Kickstarter's Impact On The Creative Economy

Professor Ethan Mollick of The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has been studying our portfolio company Kickstarter in his research. Late last year, he published his research on how many projects actually ship after getting funding on Kickstarter (answer is roughly 90% ultimately ship). Now he’s back with another piece of research looking at the broader impact of Kickstarter on the creative economy. We know that over $2.5bn has been raised by project creators on Kickstarter to date but what we don’t know is what has happened with all of that money.

Here are the findings from Prof Mollick’s research:

The study finds that Kickstarter projects have:

• Employed 283,000 part-time collaborators in bringing creative projects to life.
• Created 8,800 new companies and nonprofits, and 29,600 full-time jobs.
• Generated more than $5.3 billion in direct economic impact for those creators and their communities.

Filmmakers, photographers, artists, authors, designers, musicians, and others reported that their project led to professional growth, greater earnings, and career advancement.

• 37% said that their Kickstarter project helped them advance their careers.
• 21% reported receiving an increase in annual earnings after running a successful project.
• 19% said they found a new job opportunity as a result of their Kickstarter project.
• 7% said their project helped them successfully switch careers.

Creators also reported meaningful professional gains within their fields:

• Filmmakers reported that Kickstarter helped them secure distribution deals.
• Musicians reported that Kickstarter helped them secure record or publishing deals.
• Video game creators reported that their Kickstarter project helped them secure a publisher or attention from reviewers.
• Authors and comic book creators reported that their Kickstarter project led to attention from mainstream publishers.
• Journalists reported that their Kickstarter project gave them freedom from the external control of editors and publishers, and helped them create work that served an underserved audience.

I remember taking economics growing up and learning that an economy can have a multiplier effect on money. A dollar in can create multiple dollars out.

And it turns out that is the case with the Kickstarter economy. So when you back a Kickstarter project, something I do regularly including yesterday, you are helping way more people than just the project creator.

And, like most things about Kickstarter, that feels really good to me.