Creator crowdfunding now spans one-time project funding, rewards, memberships, and direct audience purchases. Kickstarter had launched more than 654,000 campaigns and received more than $8.5 billion in pledges cumulatively through March 6, 2025, while Patreon reported more than $8 billion in creator revenue since its 2013 launch through December 12, 2024. Together, these figures show the scale of audience-funded creation and the different ways fans support creators.
Contents
- Platform scale and creator-funded output
- 2024 reward crowdfunding performance
- Games crowdfunding milestones
- Membership crowdfunding and creator income
- Fan conversion and community economics
- What the numbers measure
Platform scale and creator-funded output
Kickstarter’s cumulative totals provide a useful measure of how large reward crowdfunding has become. Since 2009, more than 654,000 campaigns had launched on the platform by March 6, 2025. Those projects had received more than $8.5 billion in pledges, and more than 23 million backers had pledged to Kickstarter projects during the same cumulative period. Kickstarter also recorded its 100 millionth total pledge on January 21, 2025. These are cumulative platform milestones, rather than annual creator-income estimates. (Kickstarter, “The Creative Download: The Trends Shaping Creativity, Innovation & Crowdfunding”)
An earlier milestone illustrates the depth of repeat participation. At Kickstarter’s $2 billion pledge milestone on October 11, 2017, 9.5 million people had contributed. Of those backers, 2,932,231 had supported at least two projects, 862,270 had supported at least five, 368,605 had supported at least ten, and 35,898 had supported at least 50. The figures describe activity at that historical milestone and should not be treated as current repeat-backer rates. (Kickstarter, “Two Billion Dollars”)
The same 2017 milestone included 93,555 successfully funded creative projects. That count is also a legacy cumulative figure measured through October 11, 2017, not a replacement for Kickstarter’s later platform totals. (Kickstarter, “Two Billion Dollars”)
For creators, the broad pattern is clear: crowdfunding can be measured both by the number of projects launched and by the number of people willing to return to the platform. A campaign’s audience is therefore not limited to first-time supporters; the historical repeat-backer counts show that some users participated across multiple projects.
2024 reward crowdfunding performance
Kickstarter recorded 35,512 projects launched during calendar year 2024. Successfully funded projects received $706 million in pledges during that year. The platform also reported that funding for Theatre projects increased 61% in 2024 compared with 2023, while Tabletop Games projects had an 80% success rate in 2024. (Kickstarter, “The Creative Download: The Trends Shaping Creativity, Innovation & Crowdfunding”)
| 2024 Kickstarter indicator | Reported result | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Projects launched | 35,512 | Calendar year 2024 |
| Pledges to successfully funded projects | $706 million | Calendar year 2024 |
| Theatre funding change | 61% increase | 2024 versus 2023 |
| Tabletop Games success rate | 80% | Calendar year 2024 |
Geography also shifted within the platform’s launch activity. Berlin and Denver entered Kickstarter’s top 20 cities for project launches in 2024. The report identified five most-searched terms among backers, although the supplied report summary does not list those terms, so no search-term ranking is reproduced here. (Kickstarter, “The Creative Download: The Trends Shaping Creativity, Innovation & Crowdfunding”)
These results describe projects and pledges on Kickstarter. They do not represent all crowdfunding platforms, all creator businesses, or the amount creators ultimately retain after production, fulfillment, platform fees, taxes, and other costs. The $706 million figure is specifically the value of pledges received by successfully funded projects.
Games crowdfunding milestones
Games were a major part of Kickstarter’s 2024 activity. More than 93,756 Games projects had launched on the platform since 2009 by February 5, 2025, and Games projects had received $2.63 billion in pledges cumulatively through that date. During calendar year 2024, Games projects received $270 million in pledges. Cross-category backers supplied 70% of Games backings in 2024, meaning the reported backing activity included supporters who also backed projects in other categories. (Kickstarter, “2024 Was a Big Year for Games on Kickstarter”)
Tabletop games accounted for a substantial share of the 2024 Games results. Kickstarter recorded 6,646 tabletop game launches and 5,314 successfully funded tabletop games in 2024. Successfully funded tabletop campaigns received $220 million during the year. The launch and successfully funded counts are different measures: one describes activity entering the platform, while the other describes campaigns that reached their funding goals. (Kickstarter, “2024 Was a Big Year for Games on Kickstarter”)
| 2024 Games indicator | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Games pledges | $270 million |
| Tabletop game launches | 6,646 |
| Successfully funded tabletop games | 5,314 |
| Successfully funded tabletop pledges | $220 million |
| Cross-category share of Games backings | 70% |
Individual campaigns show how concentrated results can become. The Cosmere RPG raised more than $15.1 million from 55,106 backers in a campaign completed in 2024. Altered TCG raised more than $6.7 million from 14,997 backers in a campaign completed in 2024. These are campaign-specific totals, not typical results for a games creator. (Kickstarter, “2024 Was a Big Year for Games on Kickstarter”)
Video-game campaigns were another distinct segment. Kickstarter reported 441 successful video-game campaigns in 2024, and the number of successful video-game campaigns increased 9% from 2023 to 2024. Successful Kickstarter video-game campaigns received $26 million in 2024. (Kickstarter, “2024 Was a Big Year for Games on Kickstarter”)
Membership crowdfunding and creator income
Membership crowdfunding differs from a one-time campaign because the relationship can continue month after month. Patreon reported that creators had generated more than $8 billion in revenue since the platform launched in 2013, measured through December 12, 2024. In 2024, more than 10 million fans were paying for Patreon memberships each month, and more than 300,000 creators were using the platform to earn income. (Patreon, “Celebrating another year of connecting creators and their real fans”)
The free-to-paid funnel was also large. Patreon creators surpassed 60 million free memberships in 2024, and more than 400,000 free memberships converted to paid memberships each month. Patreon reported that monthly revenue from one-time purchases was four times higher in 2024 than in the prior year. Creators also used Drops to release more than 40,000 exclusive works during 2024. (Patreon, “Celebrating another year of connecting creators and their real fans”)
Podcasting provides one concrete creator category within the membership model. More than 40,000 podcasters earned $472 million directly from audiences on Patreon in calendar year 2024. The figure is specific to podcasters and should not be generalized to the average creator or to all Patreon users. (Patreon, “See You at Podcast Movement 2025!”)
Patreon also reported a survey-based comparison of subscription income: more than 66% of surveyed creators said they earned more from subscriptions than five years earlier. That result was reported on August 14, 2025, and describes respondents’ answers rather than an audited income series for every creator. (Patreon, “See You at Podcast Movement 2025!”)
Fan conversion and community economics
Patreon’s reported discovery and conversion figures highlight the economic value of a creator’s existing fan network. In 2024, more than 60% of people who signed up for a creator’s Patreon came from within Patreon’s fan network, and more than 50% of a creator’s average Patreon revenue came from that network. These percentages describe Patreon’s reported platform activity for 2024, not a universal conversion benchmark for every membership business. (Patreon, “Celebrating another year of connecting creators and their real fans”)
Free memberships can function as an audience relationship before a paid upgrade. More than 60% of Patreon free members said they joined to stay up to date with a creator’s work and announcements, and 52% said they were interested in upgrading to a paid option. These survey results were reported June 25, 2024. (Patreon, “Creativity as it should be: building for your real fans”)
Community activity was growing alongside memberships. Patreon reported five times as many community chats started in 2024 as in the prior year. It also reported that more than 90% of creators with highly active Patreon communities earned at least $1,000 per month. The $1,000 threshold applies to the defined group of creators with highly active communities; it is not an average across all creators. (Patreon, “Celebrating another year of connecting creators and their real fans”; Patreon, “Creativity as it should be: building for your real fans”)
Creator-to-creator recommendations supplied another discovery channel. In the six months before March 3, 2025, The Fluffy Folio received 12% of new paid members and 37% of new free members through creator recommendations. Across the platform, Patreon said creator recommendations had generated more than 2 million new subscriptions since launch. Patreon also reported that its discovery tools were driving more than $200 million to creators per year, as reported March 3, 2025. (Patreon, “Discovery on Patreon is driving over $200 million to creators per year”)
Finally, Patreon reported a platform-specific connection measure from its State of Create survey: fans said they felt connected to creators at a 90% rate on Patreon, compared with 49% on Instagram. This is a survey comparison of reported connection, not a measure of revenue or audience size. (Patreon, “Discovery on Patreon is driving over $200 million to creators per year”)
What the numbers measure
The statistics fall into several non-interchangeable groups. Kickstarter’s totals are pledges, campaigns, backers, launches, and funding outcomes; Patreon’s totals include cumulative creator revenue, paid and free memberships, purchases, recommendations, and survey responses. A pledge is not necessarily a creator’s net income, a membership is not the same as a unique person across every platform, and a survey percentage is not an audited financial result.
Measurement dates also matter. Kickstarter’s platform totals are cumulative through March 6, 2025, February 5, 2025, January 21, 2025, or October 11, 2017 depending on the specific statistic. Annual Kickstarter and Patreon figures refer primarily to calendar year 2024, while the Patreon survey and discovery figures were reported in 2024 or 2025. Keeping those periods and geographies explicit makes the figures useful for planning content, rewards, memberships, and community-building without turning platform milestones into unsupported forecasts.