How DeviantArt Turned a 26-Year-Old Community Into a £23m Marketplace

Liat Karpel Gurwicz is the Chief Revenue Officer at DeviantArt. A digital art marketplace and community. Founded in 2000 they pivoted completely to the marketplace model in 2023, and in 2025 had over 265,000 buyers spending £23million via their platform.

In this episode, Liat shares how DeviantArt is turning its huge community of artists and art lovers into a thriving creator economy, while keeping the community at the heart of the business. She also reveals how they approach monetisation, global expansion and AI without losing sight of their core values.

Hit PLAY to hear:

🎨 How DeviantArt turned a huge community into a thriving marketplace 💰 Why DeviantArt removed programmatic ads to put creators first 📈 The “stairway to growth” helping creators unlock new revenue streams 🔄 Why 55%+ of first-time buyers return to the same creator 🌍 How DeviantArt is tackling global growth through localisation 🤖 DeviantArt’s practical approach to AI-generated art

Key timestamps to dive straight in:

[04:37] Balancing community and eCommerce

[08:22] Supporting creators with new sales options

[10:44] Supporting Artists on DeviantArt

[15:27] Community growth and creator tools

[18:47] Expanding localization efforts

[23:44] AI art policies and user options

[26:43] Listen to Liat’s Top Tips!