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What is the story about?
India’s creator economy has been dominated by stories of YouTube millionaires, podcast stars and influencers signing multi-crore brand deals.
A report by the Indian School of Business and creator marketing platform Hashfame paints a picture of a rapidly growing industry, but one where meaningful income remains concentrated among a relatively small group of creators.
The report estimates India had 4.12 million creators in 2025, up from just 960,000 in 2020, with nearly two-thirds of them based outside metro cities. According to the report, 85% don’t make any money in a year.
While some creators are building multi-crore businesses, most earn little or nothing from their content.
How much money can you make as an online creator?
The study benchmarked creator earnings against India's labour market and found that income from creator campaigns remains supplementary for most participants. According to the analysis, a nano creator completing two brand campaigns annually earns a monthly equivalent of roughly ₹5,000. That amounts to only 29% of the average rural salaried wage of ₹17,033 and about 20% of the average urban salaried wage of ₹24,434.
Even at higher activity levels, income remains modest. A nano creator completing five campaigns reaches roughly 73% of the average rural wage benchmark. Only a micro creator completing five campaigns annually crosses the rural wage threshold, earning about 147% of the average rural salaried wage and roughly matching the average urban wage.
The report's broader conclusion is that content creation remains an audience-building exercise rather than a significant income source for most people.
In other words, India's creator economy may be large, but monetisation remains shallow. As one creator pointed out, "Worse is when you finally land a brand deal, big companies make you wait 60 to 90 days to get paid."
Where the money really is
Despite those limitations, the industry's growth is undeniable.
The report shows campaign volume increased from 14,000 in 2020 to 42,000 in 2025, while average spending per campaign rose 3.6 times over the same period. That suggests brands are moving beyond experimentation and embedding creator marketing into their advertising strategies.
Beauty and personal care have emerged as particularly attractive categories. Researchers found rural households consistently allocate around 5.3% of their expenditure to personal care across income groups, helping explain why beauty creators remain among the easiest to monetise.
The report argues that the industry's next challenge is not attracting more creators but helping existing creators secure repeat campaigns and recurring income. Only around 2.1% of non-metro creators complete five or more campaigns annually, but this cohort represents the economically significant segment of the market.
Content creation is not the destination
While most creators struggle to secure recurring brand campaigns, a small group has built businesses worth tens or even hundreds of crores, blurring the line between creator and entrepreneur.
Take Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps. His creator-led company Monk Entertainment reported revenue of ₹97.8 crore in FY24 and a profit of ₹7.23 crore, according to filings reviewed by Entrackr. The report also noted that Allahbadia and his venture BeerBiceps Media received ₹7.77 crore from Monk Entertainment for services provided during the year.
The scale of the business highlights how the biggest creators increasingly earn not from platform advertising revenue alone, but from talent management, influencer marketing, production services and intellectual property.
The largest monetisation events, in fact, often come from equity rather than content. Several Indian creators have launched consumer brands, educational businesses and agencies, using their audiences as distribution engines. In these cases, content drives customer acquisition, while the real value comes from products and services sold off-platform.
Another example is finance creator Sharan Hegde. His startup, The 1% Club, raised $1.25 million in a funding round announced in 2024, aiming to build a financial-learning community around its creator brand. The fundraise illustrated how investors are increasingly willing to back businesses built around individual creators rather than traditional media companies.
In other words, the biggest fortunes in the creator economy aren't made by posting videos. A small minority of creators turn their audiences into businesses. Success stories are often the exception, not the norm.
The creator economy still helps
The most important insight from the ISB report may be that creator income should be viewed through the lens of local opportunity.
For a young person in a small town with limited employment prospects, earning an additional ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 a month through content creation can be meaningful.
The report notes that nearly 46% of young people outside major metros have at least secondary education, while local labour markets often struggle to provide matching opportunities.
This helps explain why content creation continues to attract millions of participants despite low monetisation rates.
The industry is increasingly looking less like a digital celebrity machine and more like a new form of self-employment. At the top sit a handful of creator entrepreneurs running media businesses worth crores. At the bottom are millions of aspiring creators hoping to convert attention into income.
Between those two extremes lies India's fastest-growing digital labour market, one where participation is easy, but meaningful earnings remain surprisingly hard to achieve.
Also Read: From BB Ki Vines to Sarkar: How Bhuvan Bam is building beyond content
A report by the Indian School of Business and creator marketing platform Hashfame paints a picture of a rapidly growing industry, but one where meaningful income remains concentrated among a relatively small group of creators.
The report estimates India had 4.12 million creators in 2025, up from just 960,000 in 2020, with nearly two-thirds of them based outside metro cities. According to the report, 85% don’t make any money in a year.
While some creators are building multi-crore businesses, most earn little or nothing from their content.
How much money can you make as an online creator?
The study benchmarked creator earnings against India's labour market and found that income from creator campaigns remains supplementary for most participants. According to the analysis, a nano creator completing two brand campaigns annually earns a monthly equivalent of roughly ₹5,000. That amounts to only 29% of the average rural salaried wage of ₹17,033 and about 20% of the average urban salaried wage of ₹24,434.
Even at higher activity levels, income remains modest. A nano creator completing five campaigns reaches roughly 73% of the average rural wage benchmark. Only a micro creator completing five campaigns annually crosses the rural wage threshold, earning about 147% of the average rural salaried wage and roughly matching the average urban wage.
The report's broader conclusion is that content creation remains an audience-building exercise rather than a significant income source for most people.
In other words, India's creator economy may be large, but monetisation remains shallow. As one creator pointed out, "Worse is when you finally land a brand deal, big companies make you wait 60 to 90 days to get paid."
Where the money really is
Despite those limitations, the industry's growth is undeniable.
The report shows campaign volume increased from 14,000 in 2020 to 42,000 in 2025, while average spending per campaign rose 3.6 times over the same period. That suggests brands are moving beyond experimentation and embedding creator marketing into their advertising strategies.
Beauty and personal care have emerged as particularly attractive categories. Researchers found rural households consistently allocate around 5.3% of their expenditure to personal care across income groups, helping explain why beauty creators remain among the easiest to monetise.
The report argues that the industry's next challenge is not attracting more creators but helping existing creators secure repeat campaigns and recurring income. Only around 2.1% of non-metro creators complete five or more campaigns annually, but this cohort represents the economically significant segment of the market.
Content creation is not the destination
While most creators struggle to secure recurring brand campaigns, a small group has built businesses worth tens or even hundreds of crores, blurring the line between creator and entrepreneur.
Take Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps. His creator-led company Monk Entertainment reported revenue of ₹97.8 crore in FY24 and a profit of ₹7.23 crore, according to filings reviewed by Entrackr. The report also noted that Allahbadia and his venture BeerBiceps Media received ₹7.77 crore from Monk Entertainment for services provided during the year.
The scale of the business highlights how the biggest creators increasingly earn not from platform advertising revenue alone, but from talent management, influencer marketing, production services and intellectual property.
The largest monetisation events, in fact, often come from equity rather than content. Several Indian creators have launched consumer brands, educational businesses and agencies, using their audiences as distribution engines. In these cases, content drives customer acquisition, while the real value comes from products and services sold off-platform.
Another example is finance creator Sharan Hegde. His startup, The 1% Club, raised $1.25 million in a funding round announced in 2024, aiming to build a financial-learning community around its creator brand. The fundraise illustrated how investors are increasingly willing to back businesses built around individual creators rather than traditional media companies.
In other words, the biggest fortunes in the creator economy aren't made by posting videos. A small minority of creators turn their audiences into businesses. Success stories are often the exception, not the norm.
The creator economy still helps
The most important insight from the ISB report may be that creator income should be viewed through the lens of local opportunity.
For a young person in a small town with limited employment prospects, earning an additional ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 a month through content creation can be meaningful.
The report notes that nearly 46% of young people outside major metros have at least secondary education, while local labour markets often struggle to provide matching opportunities.
This helps explain why content creation continues to attract millions of participants despite low monetisation rates.
The industry is increasingly looking less like a digital celebrity machine and more like a new form of self-employment. At the top sit a handful of creator entrepreneurs running media businesses worth crores. At the bottom are millions of aspiring creators hoping to convert attention into income.
Between those two extremes lies India's fastest-growing digital labour market, one where participation is easy, but meaningful earnings remain surprisingly hard to achieve.
Also Read: From BB Ki Vines to Sarkar: How Bhuvan Bam is building beyond content
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