How Much Does Cameo Take? The 25% Fee and Why Creators Are Leaving

TL;DR: Cameo revenue has fallen more than 80% from its 2021 peak of a reported $100 million+, when the company was valued above $1 billion. Waves of layoffs (75%+ of staff by 2023) and an exodus of top creators, driven largely by the platform's steep 25% fee, gutted the business. The lesson: pre-recorded celebrity shoutouts were a pandemic novelty, and creators now earn far more on live-video platforms that charge 10% or less.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Cameo was the darling of the pandemic creator economy. In 2021, the company was valued at over $1 billion. Celebrities from every corner of entertainment were recording personalized video messages for fans. Cameo revenue reportedly exceeded $100 million at its peak.

Then reality set in.

By 2023, Cameo had laid off over 75% of its staff. Cameo revenue dropped precipitously. The billion-dollar valuation evaporated. By 2025, the platform was a fraction of its former self, and by 2026, it's barely a footnote in the creator economy conversation.

What happened?

How Much Is Cameo's Revenue in 2026?

Cameo is a private company and no longer discloses precise financials, so there is no official 2026 revenue figure. But the direction is unmistakable: Cameo revenue is down more than 80% from its 2021 peak of a reported $100 million+. Three public signals confirm the collapse:

• Layoffs: Cameo cut over 75% of its staff by 2023, the clearest sign that revenue could no longer support the headcount built during the boom.
• Valuation: The 2021 valuation of $1 billion+ evaporated, wiping out the premium investors once paid for future growth.
• Talent exodus: High-profile celebrities left the platform, shrinking the catalog that drove bookings and, in turn, revenue.

The short version: Cameo revenue today is a shadow of its pandemic high, and the trend line still points down. The reasons are structural, not a temporary dip, and we break them down below.

What Is Cameo's Fee?

Let's answer the question most creators are actually asking: Cameo's fee is 25% of every transaction. When a fan pays $100 for a shoutout, the creator keeps $75 and Cameo takes $25. On a $30 message, the creator nets $22.50. There's no monthly subscription, but that 25% per-booking cut is one of the steepest fees in the creator economy.

Here's how the Cameo fee stacks up against the alternatives creators are switching to:

For a creator doing volume, the Cameo fee adds up fast. Sell 20 videos at $50 and you gross $1,000 but hand $250 to Cameo. Move that same volume to a 10% platform and you keep an extra $150 every cycle. Multiply across a year and the fee difference alone is thousands of dollars. That math is exactly why high-value talent left, which kicked off the decline we break down below.

The Five Reasons Cameo Declined

1. Pre-Recorded Shoutouts Were a Novelty

The core Cameo experience is receiving a short video message from someone famous. It's exciting the first time. Your buddy sends you a birthday message from Gilbert Gottfried (RIP). You laugh, share it on social media, and move on.

But how many times do you buy one? For most people, the answer is once. Maybe twice. The novelty wears off fast. There's no repeat purchase behavior because the product is inherently a one-time gag.

Compare this to a live coaching session, where clients come back weekly. Or a workshop, where attendees tell their friends. Or a fan Q&A, where the relationship deepens over time. Sustainable creator businesses are built on repeat engagement, not one-off novelties.

2. The 25% Fee Drove Away Top Talent

Cameo takes 25% of every transaction. For a $100 shoutout, the creator keeps $75. For a $30 message, they keep $22.50.

When creators realized they could keep 90-95% on other platforms (or 100% on their own), many left. The highest-value creators, those who could command premium prices, had the most incentive to leave. This created a negative spiral: as top talent left, the remaining catalog became less appealing, which reduced buyer interest, which made the platform even less attractive to creators.

3. Celebrities Are Not Creators

Cameo's talent pool was primarily traditional celebrities: actors, athletes, reality TV stars, comedians. These people are famous, but they are not creator-economy natives. They don't build audiences on social media. They don't understand digital product strategy. They don't think about fan monetization beyond "someone pays me to say happy birthday."

The real creator economy is driven by people who built their audiences from scratch on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and podcasts. These creators understand direct monetization, and they want tools that match their sophistication. A 30-second pre-recorded clip is beneath them.

4. No Repeat Purchase Mechanism

Every successful platform has a mechanism for repeat engagement:

• Netflix has new shows every week
• Spotify has daily playlists
• Patreon has monthly subscriptions
• A coaching platform has recurring sessions

Cameo has... another birthday? The product doesn't create ongoing relationships between creators and fans. Each transaction is isolated. There's no reason for a buyer to come back next month.

5. The Market Moved to Live

The pandemic accelerated a broader shift toward live digital experiences. People discovered that video calls could be intimate, valuable, and worth paying for. The creator economy evolved from "broadcast content to many" (YouTube, TikTok) to "connect live with few" (coaching, consulting, workshops).

Cameo's pre-recorded model was the opposite of this trend. While the market moved toward live interaction, Cameo stayed stuck in asynchronous, one-way communication.

What's Replacing Cameo

The creator monetization landscape in 2026 looks nothing like 2021. Here's where the market has moved:

Live Video Calls

Creators offer 1:1 video calls for coaching, consulting, mentoring, or just hanging out with fans. Platforms like Talkspresso handle video, scheduling, and payments in one tool. The typical session earns $75-200, compared to $25-50 for a Cameo clip.

Workshops and Group Sessions

Creators teach groups of 10-50 people in live workshops. A 60-minute session at $30/person with 20 attendees generates $600, minus platform fees. That's one session generating more than a week of Cameo messages.

Digital Products

Courses, templates, guides, and resources. These generate passive income alongside active coaching. Platforms that combine live sessions with digital product sales give creators a complete revenue stack.

Memberships and Subscriptions

Recurring revenue from dedicated fans. Monthly access to exclusive content, community, and live sessions. Patreon pioneered this, but newer platforms integrate it with live video.

The Revenue Shift

If you would rather book a live call with a creator than pay for a recorded clip, you can browse content creation experts on Talkspresso and see their rates up front.

The shift from recorded to live isn't just incremental. It's a fundamentally different business model with fundamentally different economics.

Who Still Uses Cameo?

Cameo hasn't completely disappeared. It still works for a narrow segment:

• A-list celebrities who don't need the money but enjoy the fan connection
• Niche internet celebrities whose fans want novelty gifts
• Corporate event organizers who want a celebrity intro video for a conference
• Gift buyers looking for a unique birthday or holiday present

But even these use cases are shrinking as alternatives emerge.

Where Smart Creators Are Going

The creators who built real businesses (not just novelty income) have moved to platforms that support:

1. Live interaction (not pre-recorded)
2. Recurring revenue (not one-off transactions)
3. Low platform fees (10% or less, not 25%)
4. Multiple revenue streams (calls + workshops + products)
5. Direct audience relationships (not marketplace-dependent)

Talkspresso checks all five boxes. No monthly fee, 10% per transaction, live HD video, group sessions, digital products, and a booking page you own and control.

The Lesson for Creators

Cameo's rise and fall teaches one clear lesson: novelty fades, but value compounds.

A pre-recorded shoutout is a novelty. It's fun once. A live coaching session is value. It solves a problem, builds a skill, or creates a genuine connection. People pay for novelty once. They pay for value repeatedly.

If you're a creator thinking about monetization, ask yourself: am I selling novelty or value? The answer determines whether you'll still have income in 12 months.

The Bottom Line

Cameo isn't dying because of bad management or bad timing. It's dying because the product is a novelty in a market that's moved toward value. Pre-recorded celebrity videos were a fun pandemic experiment, but they were never a sustainable business model.

The future of creator monetization is live, interactive, and relationship-driven. Platforms that combine video, scheduling, and payments into one tool are replacing the Cameo model entirely.

If you're still on Cameo, you're not too late to switch. But the longer you wait, the more revenue you're leaving on the table.

Keep Reading

• 9 best platforms for paid video calls in 2026 — head-to-head comparison of Talkspresso, Intro.co, Memmo, and the rest of the field.
• How creators sell paid video calls to their followers — the pricing, pitching, and booking-page playbook.
• Cameo competitors, ranked — 12 Cameo competitors and alternatives scored on fee, live video, and time-to-launch.
• Sites like Cameo but live — the shortlist for creators who want real conversations, not 30-second clips.
• Cameo alternatives for live video calls — 9 live-video platforms compared on fee, formats, and creator take-home.