Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has been in existence for slightly over a decade and working towards improving crowdfunding for creatives. The platform is now witnessing success after hitting key milestones.
Data presented by Stock Apps indicates that Kickstarter has successfully launched 505,590 projects since April 2009, when it was founded. The film and video category has the highest projects at 75,875, while dance has the least projects at 4,301. The projects have attracted $5.42 billion pledged in total.
To date, 191,970 projects are successful representing a success rate of about 38.21%. Music projects are the most successful at 31,688. The film and video category has the second-highest successful projects at 28,459. Journalism has the lowest number of successful projects at 1,339.
Why Kickstarter is successful
From the data, the film and video category is the most popular on the platform. It is not a coincidence considering that there are few platforms that allow creatives to source funds in the category. Kickstarter’s success in the category is because it caters to people who previously couldn’t take their vision and put it on screen due to lack of resources. The platform accommodates individuals with great vision but with a lack of access to big studios. Notably, the category has the second-highest success rate.
Unlike competitors in the space, Kickstarter allows backers to change the total amount of money they plan to pledge throughout the campaign. The result is that there is always an increase in the amount pledged, especially when backers are impressed by the project’s progress. Another vital aspect is that Kickstarter allows campaigns to offer an unlimited amount of rewards to backers. Kickstarter’s higher average reward level has contributed to the tremendous amount of support it has received from backers hence the staggering amount of pledges
Threat from the pandemic
It is worth mentioning that despite Kickstarter achieving the milestone, it’s business faced a threat in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company laid off about 40% of its staff after projects being launched on the platform drastically dropped. The company recorded a significant drop in revenue. The drop in the number of projects meant that Kickstarter’s 5% cut from the total amount of money that is funded on the site was reduced. In return, the company struggled to cover the costs of running the site, including advertisement and employee payment.
Even as Kickstarter continues to achieve success, the company has plans to change its approach to launching creative projects. Kickstarter has shown intentions of playing a more significant role in the entire creative process by not just launching ready-to-ship innovative products.
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