YouTube is still the most lucrative platform for creators - with Etsy and Instagram trailing behind

The internet has sparked a new kind of economy, as creators find new ways to directly reach their audiences and customers. Services like Etsy, Wordpress, and Amazon's Twitch don't have a lot in common, except for the fact that they give creative people ways to make a living doing what they love.

And while Google's YouTube may be in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, it's still likely to be the very biggest platform for creatives of them all. As this chart from Statista shows, in 2016, YouTube creators earned total revenues equal to those earned by creators on every other major service, combined.

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