Photo credit: Zanetti Photography

A new global study shows the creator economy includes approximately 360 million people and generates $370 billion in economic impact—yet business and policy leaders often overlook its significance. Urban studies expert, best-selling author, and University Professor at the University of Toronto, Richard Florida, who first identified the rise of the creative class, now highlights this economic force through new research supported by Meta.

From Creative Class to Digital Creation

Richard’s research into the creator economy expanded from his earlier work on the creative class, which he identified as 40% of the workforce across arts, culture, design, entertainment, science, engineering, and professional fields. When Meta approached him to study digital creators, he was more or less unaware of its importance.

“My kids were young at the time, and I said, kind of naively, ‘You mean the people my kids watch unwrapping toys on YouTube?'” Richard recalls. “Then it didn’t take long for me to recognize that these digital creators were a very important evolution of what I dubbed the creative class.”

Their significance became clearer as he watched his own children’s interests develop. “My kids were like 5 or 6 at the time, and one day, they announced that when they grow up, they wanted to be YouTubers,” Richard shares. “We are pretty focused on limiting our kids’ time on digital devices, but when they pick up their i-pads to choreograph a cute little video routine, they express their creativity. They take piano, dance, and gymnastics classes. They say they want to be creators when they grow up. Sure, it’s a childhood dream, but it is a way for them to express their creativity.”

Research Methodology and Scale

The research approach demonstrated thorough attention to detail. Working with Factworks, the team surveyed approximately 10,000 creators across 20 countries, selecting nations representing developed and developing economies. 

“We wanted not only advanced countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and France, but also those in the global south, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East,” Richard explains.

To strengthen their findings, they conducted additional sampling of large creators and employed sociologists, economists, and data analysts for verification. “It took our team a lot of hard and careful work because you can get estimates all over the place,” Richard notes. “No estimates are ever perfect, and this is an especially hard space to gauge. But we feel our figures are much more reliable than we’ve seen before and at least give you a sense of how big this is.”

Photo credit: Daria Malysheva

Beyond Celebrity Status: Creator Motivations

The research challenges media coverage focusing primarily on high-profile creators, revealing a diverse ecosystem driven by various motivations. 

“The media focus is on the celebrity creators, whether that’s MrBeast or Kim Kardashian,” Richard observes. “But we found that that is a very small sliver of activity. What’s more interesting is the thousands upon thousands of online creators who are not in this for money.”

The study found creators to be primarily motivated by more e intrinsic rewards. “When I wrote ‘Rise of the Creative Class,’ the first thing I found is that creative class members were not principally interested in money,” Richard explains. “They were much more motivated by intrinsic goals, doing great work on great projects, working with great people, and making an impact. And we found in the digital creator community that those intrinsic motivations motivate people.”

The research uncovered multiple key factors driving creators beyond financial gain. “They want to find an audience for their work. They want to find people who do stuff similar to them. They want to build up, be part of a community,” Richard elaborates. “They’re lonely. They want to be part of something bigger or, very interestingly, to have a social, cultural, and civic impact. Money’s not their main objective. It’s to have an impact, whether cultural, social, or even political..”

Digital Platforms Enable New Opportunities

Digital platforms have removed many of the traditional barriers to creative expression. “Before, to be successful in creative fields, you had to break through these barriers and gatekeepers. You had to go to the right schools, be part of the right networks, and have some form of privilege,” Richard notes. 

He continues, “I started to observe this in my writing and journalistic work. Your career prospects no longer hinged on working your way into a job for ‘The New York Times,’ ‘The Wall Street Journal,’ or a veritable handful of prestigious newspapers and magazines. Really smart and talented people could build careers as bloggers and later on social media and various online platforms. And without doubt, almost every time I came across somebody who was producing interesting content early on, they found a way to break through.”

The research highlights how platforms enable talented individuals to succeed regardless of background. “I began to think to myself that there was this group of people who were no longer j bound by traditional gatekeepers and institutions and who, if they had talent, moxie, and grit, could break through,” Richard says. “That was super interesting to me, finding how these talented people could use these digital tools to present themselves.”

Image: Richard at the Moscow Urban Forum in 2018

Education System Challenges

Richard identifies significant gaps between traditional education and current digital economy needs. 

“If you’re going to teach kids in a business school, which is where I teach, why aren’t we teaching them how to be online creators?” he questions. “If you’re going to communicate and build a brand, build a market, start a startup, paper and pencil isn’t going to do it.”

He shares personal experience with digital adaptation: “I’m a reasonably good written communicator and a better public speaker. But in today’s world of notoriously short attention spans, the ability to use video in today’s digital world is increasingly important,” Richard emphasizes. 

He adds, “What I find so curious is that the same people – policymakers and business people – who saw the importance of the creative class have a lot of trouble recognizing just how important this new breed of digital creators is and what they can tell us about the future. Sometimes, when I tell them about the potential of  these creators, they look at me like I’m nuts.”

Community and Connection

The research reveals creators seek meaningful connections beyond online success. Richard sees this as part of broader social reorganization. “Instead of creating this isolated artificial, virtual reality, the creator economy will ultimately spur more real-world interaction as well,” he explains.

Richard presents two potential futures: “In the U.S., we are going down this road to many people moving out of the city, to the suburb, to the hilltop. In a home office with a child’s playroom, a theater, a gymnasium, a backyard, and a virtual reality. I call it the ‘One Minute City.’ You never leave your house; you have everything delivered to you. That’s not where we’re going. We’re going where these technologies reinforce a social society.”

He references his urbanist colleague Carlos Moreno’s “15-Minute City” concept as an alternative: “We’re using these online tools, and we’re working in an online way. And a lot of our time, we’re alone but searching for human connection. That’s where I think the community, the town square, and the city remain fundamentally important. The digital world makes finding physical space for real human connection even more important.”

The research demonstrates how the creator economy creates worldwide opportunities. “In the past, when you looked at Hollywood, the media landscape, the big newspapers, they were all American, maybe a couple from London,” Richard notes. “Now, it’s the world.”

This transformation appears across the landscape of digital high-tech industries. “In the past few decades, the U.S. was home to  95% of them,” Richard states. “It’s less than half now. These technologies are allowing talent to bubble up in a wide variety of places. Maybe you will come and live in the U.S. for a few years, but then you can go back wherever you want.”

A Call for Balance

Despite its significant scale, Richard notes that awareness remains limited among institutional leaders. He advocates for a balanced understanding of digital creation’s impact. 

“We hear more and more complaints about the dangers of social media. Much of that makes sense: I want to protect my kids from that as much as anyone else. But there is also a positive when young people can use digital tools and online media as an outlet for creativity. We need to understand and find a balance between the positive and negative sides?”

He points to platforms like Substack as examples of democratized expression: “I think about the role of Substack in my space, which enables writers like me who previously had to work for an established publication to build a career. Now, if you have a voice, you can build an audience straight away and go right to it.”

“Creators today tell me the same things members of the creative class did 20-plus years ago: I want to work on great projects with great people, in great spaces, in great places. That’s not  changed at all.”