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Top ways influencers generate revenue

If you’re an online content creator, and you’ve ever wondered how others in the industry generate revenue – you’re in the right place!

We’ve surveyed over 200 hand-selected influencers, across a wide range of niches, to establish:

  • what types of content they create;
  • which techniques they utilise to make money;
  • which of these techniques they regard as the most successful.

OUR METHODOLOGY

We surveyed 212 influencers across a variety of different niches. Respondents were hand-picked according to a robust criteria of no fewer than 10,000 followers on Instagram and/or Twitter, or a minimum of 185,000 subscribers on YouTube. Participants were sourced organically.

Key Findings

How Influencers Generate Revenue:

73% of influencers use sponsorships or sponsored content to generate revenue.
66% of influencers use sponsored social media posts to generate revenue.
38% of influencers use free products to generate revenue.
33% of influencers use brand representative agreements or endorsements to generate revenue.
32% of influencers use affiliate marketing to generate revenue.
31% of influencers use consulting to generate revenue.
30% of influencers use banner ads to generate revenue.
28% of influencers use speaking or guest appearances to generate revenue.
21% of influencers sell their own branded merchandise to generate revenue.
17% of influencers use YouTube/TrueView ads to generate revenue.
8% of influencers use television or radio show appearances to generate revenue.
8% of influencers use tipping or gifting to generate revenue.
6% of influencers use book deals to generate revenue.
5% of influencers use Patreon to generate revenue.
2% of influencers use crowdfunding to generate revenue.

How Influencers Generate Revenue - key findings 1

What generates most revenue for influencers:

38% of influencers rate sponsorships or sponsored content as their top source of revenue.
18% of influencers rate sponsored social media posts as their top source of revenue.
7% of influencers rate consulting work as their top source of revenue.
6% of influencers rate YouTube/TrueView advertising as their top source of revenue.
6% of influencers rate selling their own branded merchandise as their top source of revenue.
4% of influencers rate banner advertisements as their top source of revenue.
3% of influencers rate speaking or guest appearances as their top source of revenue.
2% of influencers rate free products as their top source of revenue.
1% of influencers rate affiliate marketing as their top source of revenue.
1% of influencers rate book deals as their top source of revenue.
1% of influencers rate television or radio shows as their top source of revenue.

What generates most revenue for infuencers - key findings 2

Complete the form above for the downloadable report which has a breakdown of which content types are most commonly created for each niche.

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