I'd go further than this. I know plenty of musicians who have far in excess of a few tens of thousands of fans worldwide, but couldn't possibly survive on the income from their music. Similarly I know some writers who's books sell in the low tens of thousands who could never dream of leaving their day job.
So it's about more than the number of fans, it's related to the perceived value of individual copies of the work (and how monitizable, sorry horrible word) it is.
So a fine artist working in the digital space with a couple of thousand fans, may well be able to make decent money selling prints and NFTs. But a musician, writer or filmmaker will likely need several hundred thousand fans to build a useful number of 'true fans'. A youtuber may need millions of 'fans' to garner the same number of regularly cash supportive fans.
So it's about more than the number of fans, it's related to the perceived value of individual copies of the work (and how monitizable, sorry horrible word) it is.
So a fine artist working in the digital space with a couple of thousand fans, may well be able to make decent money selling prints and NFTs. But a musician, writer or filmmaker will likely need several hundred thousand fans to build a useful number of 'true fans'. A youtuber may need millions of 'fans' to garner the same number of regularly cash supportive fans.