Cameo says it has paid talent more than $310 million across more than 8.2 million personalized bookings since 2017, which works out to roughly $38 per booking. The paid-message economy has since spread well beyond celebrity shoutouts: Bubble counted 1.97 million paying subscribers in Korea for private artist chats in mid-2026, and Patreon says more than $2 billion a year flows from fans to creators. The money is badly concentrated, though: in the largest study of paid live chat income, the median VTuber earned $127 a month while the mean was $2,667. We aggregated data from Cameo, HYBE, DearU’s brokerage coverage, Patreon, Fenix International’s accounts, NeoReach, Goldman Sachs Research, YouGov, and peer-reviewed and preprint research. For the tipping side of live streams, see our separate livestream donation statistics.
TL;DR
- Cameo says talent earned more than $310 million across more than 8.2 million bookings by December 2024 (Cameo via TechCrunch, 2024).
- Cameo listed more than 60,000 talent in 180 countries and more than 10 million personalized moments by May 2026 (Net Influencer, 2026).
- Domestic Bubble subscribers fell 9% year on year to 1.97 million, while Bubble Japan grew 71% to 108,000 (LS Securities, September 2026).
- Weverse’s digital business (digital membership plus Weverse DM) grows about 30% a year and is more than 10% of Weverse revenue (HYBE Q4 2025 earnings call).
- More than $2 billion a year flows from fans to creators on Patreon, across more than 25 million paid memberships (Patreon via Axios, 2025).
- OnlyFans took in around $7.2 billion from subscribers in its 2024 financial year and paid $5.8 billion back to creators (Fenix International accounts via RTE, 2025).
- Median VTuber income was $127 a month against a mean of $2,667 (Zhao et al., arXiv 2025).
- 56.55% of full-time creators earn below a $44,000 US living wage (NeoReach Creator Earnings Report 2025).
- 10% of US adults and 15% of British adults use voice notes regularly (YouGov, 2026).
- 24% of UK Gen Z send voice notes multiple times a day, against 5% of Gen X (Twilio vendor survey, 2026).
1. Paid Personalized Shoutouts: The Cameo Benchmark
Cameo’s lifetime totals are the most complete public benchmark we found for paid personalized shoutouts. More than $310 million in talent earnings across more than 8.2 million bookings means the average personalized message is a small purchase, not a luxury one: dividing $310 million by 8.2 million gives roughly $38 of talent earnings per booking (our calculation; both inputs are ‘more than’ figures, so treat it as an approximation).
The headline prices hide that long tail. A Snoop Dogg video still lists at $5,500 and the Costco Guys charge $180 (Tubefilter, March 2026), while holiday Santa performers charge roughly $25 (Net Influencer, May 2026). The business model has also shifted from scarcity to volume: Cameo turned away more than 100,000 applicants before it opened self-enrollment, then added 31,000 creators in about 18 months.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Lifetime talent earnings on Cameo, from the 2017 launch to December 2024 | More than $310 million | Cameo via TechCrunch, December 2024 |
| Lifetime bookings on Cameo, from the 2017 launch to December 2024 | More than 8.2 million | Cameo via TechCrunch, December 2024 |
| Personalized moments delivered on Cameo, as of May 2026 | More than 10 million | Net Influencer, May 2026 |
| Talent listed on Cameo, as of May 2026 | More than 60,000 athletes, actors and pop culture figures, in 180 countries | Net Influencer, May 2026 |
| Creators who joined through CameoX (open self-enrollment, piloted from May 2023) and the videos they made | 31,000 creators, over 155,000 Cameos | Cameo via TechCrunch, December 2024 |
| Talent applications Cameo rejected before opening self-enrollment | More than 100,000 | Cameo via TechCrunch, December 2024 |
| Cameo app downloads and net revenue in 2024 (to early December) | 336,000 downloads, $9 million net revenue | Appfigures estimate via TechCrunch, December 2024 |
| Share of Cameo’s peak value wiped out by March 2024 | 90% | TIME, Cameo CEO interview, 2024 |
Context note: Cameo’s commission on bookings is reported inconsistently. TechCrunch described a 30% share of bookings in December 2024, while Tubefilter cited a 25% cut in March 2026. TIME reported that Cameo was valued at $1 billion by 2021 and raised a further $28 million in March 2024 (TIME). The TikTok integration announced in 2026 targets US-based creators with at least 50,000 followers (Net Influencer).
2. Paid Artist-to-Fan Messaging: Bubble’s Subscription Model
Bubble, run by DearU, sells something Cameo does not: an ongoing, private-feeling chat thread with an artist, billed monthly per artist. Domestic subscribers stood at 1.97 million in the second quarter of 2026, down 9% year on year, while the Japanese service grew 71%. The Korean market looks saturated; the growth story has moved abroad.
The economics are unusually visible because DearU is listed on KOSDAQ and covered by brokerages. A brokerage forecast of a 40.9% operating margin for 2026 shows how profitable a messaging subscription can be once artists are on board. ‘Artist IP’ in the table below means an artist or act licensed onto the platform (IP stands for intellectual property).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bubble subscription price per artist per month | 4,500 won (about $3.37 in March 2024) | Korea Times, March 2024 |
| Bubble subscriptions in October 2021 (historical baseline) | More than 1.2 million, with monthly revenue of 5.4 billion won | Korea Economic Daily, October 2021 |
| Bubble subscribers in the second half of 2023 | Around 2.3 million | Korea Times, March 2024 |
| Domestic (Korea) Bubble subscribers, second quarter of 2026 | 1.97 million (down 2% on the previous quarter, down 9% on the same quarter of 2025) | LS Securities via Asia Economy, September 2026 |
| Bubble Japan subscribers, end of the second quarter of 2026 | 108,000 (up 8% on the quarter, up 71% on the year) | LS Securities via Asia Economy, September 2026 |
| Artists and acts (artist IPs) on Bubble, domestic and international | Around 726 | LS Securities via Asia Economy, September 2026 |
| DearU sales and operating profit, second quarter of 2026 | 23.4 billion won in sales (up 15.7% year on year), 9.4 billion won operating profit (up 26.4%) | Daol Investment and Securities via Asia Economy, August 2026 |
| DearU full-year 2026 forecast | 94.3 billion won in sales (up 12.5%), 38.6 billion won operating profit, 40.9% operating margin | LS Securities via Asia Economy, September 2026 |
Outlier note: the 2021 figure is older than three years and is shown only as a growth baseline (Most recent available data for that period: Korea Economic Daily, 2021). The fourth quarter of 2025 was strong for DearU, with revenue of 23.8 billion won, up 33.9% year on year (Asia Economy, February 2026). The 2026 subscriber and forecast figures come from an LS Securities note reported by Asia Economy; the Daol note is listed in the Methodology section.
3. Weverse DM and the Superfan Funnel
Weverse, HYBE’s fan platform, treats paid messaging as one rung on a ladder from casual viewer to superfan. 20% of the users HYBE now classifies as Superfans started out as casual users, and around 15% of users became more active after trying features such as Weverse DM and Weverse LIVE. Paid one-to-one messaging is a conversion tool, not only a revenue line.
The revenue line still matters: the digital business that contains Weverse DM is growing about 30% a year, and Weverse reached annual profitability in 2025. US data from Luminate shows the size of the prize: one in five music listeners qualifies as a superfan.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Weverse peak monthly active users (MAU), 2025 | 12 million (June 2025) | HYBE 2025 Fandom Trend Report via Music Business Worldwide, February 2026 |
| Weverse monthly active users, fourth quarter of 2025 | 11.2 million | Music Business Worldwide, February 2026 |
| Average time each fan spent on Weverse per month, 2025 | 263 minutes | HYBE 2025 Fandom Trend Report |
| Growth and weight of the Weverse digital business (digital membership plus Weverse DM paid messaging) | About 30% a year, more than 10% of Weverse revenue | HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee, Q4 2025 earnings call |
| Weverse users who became more active over time after using features such as Weverse DM and Weverse LIVE | Around 15% | HYBE 2025 Fandom Trend Report |
| Current Weverse Superfans who started out as casual users | 20% | HYBE 2025 Fandom Trend Report |
| Artists active on Weverse, 2025 | 178 | HYBE 2025 Fandom Trend Report |
| US music listeners who are superfans (engage through 5 or more of 13 channels) vs engaged fans (3 or more channels) | 20% superfans, 37% engaged fans | Luminate 2025 Year-End Music Report |
Context note: as of April 2025, 90% of the artists on Weverse were signed to labels other than its owner, and fans uploaded 90 million posts and 213 million comments in 2025 (Music Business Worldwide). The 30% growth figure covers the whole digital business, not Weverse DM alone (Music Business Worldwide, earnings call). Luminate’s fan tiers are summarized by Music 3.0 from the Luminate report.
4. Memberships and Direct-to-Fan Platforms: Where the Volume Is
Shoutouts and artist chats are niche next to membership platforms, where fans pay a recurring fee for access that often includes direct messages. OnlyFans alone took in around $7.2 billion from subscribers in its 2024 financial year and paid $5.8 billion of it back to creators, which is about 81% (our calculation: 5.8 divided by 7.2). The published figures do not separate subscriptions from tips and paid messages.
Patreon’s numbers show the free-to-paid funnel at scale: more than 100 million free memberships and more than 700,000 upgrades to paid every month. Spread across 4.6 million creator accounts, OnlyFans payouts average about $1,260 per account per year (our calculation: $5.8 billion divided by 4.6 million), a mean that hides heavy concentration and many inactive accounts. Our Patreon creator retention statistics cover churn and membership tiers in more depth.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fan payments to Patreon creators, cumulative and annual | More than $10 billion since 2013; more than $2 billion a year | Patreon CEO Jack Conte via Axios, August 2025 |
| Paid memberships on Patreon | More than 25 million | Patreon via Axios, August 2025 |
| Free Patreon memberships, and free members converting to paid each month | Over 100 million free; more than 700,000 converting per month | Patreon via Axios, August 2025 |
| Payments from subscribers to OnlyFans, 2024 financial year | Around $7.2 billion | Fenix International accounts via RTE, August 2025 |
| OnlyFans payouts to creators, 2024 financial year | $5.8 billion | Fenix International accounts via RTE, August 2025 |
| OnlyFans creator accounts and fan accounts, 2024 financial year | 4.6 million creator accounts (up 13%); 377.5 million fan accounts (up 24%) | Fenix International accounts via RTE, August 2025 |
| US and UK creators who rely on fan subscriptions such as Patreon or YouTube Memberships | 27% | Epidemic Sound Future of the Creator Economy Report 2025 |
| Creators who want a direct channel of communication with fans vs fans likely to pay their favorite creators | 81% of creators; 80% of fans | Patreon State of Create 2025 (1,000 creators, 2,000 fans) |
Context note: Patreon’s totals are the CEO’s statements to Axios, not audited figures. The OnlyFans figures come from the company’s UK filings as reported by RTE. State of Create findings are summarized by Tubefilter from Patreon’s report.
5. Paid Live Chat Messages: Who Collects the Super Chats
A Super Chat is a paid message that stays pinned and highlighted in a YouTube live chat; on many streams, alert tools also read paid messages aloud with text-to-speech (TTS). The largest independent study of this income, covering 1,923 VTubers (streamers who perform through animated avatars), found a median monthly income of only $127 against a mean of $2,667. When the mean is 21 times the median (our calculation: $2,667 divided by $127), the ‘average streamer’ is a fiction.
Inequality is also widening. The between-VTuber Gini index (a 0 to 1 measure where 0 is perfect equality and 1 means one streamer takes everything) rose from around 0.60 in 2018 to 0.75 in 2023. Inside each channel, spending is just as lopsided: most VTubers’ own Super Chat Gini indexes sit around or above 0.6, so a small group of viewers sends most of the paid messages. For agency-level detail, see our VTuber agency Super Chat statistics; streamers who stage voice reactions to paid messages use tools like streamer voice effects.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| VTubers, hours and sessions in the dataset (early 2017 to July 2023) | 1,923 VTubers; more than 1 million hours in around 450,000 sessions | Zhao et al., arXiv 2025 |
| Median vs mean monthly VTuber income | $127 median vs $2,667 mean | Zhao et al., arXiv 2025 |
| Between-VTuber Gini index of earnings, 2018 vs 2023 | Around 0.60 in 2018; 0.75 in 2023 | Zhao et al., arXiv 2025 |
| Gini index of Super Chat spending among a typical VTuber’s own viewers | Around and above 0.6 | Zhao et al., arXiv 2025 |
| Share of total views taken by the two largest agencies, Hololive and Nijisanji | More than 60% | Zhao et al., arXiv 2025 |
| Share of ad and Premium revenue paid to YouTube Partner Program creators | 55% | YouTube’s own claim, How YouTube Works |
| People earning money on YouTube | More than 3 million | YouTube’s own claim, How YouTube Works |
| Partner Program channels that earned more than $10,000 on YouTube in 2024 and had other revenue sources | More than 50% | YouTube’s own claim, How YouTube Works |
Context note: the VTuber dataset ends in July 2023 (Most recent available data: Zhao et al., arXiv 2025). We found no independent, published dataset that measures how many paid messages are read aloud by TTS alerts or how TTS changes tipping, so we report none. YouTube’s revenue-share and earner figures are from its How YouTube Works page.
6. Creator Income Distribution: The Long Tail Behind Paid Messages
Paid messages are often pitched as a way out of ad and brand-deal dependence, and the income data explains why creators want one. 56.55% of full-time creators earn below a $44,000 US living wage, and the share earning under $15,000 a year rose from 48.10% in 2023 to 50.71% in 2025. NeoReach calls the $15,000 level a ‘Monetization Barrier’.
Goldman Sachs Research’s estimate that only about 4% of creators earn more than $100,000 a year is consistent with what the VTuber data in section 5 shows: a thin top and a very long tail. Brand deals still dominate creator revenue, which is why micro-influencer brand deal rates remain the main benchmark for most creators.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global creators and the share earning more than $100,000 a year | About 50 million creators; about 4% are professionals | Goldman Sachs Research, April 2023 |
| Creator economy total addressable market | $250 billion at the time of the April 2023 estimate, projected to reach $480 billion by 2027 | Goldman Sachs Research, April 2023 |
| Full-time creators earning below the US living wage of $44,000 | 56.55% | NeoReach Creator Earnings Report 2025 |
| Creators earning under $15,000 a year, 2023 vs 2025 | 48.10% in 2023; 50.71% in 2025 | NeoReach Creator Earnings Report 2025 |
| Average annual creator income by main platform, Instagram vs YouTube | Instagram $81,700; YouTube $62,400 | NeoReach Creator Earnings Report 2025 |
| Full-time creators earning more than $50,000 a year | 12% | Linktree Creator Report 2022 |
| Part-time creators earning less than $1,000 a year | 68% | Linktree Creator Report 2022 |
| US and UK content creators working full-time | 61% (a 6% increase from 2024, as stated by the source) | Epidemic Sound Future of the Creator Economy Report 2025 |
Context note: the Goldman Sachs and Linktree figures are more than three years old (Most recent available data: Goldman Sachs Research, 2023; Linktree Creator Report, 2022, based on more than 9,500 creators). NeoReach surveyed more than 3,000 creators with 1.1 billion combined followers (NeoReach); its platform averages are reported by Net Influencer.
7. Voice Messages as a Medium: Who Actually Listens
Any creator selling audio shoutouts or voice replies is betting on a habit, and the habit is real but uneven. Only 10% of US adults use voice notes regularly, and 41% say voice notes do not apply to them at all. In Britain the regular-use figure is 15%, and more Britons say they use voice notes more often (16%) than less often (10%).
Age is the dividing line. In a UK vendor survey, 24% of Gen Z send voice notes multiple times a day, against 5% of Gen X. For creators, that means a voice message lands as a natural gesture with younger fans and as a novelty with older ones.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Voice messages sent on WhatsApp per day, on average | 7 billion | WhatsApp (Meta), March 2022 |
| US adults who use voice notes regularly (multiple times per week) | 10% | YouGov, February 2026 (2,442 US adults) |
| US adults who say voice notes are not applicable to them | 41% | YouGov, February 2026 |
| US adults using voice notes more frequently vs less frequently than before | 11% more vs 12% less (30% about the same) | YouGov, February 2026 |
| British adults who use voice notes regularly | 15% | YouGov, March 2026 (2,312 adults in Great Britain) |
| British adults using voice notes more frequently vs less frequently than before | 16% more vs 10% less | YouGov, March 2026 |
| UK adults who send voice notes multiple times a day, by generation | Gen Z 24%; Millennials 13%; Gen X 5% | Twilio vendor survey, September 2026 (2,000 UK adults) |
| UK adults who now talk more than they type when using technology | 22% | Twilio vendor survey, September 2026 |
Context note: WhatsApp has not published a newer daily total (Most recent available data: WhatsApp, 2022). The YouGov results are from its US and British communication studies. The Twilio figures are a vendor’s own survey (Twilio).
Summary: Fan Voice Message and Paid Audio Shoutout by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Lifetime talent earnings on Cameo to December 2024 | More than $310 million | Cameo via TechCrunch, 2024 |
| Lifetime Cameo bookings to December 2024 | More than 8.2 million | Cameo via TechCrunch, 2024 |
| Talent listed on Cameo, May 2026 | More than 60,000 in 180 countries | Net Influencer, 2026 |
| Domestic Bubble subscribers, second quarter of 2026 | 1.97 million (down 9% year on year) | LS Securities, September 2026 |
| Bubble Japan subscribers, second quarter of 2026 | 108,000 (up 71% year on year) | LS Securities, September 2026 |
| Weverse digital business (membership plus DM) growth | About 30% a year, more than 10% of revenue | HYBE Q4 2025 earnings call |
| Weverse Superfans who started as casual users | 20% | HYBE 2025 Fandom Trend Report |
| US music listeners who are superfans | 20% | Luminate 2025 Year-End Music Report |
| Fan money flowing to Patreon creators each year | More than $2 billion | Patreon via Axios, 2025 |
| Patreon free members converting to paid each month | More than 700,000 | Patreon via Axios, 2025 |
| OnlyFans subscriber payments, 2024 financial year | Around $7.2 billion | Fenix International accounts via RTE, 2025 |
| OnlyFans payouts to creators, 2024 financial year | $5.8 billion | Fenix International accounts via RTE, 2025 |
| Median vs mean monthly VTuber income | $127 vs $2,667 | Zhao et al., arXiv 2025 |
| Full-time creators below a $44,000 US living wage | 56.55% | NeoReach 2025 |
| Creators earning under $15,000 a year | 50.71% | NeoReach 2025 |
| US adults who use voice notes regularly | 10% | YouGov, 2026 |
| UK Gen Z sending voice notes multiple times a day | 24% | Twilio vendor survey, 2026 |
Methodology and Sources
- TechCrunch, Celeb greetings app Cameo pivots to creators (December 3, 2024): Cameo’s lifetime earnings, bookings, CameoX and rejected-application figures (company claims), plus Appfigures app estimates.
- TIME, Cameo CEO Steven Galanis interview (December 8, 2024): valuation history and 2024 funding.
- Tubefilter, Cameo is trying for a comeback with its new TikTok integration (March 31, 2026): commission and price examples.
- Net Influencer, Cameo and TikTok partnership (May 11, 2026): talent count, personalized moments, Santa video prices.
- Korea Economic Daily (October 18, 2021) and Korea Times (March 2, 2024): Bubble price and historical subscriber counts.
- Asia Economy, LS Securities note on DearU (September 9, 2026), Asia Economy, Daol Investment and Securities note (August 5, 2026) and Asia Economy, DearU fourth-quarter 2025 results (February 5, 2026): Bubble subscribers, artist IPs and DearU financials.
- Music Business Worldwide on HYBE’s 2025 Fandom Trend Report (February 10, 2026) and Music Business Worldwide on HYBE’s earnings call (February 16, 2026): Weverse users, engagement and digital business growth.
- Luminate 2025 Year-End Music Report, fan tiers as summarized by Music 3.0 (January 21, 2026).
- Axios, Patreon crosses $10 billion creator payment milestone (August 5, 2025): Patreon payouts and memberships (CEO statements).
- Patreon, State of Create 2025, with survey figures reported by Tubefilter (February 19, 2025).
- RTE, OnlyFans results (August 22, 2025): Fenix International’s 2024 accounts.
- Net Influencer on Epidemic Sound’s Future of the Creator Economy Report 2025 (June 19, 2025): 3,000 US and UK creators.
- Zhao et al., Who Reaps All the Superchats? A Large-Scale Analysis of Income Inequality in Virtual YouTuber Livestreaming, arXiv 2025: VTuber income and Gini indexes.
- YouTube, How YouTube Works: revenue share and earner counts (company claims).
- Goldman Sachs Research, The creator economy could approach half-a-trillion dollars by 2027 (April 19, 2023).
- NeoReach Creator Earnings Report 2025, with platform averages reported by Net Influencer (July 15, 2025).
- Linktree Creator Report (April 20, 2022).
- WhatsApp, New voice message features (March 30, 2022).
- YouGov, How Americans communicate in 2026 (fieldwork February 3 to 5, 2026) and YouGov, How Brits communicate in 2026 (fieldwork March 25 to 26, 2026).
- Twilio UK voice survey (September 17, 2026): vendor survey of 2,000 UK adults, fieldwork August 2026.
- Data watch: Cameo’s commission is reported as 30% (TechCrunch, December 2024) and 25% (Tubefilter, March 2026); we show both rather than pick one. We found no Cameo lifetime earnings total newer than December 2024, and the 10 million ‘personalized moments’ (May 2026) may not be defined the same way as the 8.2 million bookings. Bubble subscriber counts are not strictly comparable: the source for the 2.3 million in late 2023 does not say whether it is domestic only, while the 1.97 million for 2026 is domestic only; LS Securities separately describes nearly 2 million paying subscribers in Korea, which is consistent. The $250 billion creator economy size from Goldman Sachs matches the $250 billion industry framing in coverage of NeoReach’s 2025 report, but the $480 billion projection has only one source. OnlyFans’ 2025 financial-year accounts have been covered in the press, but we could not verify the figures in this session, so we keep the 2024 accounts. No independent public data on text-to-speech donation alerts met our sourcing bar. Company figures from Cameo, HYBE, Patreon, YouTube and Twilio are the companies’ own claims.
Last updated: November 7, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when DearU reports its full-year 2026 results and HYBE publishes its 2026 Fandom Trend Report.