New research reveals the types of creative platforms that take the highest commission fees from their creators, and its bad news for app and online video game creators, as these platform types take an average cut of 23.5%.
To find out which platform might be best if you’re looking to take your career online, the personal finance experts at money.co.uk have analysed some of the biggest creative platforms to find out what percentage of earnings they take from their creators.
You can view the research in full here: https://www.money.co.uk/current-accounts/creator-credits
The types of platforms that take the highest commission
| Rank | Platform Type | Commission (%) |
| 1 | Video | 47.50% |
| 2 | Writing | 37.50% |
| 3 | Apps & Video Games | 23.50% |
| 4 | Subscription Services | 9.60% |
| 5 | Marketplaces | 6.75% |
Of the platforms analysed, it was video hosting and streaming sites that, on average, took the largest cut from creators, at 47.5%. YouTube is perhaps the most popular platform for budding video content creators, and takes 45%, with Twitch taking the most, at 50%.
Apps like Kindle, Kindle Vella, and Tumblr’s Post Plus provide great opportunities for writers to have their work published and make money, however the commission taken by the platforms can be high, especially with Kindle, which takes a cut of up to 65%.
Budding developers can make a lot of money by having their app featured on stores such as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, but doing so can come at a large cost. The average commission charged by these stores was 23.5%.
There are also lots of ways for indie game developers to get their games published, through the likes of Steam, the Epic Games Store and the stores of both PlayStation and Xbox. However, the commissions taken by these platforms have come under particular scrutiny in recent years. For example, Steam’s cut of 30% was criticised by many in the industry.
The study also looked at the platforms that take the highest amount of commission from their creators:
| Rank | Platform | Platform Commission (%) |
| 1 | Kindle (books below $2.99 and above $9.99) | 65% |
| 2 | Twitch | 50% |
| 2 | Kindle Vella | 50% |
| 4 | YouTube | 45% |
| 5 | Kindle (books between $2.99 and $9.99) | 30% |
| 6 | Amazon Appstore | 30% |
| 7 | Steam | 30% |
| 8 | Samsung Galaxy Store | 30% |
| 9 | Microsoft Store | 30% |
| 10 | Roblox | 26% |
For the platforms that take the highest commission from their creators, app and video game platforms dominated the top 10. The Amazon Appstore, Steam, Samsung Galaxy Store and Microsoft Store each take a 30% commission fee.
The online game creator system Roblox also ranked highly (10th), with the platform taking 26% from its creators.
Further Study Insights:
- PewDiePie is YouTube’s most followed creator, with <110 million followers and estimated earnings of £10.2k per video and £44.7 million over the course of his career. However, after applying YouTube’s 45% creator fee, PewDiePie could be losing as much as £20.1 million.
- Kids Diana Show (YouTube’s highest-earning channel) has a total estimated earning of £88.7 million, £39.9 million of which YouTube takes as commission.
- Ninja is the most-followed name on Twitch and is estimated to have earned £3.7 million on the platform, but after Twitch’s fee, this drops to £1.9 million.
- From the 10 most popular streamers overall earnings, Twitch could have taken a total commission of £9.9 million.
You can view the full research including how much YouTube and Twitch earn from their top-performing creators by clicking here.
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