The economics of YouTube content creators as a new form of employment: Monetization models, income distribution, and risks

Abstract

The object of research is the content creation market on YouTube. The subject of the research is monetization models, income distribution and systemic risks arising in this area. The purpose of this work is to identify patterns in the distribution of visibility and income between content creators of various genres and regions. The article examines the economics of YouTube content creators as a new form of employment in the context of the digital transformation of the labor market. Based on an analysis of the global YouTube Trending dataset (2022-2025), which covers 78.4 million trending video entries in 104 countries, monetization models, income distribution, and systemic risks of platform employment are being investigated. We have found that the sustainability of creators' income directly correlates with the genre of content: entertainment content and Sports content provide long-term monetization (the average duration of trending is 12.5 and 11.8 days, respectively), while Music content provides only short-term spikes - 4.2 days. A fundamental income imbalance has been identified, as 76% of videos appear in trends in only one country, which limits monetization to local markets. The market is highly concentrated due to the fact that 8 out of 10 top channels in the USA are sports media, and there are practically no independent creators. It is concluded that a "winner's economy" is forming, where stable income is available only to creators of entertainment and sports content with global reach, while most market participants face income instability and high entry thresholds.