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The creator economy is only getting bigger and everybodyfrom agencies to tech platformswant their piece of the pie. Nothing has made that more apparent than a look at how the back half of 2025 is shaping up. (Find a more in-depth look at how the creator economy is shaping up in the second half of the year here.)
Said pie is expected to reach $480 billion by 2027, per Goldman Sachs projections, so the land grab makes sense.
To help make heads or tails of the shifts happening in the marketplace, Alexander Lee, senior entertainment media reporter, and Krystal Scanlon, platforms reporter, join the Digiday Podcast to parse through whats in, whats out and whos getting paid in the creator economy right now.
Also on this episode, what the Trump administrations greenlight of the $8 billion union of Paramount and Skydance signals for mergers and acquisitions, and trickle down effects of the White House AI Action Plan on marketing and advertising.
Here are a few highlights from the conversation with Lee and Scanlon, which have been edited for length and clarity.
Lee: One thing that I would say is definitely out is esportsat least in the sense of competitive gaming, with gamers playing at the highest level for large prize pools. I dont think that thats going to see a resurgence anytime soon. A lot of the businesses that previously cut their teeth in esports have pivoted to creators with varying levels of success. So these businesses are not necessarily doomed, but esports as a concept is something that advertisers are just not interested in anymore.
McCoy: Theres a couple of creators that are feeling the squeeze here, to your pointmarginalized creators, but youve also got general lifestyle creators that Im seeing feel the squeeze as that [preference for] nicheness continues&For all of the money thats being poured into this space, its not being divvied up to those people and theyre being squeezed out of this space. And thats even if they have a platform to come to. Because in the first half of this year, we had the TikTok ban, and now weve got thats been pushed back. Krystal, remind me, is it three times at this point?
Scanlon: Three times and counting. Its such a non-subject. Its to the point, its boring for me, its boring for everyone. No one discusses it anymore, just because I think its just been kicked down the can so many times now. If it went away, creators would hate it, especially the ones that rely on it. However, when we talk about it, is it actually going to happen?
Lee: LinkedIn is a platform that is viewed as a huge opportunity by both influencers and influencer marketers right now. Theres a couple of reasons why: One reason is because LinkedIn is pushing creators very hard. It is constantly tweaking its algorithm, rolling out new measurement metrics for creators, flushing out the options for posting new types of contentvideo and all of these things have brought more creators who were previously most active on Instagram and Tiktok onto the platform. In addition to that, weve seen the rise of this B2B creator, whose main key performance metrics are very different from a standard creator that a brand might work with.
Scanlon: Basically, brands no longer want to work with agencies ad-hoc on single campaigns. Theyre looking for longer term partnerships with an agency that can effectively oversee their entire creator marketing strategy. The part where it might get a little bit of friction, ad-hoc, depends on how that dynamic is laid out if youve got a media agency, a social agency and a creator agency all in that mix. Because a lot of what the creator agency of record does is very much an overlap with what a social agency does.
The agency executive discussed the state of CTV ad products in a live Digiday Podcast recording held during Digidays CTV Advertising Strategies event in New York City.
While creators are now key to marketing budgets, their longevity in the fast-paced digital world is a pressing concern. This episode explores how TikToker Brandon Edelman is navigating that challenge, building a sustainable career by diversifying his content and focusing on brand partnerships.
Michelle Khares not just taking on wild YouTube challenges shes eyeing an Emmy while shes at it. Tune in for a peek behind the curtain at how shes leveling up creator content.
