The Economy Around Creator Work Is Bigger Than the Upload

YouTube's $60 billion estimate made me think about the smaller economy around my own creator work and how much of it usually goes uncounted.

Written by RV Mendoza.

A glossy red YouTube play-button icon floats against a dark background. — Unsplash

YouTube’s 2025 U.S. Impact Report, backed by research from Oxford Economics and YouTube data, estimates that YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed more than $60 billion to U.S. GDP and supported more than 540,000 full-time-equivalent jobs in 2025.

Those are YouTube’s reported estimates, not numbers I independently calculated. What interests me is the activity they are trying to measure beyond the person uploading the video: creators hiring editors, renting studio space, working with suppliers, and building businesses around the work.

A bar chart shows YouTube's reported creative ecosystem GDP impact rising from $45 billion in 2023 to $60 billion in 2025, with circles comparing $60 billion with NASA's fiscal budget, YouTube revenue, and Alaska's GDP. — YouTube reports that its U.S. creative ecosystem’s GDP contribution increased from $45 billion in 2023 to more than $60 billion in 2025, based on YouTube and Oxford Economics research published July 16, 2026.Scalable

I usually think about my creator business through revenue, views, brand deals, and the amount of time a project takes. I don’t always count the smaller economy around it: the photographer, the accountant, the software subscriptions, the travel, the equipment, the event space, or the person helping behind the scenes.

That seems worth documenting, especially as more creators are being treated like small media companies while still being discussed like individual social accounts.

Thanks to Jasmine Enberg and Kaya Yurieff for putting the YouTube numbers in context. Their newsletter is a fantastic resource for content creators!

Read their full analysis in Scalable.