour.
Platform Scale Supports Seller Growth
Whatnot reported $8 billion in gross merchandise value for 2025, more than doubling its 2024 results. The platform recorded more than 500,000 hours of live shows hosted per week, representing 186% year-over-year growth, with 333 million hours watched in the U.S. market alone.
Globally, users spend an average of 95 minutes per day on the app, up 19% year over year. First-time buyers increased 285% year-over-year, while monthly customer retention exceeds 80%, according to the company.
Seller-side infrastructure has scaled alongside demand. Sellers create more than five million listings daily, and over 20 million accounts were created on the platform in 2025.
Outlook for 2026
A total of 88% of sellers surveyed plan to increase their live selling efforts in 2026, and nearly 90% agree that businesses that fail to adopt live commerce risk losing competitiveness.
“By the end of 2026, live shopping will be widely recognized as a mainstream and trusted form of commerce by retailers and consumers alike,” said Grant LaFontaine, co-founder and CEO of Whatnot. “Live shopping is no longer the future of retail. It’s the present.”
Image source: Whatnot
The full report is available here