YouTube is the most profitable platform for creators, survey shows

Creators earn the most from their brand partnerships on YouTube – more than Instagram and TikTok, according to a new survey.

By the numbers. On YouTube, 6% of creators earned more than $10,001 per month – compared to 3% of Instagram creators and 2% of TikTok creators.

• 50% of YouTube creators earn more than $500 per month vs. Instagram (40%) and TikTok (36%).

More expensive, but. While it’s more expensive to work with YouTube creators, brands should work with them because the platform has high engagement metrics.

Creators get a 50% engagement rate, on average, which beats all other platforms by far (TikTok and Instagram had a 3% and 2% engagement rate, respectively). Engagement on YouTube was defined as views, likes, comments and shares. Also:

• “YouTube’s longer video format allows creators to dive deeper into your products in each video — which is especially helpful if you’re selling products like tech gear or ready-to-build furniture, which may need step-by-step tutorials.”

About the survey. It is a combination of internal data from Aspire, an influencer marketing platform, plus a survey of 1,000 “diverse creators, varying in audience size, main platform of choice, industry, and more.” Most of the creators were U.S.-based.

Why we care. Influencers can help your SEO campaigns. And with big investments continuing in influencer marketing, YouTube seems to offer brands the most ROI for working with influencers right now.

Go deeper. If you want to learn more about how much to pay influencers, you can download the survey results for free from Aspire.

Creators frustrated with TikTok. Disappointed about how much they were being paid, creators were leaving TikTok claiming mental health blows and burnout, as we reported last year. Some creators claimed they were being paid between $0.02 – $0.03 per 1,000 video views.