Patreon Statistics: Users, Revenue, Top Categories, and More (June 2021):
What Is Patreon?
Patreon is a membership site that gives creators the financial tools they need to accept financial support from their supporters. This type of creator-fan relationship is nothing new. In fact, creators throughout history — writers, painters, musicians, and others — have turned to donors to finance their work through patronages. What the internet and Patreon have done is allow that concept to be more widely available and give creators access to a range of supporters who are willing to provide financial support. That supporter is typically given in exchange for certain perks like a private community, access to exclusive content, or others.
Patreon Statistics: Users, Revenue, and More (2021)
Patreon first came onto the scene in 2013 with the mission to help creators monetize their content. Within the first 18 months of going live, Patreon hit 125,000 patrons (supporters) representing total monthly payments at the $1 million mark. These days, Patreon has more than 6 million active patrons supporting a network of 200,000+ creators. Here are some more Patreon statistics you should know to help you understand the importance of the platform.
Patreon Facts
Website: Patreon.com Year Founded: 2013 Founders: Jack Conte (CEO) and Sam Yan Headquarters: San Francisco, CA Download: iOS or Android
Basic Patreon Stats
Patreon has 200 full-time employees with three offices in the United States and one office in Dublin, Ireland (TechCrunch). The average annual compensation for Patreon staff is $144,380 (Comparably). Patreon employees on the H1-B visa receive a median base salary of $135,000 (H1-B Salary Database). Patreon holds 7 patents (Justia): Augmented reality identification of subscribers granted July 16, 2019, and December 3, 2019, December 8, 2020 Generation of subscription recommendations for content creators granted March 31, 2020, March 2, 2021 Generation of engagement and support recommendations for content creators granted April 14, 2020, March 2, 2021 Patreon has more than 6 million patrons, 4 million of which have joined since 2017. More than 187,000 of the creators on Patreon are supported by at least one patron. Patreon has raised $413.3 million in funding over eight rounds since 2013 (TechCrunch). Patreon was valued at $4 billion in its latest investment round, more than tripling its value since September 2020 (Wall Street Journal). Nearly 60% of Patreon’s total funding has come from Series E and Series F funding rounds within the last two years (CB Insights). Patreon’s valuation has increased by 233.33% since September 2020 and 26.96X since 2016 (TechCrunch). Creators on Patreon make an estimated $1 billion annually (TechCrunch). Patreon takes between 5% and 12% of creator earnings as well as a payment processing fee (an average of 8.5%). Assuming that 8.5% average, Patreon brings in $85 million in annual revenue from fees.
Patreon Creator Statistics
Unless otherwise noted, statistics have been sourced or calculated based on data from Graphtreon.
Patreon has 195,219 creators. This is an increase of 7.7% from the previous year. 193,692 creators have at least one patron. In the last two years alone, Patreon’s number of creators has increased by 58,183 (30% of the entire existing creator base). More than half (53.07%) of all creators on Patreon produce content within one of four categories: video, “other,” podcasts, and music. There are 102,781 Patreon pages dedicated to these topics (not included pages labeled as “Adult”). Video content is the most popular category, making up 26.02% of all Patreon pages (50,406 creators). Crafts & DIY is the least popular non-Adult category, making up just 0.28% of all Patreon pages (541 creators). Adult content collectively makes up 23.60% of Patreon pages (45,713 creators). It’s likely that you’ll find more adults-only and NSFW (“not safe for work”) content on OnlyFans. Just 662 creators on Patreon get support from more than 2,000 patrons (0.34% of all creators on the platform). The top creator on Patreon is True Crime Obsessed, a podcast series devoted to the review of true crime documentaries. The podcast has 43,222 supporters with estimated earnings of $121K–$324K per month. Eight of the top 10 creators on Patreon (ranked by the number of patrons) produce podcasts. Patreon creators collectively bring in an estimated $23.58 million each month. Video producers collectively make the most money on Patreon with monthly earnings for video creators hitting an estimated $6.15 million. Podcast producers collectively bring in the second most money on the platform with monthly earnings for podcast creators tallying up to an estimated $3.52 million. Creators on Patreon earned a total of $23.23 million in June 2021, an increase of 25.84% from an estimated $18.46 million in 2020. According to Patreon, creators make a combined total of more than $1 billion per year.
Patreon Supporter Statistics
According to Patreon, the platform hosts more than 6 million monthly active patrons who support creators financially. The 6 million patrons represent 11.37 million individual pledges of support. Individual pledges of support have increased by 33.37% since June 2020.
Patreon’s Top Creators
Who are Patreon’s top creators? Let’s take a closer look at the creators who are dominating Patreon, winning hearts and making bank!
1. True Crime Obsessed
Patrons as of June 2020: 43,222 Estimated Monthly Earnings: $121K–$324K Category: Podcast True Crime Obsessed is a true-crime podcast hosted by Gillian Pensavalle and Patrick Hinds. The podcast has been on Patreon since January 2018. Their Patreon feed has become a place for supporters to get access to deep dives into longer true crime docu-series like Serial, The Staircase, Making a Murderer, and The Jinx that they don’t have time to get into in the regular feed. The Patreon feed is ad-free at even the lowest tier, but you can get additional perks with the higher plans (like ad-free versions of the regular episodes and access to live show meet-and-greets).
2. Chapo Trap House
Patrons as of June 2020: 36,389 Monthly Earnings: $161,580 Category: Podcast Chapo Trap House is a political podcast based on US politics that started in March 2016. It’s hosted by Will Menaker, Matt Christman, and Felix Biederman with Amber A’Lee Frost coming on as a recurring co-host. The podcast has been on Patreon since May 2016.
3. DarkCookie
Patrons as of June 2020: 27,655 Monthly Earnings: $73,216 Category: Adult Games DarkCookie is a game developer using Patreon to support the development of their game Summertime Saga. Summertime Saga is an adult game in which a new college student needs to save enough money for tuition and, oddly, prom night while trying to keep out of trouble with the shady characters to whom his late father was indebted. They’ve been on Patreon since August 2016.
4. You’re Wrong About
Patrons as of June 2020: 27,393 Estimated Monthly Earnings: $76K–$205K Category: Podcast You’re Wrong About is a podcast hosted by Mike Hobbs and Sarah Marshall. It’s an independent pop culture podcast hosted by Michael Hobbes and Sarah Mar that explores media events that have been misunderstood, identifying why and how the public got things wrong. They’ve been on Patreon since April 2019.
5. The Tim Dillon Show
Patrons as of June 2020: 26,107 Monthly Earnings: $142,493 Category: Podcast The Tim Dillon Show is a podcast hosted by Tim Dillon. Dillon is a comedian who uses his podcast to share apocalyptic visions with his friends and chastise a local diner. The podcast has been on Patreon since August 2019.
6. DankPods
Patrons as of June 2020: 24,914 Estimated Monthly Earnings: $20K–$279K Category: Video DankPods is an Australian YouTuber who does various things to his iPods, showing how they could work if they were awesome, presumably. His YouTube channel is filled with videos of various music, headphone, and tech junk breakdowns. It’s a pretty good bet that his Patreon feed is the same. He’s relatively new to Patreon and has only been on the platform since March 2020.
7. TMG
Patrons as of June 2020: 20,920 Monthly Earnings: $99,127 Category: Podcast TMG, the Tiny Meat Gang, is a podcast hosted by comedians Cody Ko and Noel Miller. Noel tends to talk about things like UFC, F1 Racing, or streaming while Cody talks drama and cooking. They’ve been on Patreon since October 2017. They have quite a loyal following — enough to warrant an entire website devoted to influencer merch from the duo.
8. TrueAnon Podcast
Patrons as of June 2020: 20,312 Monthly Earnings: $84,542 Category: Podcast TrueAnon is a political podcast (US) hosted by Brace Belden, Liz Franczak, and @yung-chomsky. They mostly talk about the Epstein conspiracy theory but you’ll also find a left-wing analysis of other political events and issues. They’ve been on Patreon since July 2019.
9. Flagrant 2
Patrons as of June 2020: 19,938 Monthly Earnings: $96,030 Category: Video Flagrant 2 is a “shock jock” style comedy podcast that claims to offer up an alternative to “political correctness.” It’s hosted by Andrew Schulz, Akaash Singh, AlexxMedia, and Mark Gagnon and has been on Patreon since September 2018.
10. The Cum Boys
Patrons as of June 2020: 19,392 Monthly Earnings: $86,875 Category: Podcast Cum Town is another “shock jock” style comedy podcast hosted by New York City-based comedians Nick Mullen, Stavros Halkias, and Adam Friedland. It includes lots of crude puns, as well as sexually explicit scenarios in which the comedy is built solely around racist stereotypes. It’s been on Patreon since June 2016.
11. Not Another D&D Podcast
Patrons as of June 2020: 19,171 Estimated Monthly Earnings: $53K–$143K Category: Podcast Not Another D&D Podcast is a podcast hosted by Bryan Murhpy as the Dungeon Master. It’s a weekly podcast that features the creative, collaborative storytelling you’d expect from a podcast about Dungeons and Dragons. They’ve been on Patreon since May 2018.
12. Project Helius
Patrons as of June 2020: 17,086 Estimated Monthly Earnings: $41K–$122K Category: Adult Games Project Helius is an indie game developer that makes next-generation erotic computer games. Their next game Fallen Doll: Operation Lovecraft is in development and should be available on Steam early access in 2021. They’ve been on Patreon since September 2016.
Patreon Infographic
Patreon: Statistics Show Continued Growth
As you can see, Patreon is still experiencing strong user and creator growth with no signs of slowing down. If you’re not already using Patreon to generate a recurring revenue stream for your business, there’s no time like the present to get started!
