weRate
  • Welcome to weRate
    • weRate Mission
    • Introducing weRate
  • The Broken Review Economy
    • Rapidly growing industry
    • Fake reviews
    • Review bias
    • No engagement. No Value
    • Terrible search experience
    • Undervalued & massive opportunity
  • Authentic reviews
    • The opportunity
    • Proof-of-Authenticity system
    • Storing Proof-of-Review onchain
    • Benefits for users
    • Benefits for businesses
  • Using the application
    • Getting started
    • Checking in
    • Giving a review
    • The map
    • Unrivaled search
    • Crypto events
  • Bohemians
    • Rarity Tiers
    • Attribute Point Allocation
    • Bohemian Attributes
    • Levelling Up
    • Bohemian Properties
    • Bohemian Specialities
    • Owning Several Bohemians
  • GameFi and SocialFi
    • Earnings & Rewards
    • Leaderboards
    • Bonus Points Multipliers
    • Ratings
    • Energy
    • Wisdom
    • Marketplace
    • Upvoting and ⚠️ Reporting
    • A community owned review platform
  • Tokenomics
    • $RATE
    • Reward Pool
    • Token distribution
    • Token release schedule
    • Ecosystem value flow
  • Revenue model
    • User-Generated Revenue
    • Business-Generated Revenue
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  • Market size & growth
  • Usage at scale
  1. The Broken Review Economy

Rapidly growing industry

PreviousThe Broken Review EconomyNextFake reviews

Last updated 4 days ago

The online review industry shows signs of explosive scale and long-term value — yet remains one of the most under-innovated and unfairly monetized digital markets.

Market size & growth

  • 97% of internet users consult reviews for local businesses (BrightLocal, 2024)

  • 77% use them regularly

  • 91% of 18–34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

  • Industry projected to hit $34.5B by 2030, growing at 17% CAGR

Usage at scale

  • Yelp receives 26,830 new reviews every minute

  • Yelp saw 244 million total reviews in 2021

  • 178+ million people visit Yelp every month

  • TripAdvisor passed 1 billion reviews in 2022

  • Yelp generated $1.3B in revenue in 2024

The user activity is massive. The business value is undeniable. But the value distribution? Completely broken.

These numbers give weight to everything that follows: Fake reviews don’t just hurt trust — they undermine a $34B+ market.

Lack of incentives doesn’t just frustrate users — it limits revenue potential. Platforms profit, while contributors are left with nothing.

The next platform to solve this imbalance will reshape a global industry.