A Survey of 20,000 EU Creators Lands With Policy Recommendations
YouTube has published a report called Creative Capital, based on feedback from more than 20,000 creators across all 27 EU member states. The company says the survey is the first time European creators across the EU27 have offered a single, unified voice on what they need to thrive.
The report is attributed to David Wheeldon, Senior Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy at YouTube EMEA. It pairs the survey findings with five policy recommendations aimed at European institutions and industry.
What Creators Told YouTube
The report's numbers sketch a group of entrepreneurs who feel overlooked. According to the findings, 63% of creators receive little to no support when engaging with government bodies, and 64% say more recognition from traditional industry would help them thrive.
Funding and space are recurring gaps. The report says 65% of creators lack access to public grants, while 65% of professional creators lack access to dedicated studio spaces. On skills, 60% report insufficient support for specialised training and workforce development.
Discovery is the priority creators guard most closely. According to the report, 83% say recommendation algorithms are vital to their growth and revenue, and 71% warn that reduced visibility would directly threaten their livelihoods.
YouTube's Five Recommendations
The report recommends five practical steps: recognize creators in official data, open up industry support, invest in skills, expand funding and physical spaces, and protect open discovery.
Under industry support, it suggests European institutions launch a dedicated strand within the Creative Europe program and adapt award criteria so digital-first storytelling can compete on equal terms with traditional film and television. For funding and space, it calls on financial institutions to make small-business loan programs accessible to creator-led companies and for creative spaces to offer shared, affordable studio hubs.
On discovery, YouTube argues policymakers should safeguard a fair, merit-based system where viewers decide what to watch. The company says rigid prominence mandates would force platforms to give special treatment to a small group of government-prioritised organisations at the expense of others.
Economic Weight Behind the Push
The policy asks rest on the size of the ecosystem. According to YouTube, in 2025 its creative ecosystem contributed over €8.4 billion to the EU's GDP and supported more than 220,000 full-time equivalent jobs. The company cites an EU YouTube Impact Report 2025 by Oxford Economics for those figures.
Export reach is part of the pitch. YouTube says over 70% of watch time on content produced by EU27 channels comes from outside the region, and that its partner program pays eligible creators more than half the revenue generated from their channels.
Advora perspective
If you make marketing decisions for a brand that works with EU creators, this report is a useful read on where creators say their pain points sit. The survey data points to government outreach, funding access and training as the areas where a meaningful share of creators report gaps. A proportionate first step is to check whether your existing creator partnerships could plug any of those gaps, for example by offering production space, mentoring or stable, transparent payment terms rather than one-off campaign fees. The limitation: the percentage figures come from YouTube's own survey, and the brief does not detail the sampling method, so treat them as directional rather than market-wide measurement.
For founders of creator-led companies, the funding and space recommendations are the most directly actionable thread. The report says 65% of creators lack access to public grants and 65% of professionals lack dedicated studio space, which suggests demand for shared, affordable hubs and small-business loan programs aimed at creator businesses. If you operate in this space, it is worth watching whether the Creative Europe program or national funding bodies respond to the report's suggestions. YouTube is the source of both the findings and the recommendations here, so the report reflects one platform's read of the survey rather than an independent assessment.
Read the original announcement
