Related phenomenon: So-called "Lolcows". Over here in Germany, we have the infamous case of "Drachenlord", a Youtuber that had a lot of negative interactions with his "fanbase" to the point that one could argue he was dependent on being harassed.
Also interesting how the definition of "famous" has changed due to that: We now have thousands of "micro-celebrities" who undoubtedly have a fan/celebrity relationship with their specific audience, yet are completely unknown to a wider audience. So even fame is now a relative term.
>Many of the truly rich people are quite anonymous
Are you trying to tell me that there are people out there worth more than Elon Musk who are not throwing money at political campaigns, funding mass projects or cultural pursuits? Because, yes, its possible for someone who is worth say, half a billion or even up to maybe 10 billion dollars or so to stay out of public life, but at a certain degree of wealth that wealth becomes institutional and closely tied to political power, so it becomes functionally impossible to remain fully anonymous. What state, what government would allow a private citizen worth so much money to go untaxed, without that person somehow being tied to the government? Or are you saying that the state, which commands use of force and violence, would not use that force to extract wealth from those who are not apart, directly, of its apparatus?
We would need to define "famous", because just because someone has a steady cam doesn't mean they're famous :P I would think the amount of "famous" "influencers" making that much is a much higher percentage.
Outside of that Twitch leak some years ago, is there any reliable data on how much content creators make?
I used to be a full-time YouTuber, and I was very successful. For my channels, the revenue estimates on Socialblade were accurate. Reality for me tended toward their high estimate.
It definitely is. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drachenlord
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an English version of the article. Maybe auto translate will get the gist across.
Small relative to the number of total influencers maybe, but I'm not sure it's a small number in absolute terms. There are an estimated 12 million full time influencers in the US, and approximately 1% of them have 100k+ followers. That means 120k people likely are making 6 figures at a minimum. Influencers with smaller audiences can still make significant income depending on engagement, sponsorship, demographic, hours worked, and platforms they are operating on.
Considering that you can be a youtuber from anywhere, making a few hundred grand annually would make you actually quite wealthy. It's not the same thing as working for a big tech company but being required to live in a very high cost of living area.
Many of the truly rich people are quite anonymous. The billionaires you read about are really just the tip of the iceberg.