In 2015, The World’s Best TRAVEL JACKET by BAUBAX raised over $9 million on the rewards crowdfunding platform, making it the fourth most-funded Kickstarter campaign ever.
On September 21, Kickstarter announced that they reincorporated to a Public Benefit Corporation and released a new Charter that outlines how they plan on making a positive impact on society.
To give you an idea of just how big the platform is getting, there are more than 6,000 live projects on Kickstarter as of September 30 2015. Unfortunately, statistics show that only 36.87% of them (approximately 2,160) will be successful. This means that you have to have an exceptional project in order to get noticed and funded. Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter’s CEO, told the New York Times:
“It’s not what the creator is looking for, but for some projects the right answer will be no. I think we are as meritocratic as a place can be.”
The truth is that not all Kickstarter projects make it, but there have been over 93,000 successful campaigns on the platform so far. CrowdFund Productions recently published a Kickstarter 2015 Infographic that features useful statistics that you should take a look at if you are thinking of joining the thousands of creators raising funds for creative projects on Kickstarter.
Here are some of the main stats that you should know before launching:
The Basics
1) 258,614 projects have been launched on Kickstarter, raising over $1.7 billion successful dollars.
2) Approximately:
- 61% of projects fail
- 4% raise below $1,000
- 24% raise $1K – $10K
- 10% raise $10K – $100K
- 1% raise over $100K
3) The three categories with the most projects to raise over $100K are: technology, design and games.
4) The three categories with the most projects under $10K are: crafts, dance and theatre.
Keeping numbers 3 and 4 in mind, I’d like to make the point that success on Kickstarter is relative. Even though some categories like technology and design see some of the highest funded projects on the platform, there are still many projects launched in those categories that don’t reach their funding goals.
On the other hand, categories with less overall funding can sometimes have higher success rates (like music and comics, which have success rates of approximately 50%). Instead of having a few extremely successful projects, these categories tend to host more successful campaigns that raise less. These categories cater to projects that are more niche than your typical viral Kickstarter campaign.
Going viral and getting a lot of media attention is nice but some campaigns don’t need all of that extra exposure. Sometimes starting with a small campaign is all you need to build up a fan base on the platform and positively affect your chances of success in future Kickstarter campaigns.
In 2014…
5) The top 3 countries by pledges in 2014 are:
- The US (63% of pledges totaling $335.5 million)
- The UK (7% of pledges totaling $39 million)
- Canada (5% of pledges totaling $27.7 million)
6) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the days with the largest number of pledges (Saturday and Sunday had the least).
7) The best months to launch a Kickstarter campaign were August, October, May and November (the worst were January and February).
8) Most pledges were made between 11am and 4pm EST.
9) There were 7.8 million backers in total:
- Over 700K backed more than one project
- Over 71K backed more than 10 projects
- Approximately 1K backed more than 100 projects
Looking at Kickstarter stats from past years is a great way to monitor changes on the platform and see what has worked for other successful creators. This information can give you a general idea as to when the best time to launch is, when it’s the best time to actively promote your campaign, where the most generous backers are coming from and more!
Conclusion
Even though Kickstarter is still growing, CrowdFund Productions has noticed a drop in success rates for certain categories in the past few years (including the technology and food categories). As the crowdfunding space becomes more populated and competitive, creators have to be prepared to spend money to raise money.
This infographic is one of many resources designed to give you the insight you need to launch a strong Kickstarter campaign. By knowing information like your odds, the best times to launch and the most common funding amounts on Kickstarter you can adjust your goals to ensure the best chance of success.
Don’t forget to listen to our interview with the CEO of Crowdfund Productions. Elena gave some awesome crowdfunding campaign advice!
