Can Brands Really Spend $37 Billion with Creators?

I had the incredible opportunity to bring together some of the brightest minds in the creator economy for an evening of candid conversation about where this industry is headed. From ad tech innovations to creator authenticity, we covered the full spectrum of what it takes to turn creator content into scalable, revenue-generating partnerships. Conor McKenna from Luma and Zoe Soon from the IAB kicked things off with a macro view of the space, discussing how fragmented media is creating massive opportunities for technology to step in. We explored why brands are shifting budgets at unprecedented rates, with Unilever committing 50% of marketing spend to creator-related initiatives.

The evening featured deep dives into brand integration strategies with Ali Parish from Blue Hour Studios and Jeremy Stewart from VuePlanner, followed by an eye-opening discussion with Arthur Leopolod from Agentio about how AI and automation are revolutionizing creator advertising. Perhaps most compelling was hearing directly from Sydney Jo, the creator behind the viral Group Chat series, and her manager Haley Friedman from Made By All about the reality of building a creator business. From navigating brand negotiations to maintaining creative authenticity, this conversation revealed both the opportunities and challenges facing the next generation of digital storytellers.

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Key Highlights

🚀 The Walled Garden Shift: Meta and Google are evolving from social platforms to entertainment platforms, opening up competitive dynamics that allow ad tech to capture margin in the previously closed creator ecosystem.

📈 Explosive Growth Trajectory: The creator economy is projected to reach $37 billion this year, growing 400% faster than average digital media, with Agentio raising $40 million to help brands scale from $50K to over $1 million in creator spend without additional bandwidth.

🎯 The Authenticity Challenge: Brands are treating creators like Hollywood storytellers but expecting them to perform like programmatic ad units, creating a disconnect that requires better infrastructure, measurement, and understanding of the creator-first approach.

🤖 AI as the Creative Multiplier: While AI enables scalability and reduces production costs to zero, the real winners will be creators with established trust and parasocial relationships, as audiences increasingly seek authentic voices in a sea of AI-generated content.

💡 Partnership Over Performance: Long-term brand relationships like Sydney's multi-season deal with Hilton outperform transactional campaigns, with brands that engage in comments and understand social media culture seeing significantly better integration and results.

📊 The Measurement Gap: Over 50% of US buyers consider creators a must-buy (second only to search and social), yet the industry lacks standardized metrics beyond engagement and reach, requiring brands to rely heavily on first-party data and brand-specific goals.

🎬 Platform Dynamics: YouTube and Meta provide strong creator support with dedicated reps, while TikTok remains uniquely difficult to work with despite its massive scale, and creators intentionally maintain cross-platform presence to avoid giving control to any single platform.

⚡ From Viral to Viable: Sydney's journey from 250K to 1.7 million followers in one week (and a Today Show appearance) reveals both the opportunity and challenge of monetizing virality, highlighting the critical importance of having the right management team to navigate brand negotiations and maintain creative control.

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Resources & Next Steps

🌐 Learn more about VuePlanner

🌐 Learn more about Agentio

🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts

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YouTube Chapter Timestamps

00:00 Opening remarks and industry momentum

01:10 Introducing Connor McKenney and Zoe Soon

03:00 The ad tech opportunity in creator economy

05:40 Walled gardens becoming distribution platforms

07:00 Why brands are shifting to creators

08:30 The infrastructure and measurement challenge

12:00 AI and algorithm control concerns

13:00 Standardization vs. authenticity debate

17:10 Ali Perish and Jeremy Stewart on brand integration

18:40 Evolution of Blue Hour Studios

20:40 View Planner's role in creator measurement

24:00 YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub

26:00 The lifetime value of creators

28:00 Arthur Leopold introduces Agentio

30:00 The $10 billion to $800 billion opportunity

32:00 How Agentio automates creator advertising

35:30 Bidding model and AI strategy creation

37:40 Creators as micro creative agencies

40:00 The Cambrian explosion of AI creativity

42:40 Sydney and Hailey from Made By All

44:00 Sydney's viral Group Chat origin story

46:30 Navigating early brand deals

49:00 The importance of saying no

51:40 Long-term brand relationships

54:00 When brands don't understand social media

56:00 Working with platform partners

58:30 Advice for brands and creators

01:00:00 Closing thoughts and thank you