Patreon

Today, we're thrilled to announce that Mike McGarry has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer at Patreon. Mike has consistently brought bold creative thinking, a deep care for creators, and an infectious sense of possibility to our team and the work. In his words: “I came to Patreon because I believe the things we love shouldn’t get lost in the scroll. Creative work deserves room to matter, and creators deserve a place to build something real with the people who care most. Since joining, I’ve seen how much imagination and heart this team brings to that mission. Patreon isn’t a tech company. It is a creativity company. I’m excited to step into the role of CMO to shine a light on the creativity of the team, amazing creators and the best fans on the internet. I can’t wait to build on that creativity, push it further, and have a lot of fun with what comes next.” Congrats, Mike! 👏

Last week I joined a meaningful conversation at Edinburgh TV Festival - Supported by Screen Scotland with Dani, Victor (Sidemen Entertainment), Time Team and Connie (Little Dot Studios) where we spoke extensively about the power & financial opportunity for media businesses and creators to go direct-to-consumer, avoiding the broadcaster. Here's what stood out to me: 📺 Legacy media players still face a hesitation to make the leap into a direct-to-fan business, but the team at Time Team are a thriving example on Patreon of how meaningful IP ownership and access to your community is the best path for building a successful business in the longterm. 🪭 The demographics of fandom: will my audience make the transition? There's a misconception that fandoms are of a certain age or demographic, but that's not the case at all. Fandoms are made up of shared passions and interests, those fandoms can be of any age, background or location and we see a wide array of diverse fandoms living on Patreon! 🫂 Community still holds the key! Fans power the community that creators & creative entities build but in many successful direct-to-fan businesses they also take on a life of their own. Fans create additional avenues for engagement including reaction media, livestreams and in-person meet ups. Thank you for having us as a part of the week Jon & Niall!

Thank you for having us - Jon & Edinburgh TV Festival - Supported by Screen Scotland, it was so great to chat all about how direct-to-fan and IP ownership for creators and media businesses is the to-go path, especially as we’re seeing legacy TV fandoms like Time Team thrive on Patreon. 📺

As TechCrunch said: "The team at Patreon has been building like crazy." This week, Patreon announced nearly 30 new product updates coming soon to the platform, all designed to optimize for long-term, creator-fan relationships and sustainable creative businesses. Just a few highlights include: Niches: Dedicated topic-based communities built around specific interests, subcultures, and fandoms, where creators and fans can find and connect with each other over shared passions. Clips: Turn creators' existing videos into short, shareable clips they can post as a Quip, our short-form and free post format, or download to share off-platform to bring new fans to their Patreon. Fan profiles: Lets fans create and customize their own profile on the platform for the first time, so they can build a personal identity on Patreon. 🔗 Read more by Sarah Perez: https://lnkd.in/eZxduGj7

“Let’s build a six-foot, 200-pound D20 and roll it down a hill.” That’s just another Tuesday afternoon around here. Tabletop roleplaying (or RPG) is one of the many creative communities that call Patreon home. It’s built around shared stories: creators dream up characters and worlds, and their communities help bring them to life. 🎲 So we invited six of those creators to give our giant die some real stakes. Each of the die’s twenty faces represented something a creator would make, attempt, or unleash on their community if that number came up: rock climbing in costume, producing fantasy miniatures, or even handing their Patreon over to one of their fantasy characters for a week. Then we left it all to One Big Roll. So … what did it land on? That’s coming soon. For now, enjoy a peek behind the scenes.

I love how much range there is on this year's TIME 100 Creators list. It reflects something we get to see every day at Patreon: the best creative businesses are grounded in authenticity. When creators lean into what makes their work uniquely theirs, they don't just build an audience, they build communities that choose to come back, support them, and grow alongside them. Congratulations to these incredible Patreon creators recognized across categories from Titans to Catalysts: ✨ VanillaMace, one of streaming's fastest-rising personalities who is building a devoted community through gaming and culture 🎮 Valkyrae, a trailblazer for women in gaming, and one of the world's most influential streamers 🎭 Quenlin Blackwell, whose signature internet humor has made her one of Gen Z's defining creative voices 🎤 KevOnStage, building an entertainment empire through comedy, storytelling, and original programming 📚 Blair Imani, making history and culture more accessible through her Smarter in Seconds series 🍽️ Max Miller (Tasting History), bringing history to life through food 🎙️Drew Afualo, who uses humor to challenge misogyny Here's to more creators proving that you don't have to fit a mold to build something extraordinary. That's something we believe deeply at Patreon. Check out the full list: https://lnkd.in/gZjN5keM

I’m really proud of our work with Cloudflare to stop AI companies from scraping creators' work to train their models without permission, and we're doing it without sacrificing creators' discoverability. Over the last few years, creators have been forced to accept AI training on their work in order to reach and grow an audience on the internet. Now that creators are sharing more free media than ever on Patreon, we're building a place where creators can grow their audience while protecting ownership of their work and creativity. 🔗 You can read more in TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/g3Yjfmyi

AI companies should pay creators for their work. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gU5yG5ZA