A Nordic fan funding figure: 5,7 million USD contributed to Swedish content creators on Patreon in 2023
Willingness to pay for creator content varies internationally, Statista finds. Most likely to pay for creator content: the Chinese.
Tracking Swedish creators’ Patreon income, the media podcast Mediepodden found that the 50 biggest Swedish content producers amassed 5,7 million USD on Patreon in 2023.
Mediepodden is hosted by media analyst Olle Lidbom and journalist Emanuel Karlsten, who is also chairman of The Media Academy, a non-profit organization pruducing information of the evolving digital media landscape in Sweden.
Mediepodden’s annual analysis of Swedish creators on Patreon began in 2020, when there were approximately 50 000 patrons supporting Swedish creators. Rapid growth was observed year-on-year 2021-22 as the number of patrons doubled to around 100 000. In 2023 the growth in the number of patrons plateaued, with a slight decrease to 97,000 from 110,000 the previous year, resulting in the total revenue of 5,7 million USD for the top 50 Swedish Patreon creators.
The most successful Swedish creator "Spöktimmen"(“Ghost-hour”) is ranked 55th among all Patreon creators by Graphtreon, a service collecting Patreon data. It had over 12 000 paying subscribers in November 2024, generating tens of thousands of dollars monthly.
While the total revenue by the top 50 creators of less than six million dollars seems modest within a larger Swedish media industry (access Nordicom statistics here) Karlsten and Lidbom maintain that it nevertheless represents a significant achievement for individual creators who have built dedicated audiences willing to pay for content directly.
How common is fan funding via services such as Patreon internationally?
Statista Consumer Insights surveyed selected countries, finding that 17% of German and 11% Italian respondents had subscribed to online content via services such as Patreon or Onlyfans. The Chinese were most likely to pay for creator content 47%).
Buchholz, K. (November 15, 2024). Thanks for Donating to my Patreon! [Digital image]. Retrieved November 25, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/chart/33493/share-of-respondents-who-have-supported-content-creators/
Do observe that the Statista survey combined very different content creator subscription services - we might assume that a large percentage of the respondents were indeed Onlyfans subscribers.
There is no public data available regarding Finnish Patreon-funded content projects as of this writing.
Research into why we pay for crowdfunding subscriptions
A recent research article explicates consumer willingness to pay (WTP) on a subscription‑based crowdfunding project. By analysing Patreon pledge data and conducting an experiment, researchers gained insight into what affects a decision to start supporting.
A high number of existing supporters increases WTP of potential supporters, likely due to perceived validation and herding behavior.
Revealing high recurring income reduces WTP, as it may diminish the sense of need for additional funding.
Hiding income information also reduces WTP, as it undermines trust and transparency.
Jöntgen, H., Lingnau, N.V., Hinz, O. et al. This is why we pay—Motivational factors for supporting subscription-based crowdfunding campaigns. Electronic Markets 34, 28 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-024-00710-6