Patreon announced that creators on its platform have received more than $10 billion in payments from fans since the company’s founding in 2013, representing a milestone for the creator economy platform.

“Today, more than $2 billion flows to creators annually on the platform,” Patreon CEO and co-founder Jack Conte told Axios. The company now supports over 25 million paid memberships and 300,000 creators, with an additional 100 million free memberships.

Despite this growth, Patreon CFO Carlos Cabrera estimates in an interview with Informa TechTarget that the company has “barely scratched the surface” with market penetration “likely below 0.5%” of the total creator market.

The direct-to-fan model continues gaining traction across the creator economy. According to a recent Epidemic Sound report, 95% of full-time and part-time creators now engage audiences through direct-to-fan models, with 27% relying on fan subscriptions through platforms like Patreon for revenue generation.

From Payments to Platform

When Patreon launched in 2013, it focused primarily on facilitating payments between creators and fans whose relationships were built on other platforms. The company has since matured to offer tools that help creators build and grow their audiences directly on its platform.

Patreon has expanded its offerings to include multimedia support, with fans watching over 80 million hours of video on the platform last year. Podcast creators alone were paid $472 million in 2023. The company is currently testing new features, including ad-free live video uploads.

“What we’re seeing in creators is that, just like media companies, they’re multi-hyphenate,” Conte stated. “That multimedia multi-hyphenate approach works really well on Patreon’s infrastructure.”

Patreon remains privately held with no immediate plans to go public, according to Conte. The company has raised more than $400 million to date and was most recently valued at over $4 billion in 2021.

In recent years, Patreon has made acquisitions to expand its capabilities, including Moment (livestream platform) in 2023, Kit (merchandise bundling platform) and Memberful (subscription membership platform) in 2018, and Subbable (subscription-based funding site) in 2015.

Free-to-Paid Conversion Strategy

In 2023, Patreon expanded beyond paid subscriptions to allow creators to offer free memberships, broadening their potential subscriber base. This shift has contributed to significant growth in paid subscribers, with more than 700,000 members converting from free tiers to paid monthly.

“Platform diversification can help manage platform volatility,” note 29% of creators surveyed in the Epidemic Sound report, highlighting a strategic shift away from platform dependency as creators seek more control over their businesses.

The company is also expanding its live streaming capabilities for select creators, with plans for wider rollout this summer, as it continues to encompass media hosting, community features, and discovery tools.

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