A single-table guide to 265 players across the community and forum industry in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Europe, Japan, China (Greater China), South Korea, and other countries. Filter and sort by usage (MAU · monthly visits), revenue, region, type, era (Legacy → AI), identity model, format, and revenue model. Every metric is tagged with a source verification grade (✔ Official filing · primary source / △ Media report · estimate · traffic tool / ✘ Debunked).
Because monetization paths in communities depend on what binds people together (social graph, topic boards, closed groups, chat rooms, neighborhood verification, workplace verification, Q&A, creator memberships, or AI), we divide players into 12 types. We also include a separate Era axis (Legacy → Web 2.0 Social → Mobile · Messenger → Creator · Paid Community → Decentralized → AI) to filter incumbents vs. emerging challengers; AI is filtered via Type ⑩ and the "AI" Era rather than as a region (players are listed under their operating HQ country). Since community culture and ad rates in South Korea, Japan, and China differ sharply across real-name, anonymous, and verified-anonymous platforms, we also provide a dedicated Identity filter.
| # | Name | Region | Type | Tier | Key Metric | Format | Revenue | Verif. |
|---|
Click any row to expand ownership, founding year, revenue model, financials, recent trends, and sources. The 63 entries rated "?" had no verified headline metric in public records. Tiers are rough approximations based on a single headline metric. Traffic figures are Similarweb or Semrush estimates (△), and MAU definitions (logged-in users, app opens, or any visit) vary by company.
| Scope | Value | Definition · Timing | Verif. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global social media ad spend (2026) | $394.6B (+21.3%) | Ad spend on social platforms · WARC Q3 2026. Statista estimates $317.3B–$338.8B (different scope) | △ |
| Online community software (B2B tools, 2025) | $0.96B–$6.59B | Insight Partners $0.96B vs. pmarketresearch $6.59B — management tools only vs. platforms included, a 7x gap in the same year | △ |
| Enterprise social networks & online communities (2026) | $14.4B | Broad definition including internal enterprise social networks · Reseller summary (original publisher unknown) | △ |
| Creator economy | $250B (2023) → $480B (2027F) | Goldman Sachs (secondary citation) · Sum of ad revenue share, brand sponsorships, and subscriptions | △ |
| Paid membership payouts (Patreon) | $10B cumulative (2025-08) · $2B+/yr | Cumulative payouts to creators · Company announcement | △ |
| Public company actuals sum (quarterly) | ~$75.4B/qtr → ~$300B/yr | Meta $60.8B + Tencent Social Networks & Marketing RMB 76.1B + Snap $1.6B + Pinterest $1.18B + Reddit $805M + Weibo $450M (Q2 2026 · RMB 7.2) — excludes YouTube, LinkedIn, ByteDance | ✔ |
| Broad sum incl. ByteDance (annual) | $450B–$500B | Adds ByteDance 2025 ~$186B (target/estimate, includes e-commerce & gaming) | △ |
| Claim: "Creator economy already hit $480B in 2024" | False | $480B is the 2027 forecast; the 2023 baseline was $250B | ✘ |
| Claim: "Reddit makes $200M+/yr from AI data" | False | $203M is the 2–3 year total contract value (per S-1); the annualized run rate is ~$130M–$140M | ✘ |
| Revenue Stream | Key Examples · Pricing | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Feed Advertising | Meta ads $59.4B/qtr · ad price +12% · Reddit ARPU $6.18 (US $11.85) | ↑ Rising unit prices driven by AI targeting & generative ads |
| User Subscriptions · Premium | Snapchat+ (non-ad revenue $316M/qtr +85%) · Telegram Premium 15M · Nitro $9.99 · X Premium · Meta Verified | ↑ Second pillar for companies facing ad headwinds |
| Virtual Items · VAS | Tencent paid VAS 259M (−2%) · Weibo VAS $72.9M (+19%) · Discord Avatar Decorations Shop | → |
| Tipping · Live Gifting (打赏) | Douyin · Kuaishou (快手) live gifts · TikTok Coins · Super Chat · SOOP Star Balloons | → China regulates minor tipping (打赏) |
| Creator · Organizer Fee Share | Skool 10%/2.9% · Patreon 10% · Discord Server Subscriptions 10% · Substack 10% · Zsxq (知识星球) ~20% | ↑ Rapid growth of paid communities |
| Data · AI Licensing | Reddit–Google ~$60M/yr · OpenAI ~$70M/yr · 2026 renegotiations toward usage-based pricing | ↑ Paradox: AI answers cannibalize search traffic |
| B2B · SaaS Fees | Circle · Mighty Networks · Discourse · Slack · Skool $9/$99 | → Standalone tooling market is $1B–$6.6B |
| Recruiting · Enterprise Services | LinkedIn Talent · Blind · Remember · Karrot (Daangn) Jobs | → Cyclical / macro-sensitive |
| Commerce · Affiliate | TikTok Shop · Xiaohongshu (小红书) · Douyin E-commerce · Instagram Shopping | ↑ Led by China & Southeast Asia |
| Secondhand · Escrow Fees | Karrot (Daangn) Safe Payment · Xianyu (闲鱼) · Vinted buyer protection fee | ↑ |
| Local Advertising | Karrot (Daangn) ad share 96% (H1 2026) · advertisers +37% (2025) · Nextdoor | ↑ Local SMBs, jobs, real estate |
| Messenger Business · Channels | WhatsApp Business per-message billing · LINE Official Accounts · Kakao Biz Message · Telegram ads $125M (H1 2025) | ↑ "Channelization" of messengers |
| Donations · Non-profit | Wikipedia · Mastodon donations · Bluesky (VC-funded) | → Small scale |
| VC · IPO · Tokens | Reddit IPO · Telegram TON · Xiaohongshu (小红书) & Discord awaiting IPO | → High volatility |
Paid communities split into two models: taking a percentage of membership dues (take rate) vs. charging a flat monthly SaaS fee. For in-app purchases, mobile app stores take an additional 15–30%.
| Platform | Creator Share | Platform Fee | Pricing Example | Payout Terms | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skool Hobby | ~90% | 10% + $0.30/txn | Platform $9/mo | Stripe payout | Source |
| Skool Pro | ~97% | 2.9% + $0.30/txn (3.9% over $900) | Platform $99/mo · Breakeven at ~$1,268/mo gross | Stripe payout | Source |
| Patreon | 90% (85–87% net of payment processing) | 10% (new pages since 2025-08-04) | $5–$25 patronage | Monthly payout | Source |
| Discord Server Subscriptions | 90% (after deductions) | 10% | $2.99–$199.99 per tier | 30 days after month-end · $100 first payout, $25 thereafter | Source |
| Substack | 90% (~3% Stripe fee separate) | 10% | $8–$10/mo · ~$100/yr | Stripe | Source |
| YouTube Channel Memberships | 70% | 30% | KRW 990–60,000 | AdSense $100 threshold | Source |
| Twitch Subscriptions | 50% (Partner Plus 70%) | 50% / 30% | $4.99 | $50 threshold | Source |
| OnlyFans (benchmark) | 80% | 20% | $4.99–$49.99 | $20 threshold | Source |
| Zsxq (知识星球) | ~80% | ~20% (lower for enterprise, △) | RMB 50–2,000/yr | WeChat Wallet · real-name bank card | Source |
| CAMPFIRE Community (オンラインサロン) | ~90% (△) | ~10% | JPY 1,000–10,000/mo | Monthly payout | Source |
| Date | Deal | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-04 | Facebook acquires Instagram | $1.0B | 13 employees · ✔ |
| 2014-02 | Facebook acquires WhatsApp | $19.0B | ✔ |
| 2016-06 | Microsoft acquires LinkedIn | $26.2B | ✔ |
| 2021-03 | Microsoft–Discord acquisition talks end | ~$12.0B | △ Media report |
| 2021-08 | Karrot (Daangn) Series D | KRW 178.9B · ~KRW 3T valuation | △ Media report |
| 2021-09 | Discord funding round | $500M · $14.7B valuation | ✔ Media report |
| 2021-11 | Nextdoor SPAC listing | ~$4.3B | ✔ |
| 2022-10 | Musk acquires Twitter | $44.0B | ✔ Renamed X in 2023-07 |
| 2023-10 | LINE & Yahoo Japan merge into LY Corporation | — | ✔ Naver & SoftBank JV |
| 2024-02 | Reddit–Google AI data licensing deal | ~$60M/yr | △ Renegotiation tug-of-war in 2026-07 |
| 2024-03 | Reddit NYSE IPO | $34 IPO price · ~$6.4B valuation | ✔ |
| 2024-05 | Reddit–OpenAI data licensing deal | ~$70M/yr (est.) | △ |
| 2025-03 | xAI absorbs X via merger | X $33B · xAI $80B | ✔ Media report |
| 2025-07 | Substack Series C (BOND) | $100M · $1.1B valuation | ✔ Media report |
| Late 2025 | Xiaohongshu (小红书) secondary market trades | Up to $50B ($17B in 2024 round) | △ Reuters |
| 2026-01 | Discord confidential IPO filing | Forge est. $8.53B (2026-07) | △ IPO still pending |
| 2026-02 | SpaceX acquires xAI (incl. X) | xAI $250B · Combined ~$1.25T | △ Media report |
| 2026-07 | Xiaohongshu (小红书) Hong Kong IPO prep (Goldman · CICC) | $30B+ | △ Denied by company |
| Person | Country | Role | Core Business Model | Defining Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Zuckerberg | United States | Meta CEO | Feed advertising | Acquired Instagram ($1B) & WhatsApp ($19B) → $130B–$145B AI capex in 2026 |
| Steve Huffman | United States | Reddit Co-founder & CEO | Ads + AI data licensing | 2023 API pricing · 2024 IPO · 2026 push for usage-based pricing from Google |
| Jason Citron | United States | Discord Co-founder & Former CEO | Nitro subscriptions | Walked away from Microsoft ~$12B offer in 2021 · Stepped down as CEO in 2025-04 |
| Humam Sakhnini | United States | Discord CEO (since 2025-04) | Nitro · Quests ads | IPO preparation — confidential IPO filing in 2026-01 |
| Elon Musk | United States | X → xAI → SpaceX | Subscriptions · Ads · AI data | 2022 Twitter $44B buyout → 2025 xAI merger → 2026 folded under SpaceX |
| Jay Graber | United States | Bluesky CEO | VC-backed · Planned subscriptions (decentralized) | Ad-free AT Protocol — 46M registered users · Declining active usage |
| Pavel Durov | Russia · UAE · France | Telegram Founder | Premium · Ads · TON | Shifted to law-enforcement cooperation after Aug 2024 arrest in France · First profit in 2024 |
| Evan Spiegel | United States | Snap CEO | Ads + Snapchat+ | Rejected Facebook $3B offer in 2013 · Built subscriptions into a second pillar |
| Pony Ma (马化腾) | China | Tencent Chairman | Ads · VAS · Payments | Bundled payments, Mini Programs, and Channels (视频号) inside WeChat |
| Charlwin Mao (毛文超) | China | Xiaohongshu (小红书) Co-founder & CEO | Ads + Commerce | 2025 "TikTok refugee" influx → Valuation jumped from $17B to up to $50B |
| Zhou Yuan (周源) | China | Zhihu (知乎) Founder | Ads · Paid membership (Yanxuan 盐选) | US & Hong Kong dual listing · Pivot to paid memberships |
| Kim Yong-hyun & Hwang Do-yeon | South Korea | Karrot (Daangn) Co-founders | Local ads · Safe Payment | Turned profitable via hyperlocal ads · KRW 270.7B 2025 revenue · Expanded to Canada |
| Lee Hae-jin | South Korea | Naver Founder | Search ads · Naver Cafe · BAND | Merged LINE into LY Corp (SoftBank JV) · Returned as Board Chair in 2025 (△) |
| Kim Beom-su | South Korea | Kakao Founder | KakaoTalk Biz Message · Ads | 2024 stock manipulation trial · Leadership vacuum |
| Moon Sung-uk | South Korea · United States | Blind Co-founder | Recruiting · Enterprise services | Scaled in Silicon Valley via work-email verified anonymity |
| Hiroyuki Nishimura (西村博之) | Japan | 2channel Founder · 4chan Owner | Advertising | Anonymous image/text boards · 4chan dispute with UK Ofcom (△) |
| Akihiro Nishino (西野亮廣) | Japan | Leading Online Salon Operator | Monthly membership dues | Popularized paid online communities (Online Salons) in mainstream Japan |
| Sam Ovens · Alex Hormozi | New Zealand · United States | Skool Founder & Co-owner | Platform fees + transaction fees | $9 Hobby tier · Viral growth via The Skool Games |
| Gina Bianchini | United States | Mighty Networks Founder (ex-Ning) | B2B SaaS | Branded, creator-owned community app model |
| Eugen Rochko | Germany | Mastodon Founder | Non-profit · Donations | Transferred ownership to non-profit foundation in 2025 · Stepped down as CEO (△) |
For each region, we selected the flagship player that best illustrates how communities monetize in that market.
© 2026 ainewground · Published by Abover Co., Ltd.