Korea's creator economy breaks 1 trillion won as YouTube and streaming rise

YouTube logo [REUTERS/YONHAP]

YouTubers and online streamers in Korea collectively made more than one trillion won ($755 million) in 2022, according to data released Wednesday, as the creator economy has become a more lucrative yet crowded industry.

A total 39,366 online creators and broadcast jockeys, or live streamers, together earned 1.142 trillion won in 2022, according to data provided by the National Tax Service to the Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Yang Kyung-sook on Wednesday.

It marks the first time that the creator economy has surpassed the one trillion won mark.

The top one percent of earners, 393 creators and streamers, made 333.3 billion won, nearly 30 percent of the overall amount. The average annual income of the bracket was 848 million won, a 26.4 percent increase from 2019.

The top 10 percent highest paid creators earned a total of 868.4 billion won, earning an average of 221 million won in 2022.

Both the number of content creators and their earnings have grown in recent years.

The amassed revenue of one-person media operators was 87.5 billion won in 2019. But that figure jumped to 452.1 billion won in 2020 and 858.9 billion won in 2021.

Just 2,776 people declared their earnings in 2019 while 20,756 made reports in 2020 and 34,219 did so in 2021.

Average annual earnings across the board were 29 million won in 2022, marking a 3 million won decrease from 2019.

“The creator economy has become more competitive than ever, making very few people in the top tier earn the biggest fortune,” Yang, the DP lawmaker, said. “In this reality, [most of the creators find that] it is harsh to depend on earnings from their own channels.”

BY HAN JEE-HYE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]