The 5 biggest creators of 2023

This year, the creator economy—the booming economic sector built around roughly 50 million digital creators and the myriad of agencies, talent managers, social media platforms and brands working alongside them—ballooned into a $250 billion industry, according to Goldman Sachs estimates. The financial services company projects that figure will nearly double over the next five years as the number of creators (whether part-time side hustlers or full-time professionals) around the world continues to swell. And their content is in high demand. Nearly 40% of consumers are watching more creator content than they were in 2022, and 44% of advertisers plan to invest more heavily in working with creators in 2024, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and research agency Talk Shoppe. “There is no doubt—creator content is now a vital part of the mix,” IAB CEO David Cohen wrote in the report, which is the group’s first major study on the creator economy. See our 2023 Marketers of the Year here Despite massive growth in the sector, few creators achieve the level of success many of them dreamed of when they started out. Roughly 4% of creators worldwide fall into the “professional” category, meaning they earn over $100,000 per year, according to Goldman Sachs. The majority, 51%, earn less than $500 per month, according to influencer marketing platform Mavrck’s 2023 Creator Compensation Report. When it comes to determining the “biggest” creators in the industry, though, financial success is only one part of the equation. Big-name creators today shape not just marketing campaigns and social media trends, but the pop culture zeitgeist as a whole, with a growing number of consumers now viewing content creators in the same light as “traditional” celebrities such as actors or pop stars. Also read: The year’s top 5 celeb brand partners Here are the five creators chosen by Ad Age who had the biggest impact across social media, brand campaigns and overall pop culture in 2023—or, in other words, the “most influential” influencers of the year. (Follower figures are combined across platforms) 5. Emma Chamberlain 27 million followers (YouTube and Instagram) Partnering with creators has become a crucial strategy for marketers seeking to reach Gen Z consumers—and Emma Chamberlain has, for years, consistently ranked among that age group’s favorites. Throughout 2023, the 22-year-old lifestyle creator and podcaster continued to expand her business empire this year far beyond the YouTube vlogs that first propelled her to internet stardom. Chamberlain kicked off the year by being named the new face of Lancôme and quickly followed up that partnership with a flurry of new deals with brands from Canon to Warby Parker. Her podcast “Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain” made the jump to Spotify in February in an exclusive multiyear deal, and has since soared through the ranks to reach fourth place on the platform’s list of most-streamed podcasts globally in 2023. That partnership brought Chamberlain to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, where she shared her thoughts on how brands should approach their influencer marketing strategies in a panel discussion. And her coffee brand, Chamberlain Coffee, secured an additional $7 million in a funding round (after having previously raised $7 million in 2022) and extended into retail through an exclusive Walmart partnership. View this post on Instagram A post shared by emma chamberlain (@emmachamberlain) 4. Dylan Mulvaney 12 million followers (TikTok and Instagram) Her following may be half the size of Chamberlain’s, but Dylan Mulvaney was undoubtedly the creator who had the single greatest impact on the marketing industry this year. Mulvaney, who is transgender, unintentionally sparked an internet firestorm in April when her Bud Light-sponsored Instagram Reel drew conservative backlash and spawned a large-scale boycott of the beer brand. Bud Light’s abrupt heel turn on the partnership, which effectively left Mulvaney to handle the massive wave of hateful online comments toward her on her own, didn’t do the brand any favors, either, as Bud Light is still struggling to recover financially (and reputationally) from the fiasco. Mulvaney didn’t let the ruthless hate campaign interfere with her career. She continued her long-term partnership with MAC Cosmetics throughout the year and worked with several other fashion and beauty brands on unsponsored content, including Lady Gaga’s cosmetics brand Haus Labs and luxury fashion brand Valentino. She received the award for “Breakout Creator” at the 2023 Streamy Awards in August, walked the runway at New York Fashion Week in September and made a Broadway cameo in November. @dylanmulvaney Trans people like beer too. 🏳️⚧️🍻 ♬ original sound - Dylan Mulvaney 3. Kai Cenat 31 million followers (Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and X) How many creators can say that they’ve triggered a riot, intentionally or otherwise? YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat inadvertently achieved that unique status this summer after his in-person fan meetup and giveaway snowballed into a massive riot in New York’s Union Square, with thousands of teens and young adults swarming the park. The enormous crowd that turned up in hopes of catching a glimpse of Cenat (or being handed a free gaming console from him) is evidence of the sheer scope of the gaming and comedy creator’s online popularity. Twitch ranked Cenat its most popular streamer in North America in 2023—his Twitch following leaped from 3.5 million in the last week of December 2022 to more than 8 million as of Dec. 14, 2023, per Streams Charts data. Twitch users collectively consumed over 186 million hours of his Twitch streams from Dec. 7 to Dec. 14 alone, according to that data. During that week, Cenat drew nearly 350,000 concurrent viewers to a stream featuring Nicki Minaj, breaking his previous peak viewership record of 306,000. Cenat also jumped from social media to film in November with a cameo in the Paramount+ movie “Good Burger 2,” appearing alongside a plethora of celebrities including Pete Davidson, Mark Cuban and Rob Gronkowski. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kai Cenat (@kaicenat) See our Year in Review stories here 2. Alix Earle 9.5 million followers (TikTok and Instagram) Dozens of influencers have been labeled “popular,” often when one of their posts unexpectedly goes viral and nets them a few minutes in the social media spotlight (Tube Girl, anyone?). Few creators, though, secure the kind of enduring internet fame that kept Alix Earle firmly in the TikTok spotlight—and in brands’ influencer marketing strategies—throughout 2023. Earle first caught TikTok’s attention at the tail end of 2022 with her relatable take on the “get ready with me” trend, where she shared candid details about messy nights out partying with friends or her romantic struggles, all while applying her makeup. She only continued to grow her audience in 2023, and the millions of followers across TikTok and Instagram hanging onto Earle’s every word also started running to purchase the various beauty products she recommended in the “GRWM” videos—a phenomenon that has been dubbed “the Alix Earle effect.” Brands, of course, quickly latched onto Earle’s sway over Gen Z’s purchases, landing her a slew of brand partners including Drunk Elephant, Rare Beauty, Bumble, Grubhub and Airbnb. She also rubbed elbows with celebrities at dozens of events from the premiere of the “Barbie” movie to New York Fashion Week, and landed on Forbes’ 2023 “30 Under 30” list. She also expanded her career beyond social media sponsorships this year, launching her podcast “Hot Mess with Alix Earle” in September under “Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network. @alixearle Running late #justgirlythings ♬ original sound - alix earle Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs 1. Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) 507 million followers (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X) Unless you’ve been living under a rock this year, you probably saw this one coming. Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson further cemented his status as a household name this year, releasing nearly two dozen new YouTube productions featuring characteristically sensationalist stunts such as pitting one person of each age from one to 100 against each other to win a $500,000 cash prize. The 25-year-old also leaned further into his snack brand, Feastables, through a first-of-its-kind sponsorship of the Charlotte Hornets NBA team. His virtual restaurant brand MrBeast Burger, on the other hand, is currently embroiled in a legal tug-of-war. According to Forbes, which also ranked Donaldson as the top creator of 2023, Donaldson earns roughly $54 million a year through a combination of his YouTube views and his entrepreneurial endeavors. He also has a lengthy list of brand partners he weaves into his massively viral YouTube videos or names in the videos’ descriptions, including Shopify, TurboTax, Walmart, Verizon and PepsiCo’s Starry and Rockstar Energy. Donaldson also ran several charitable campaigns in 2023 through his organization Beast Philanthropy. See our Year in Review stories here

The 5 biggest creators of 2023

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