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 22 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.