Creators are no longer just the talent; they’re reshaping marketing

Opinion | The Future of Brands: Creator Economy Week in Focus

The creator economy is no longer just about the people on screen, but about the knowledge, creativity, and expertise those creators bring to brands behind the scenes, writes the CEO of StudioB.

My first experience in the industry was producing for other creators. When lockdown hit, I took the leap and started my own channel using all the skills I had learnt. In just three months, I had 1m subscribers on YouTube. Today, my original channel has 16.2m subscribers and more than 18bn views.

However, building an audience was just the start. The bigger opportunity was turning that audience understanding into a creative business that could do more than make videos for my own channel.

Influencer marketing has always been a personality-led business, where creators are the face of their brand – until recently. This shift comes from creators becoming a dominant force in marketing and storytelling. Some of the most interesting creator businesses aren’t just making content that features them. They are building studios, creating original entertainment, and helping brands reach and build audiences in ways that traditional ad campaigns now struggle to achieve. 

The creator economy is entering a new phase. It’s no longer just about the people on screen, but about the knowledge, creativity, and expertise those creators bring to brands behind the scenes.

This shift is massively changing the industry. These creators are now taking on roles as creative directors, leading broad, multi-creator campaigns, and working closely with brands to build entertainment worlds. All without seeking the limelight. 

An evolution 

Creator marketing is traditionally built around a simple approach – a brand pays a creator to introduce their product to their audience. It worked. But it meant the creator had to be the face of the campaign. The brand was tied to that individual and their content. 

That model has since evolved massively. Creators are becoming the conductor in an orchestra that becomes greater than the sum of its parts. They are building teams, investing in production and developing businesses that move from being in front of the camera to directing behind it.

They’re moving from solo entrepreneurs to a creative infrastructure of talent, production, and expertise needed to develop ideas at scale. By combining creators’ visions with the knowledge and skills of those with traditional media industry experience, they can deliver finely tuned, high-quality outcomes.

This new level of professionalisation allows creators to leverage their unique position in the market. With first-hand experience and a boots-on-the-ground perspective, they are ideally positioned to advise on reaching the right audiences. This is where the interesting opportunity for brands lies: access to the creative thinking behind a successful creator, not just their audience. 

There’s growing appetite to engage creators through long-term partnerships or sponsorship structures, moving away from the original one-off model. Nearly half of brands now report 3x or greater ROI from creator marketing. But it requires a mindset shift.

Audiences have become extremely savvy to online advertising – they don’t want ads that will interrupt their feed. They want the content to be an authentic part of the experience, something that is worth watching in its own right.

This changes the brief entirely. Instead of working with a creator to include their product in their content, they are asking creators to help make content audiences actually want to watch. 

The talent is becoming the studio

MrBeast is one of the most obvious examples. He became the first person to surpass 500m subscribers on YouTube, making his viewership larger than the combined populations of the U.S. and Canada. But his business isn’t just built around his YouTube channel. It extends to products, entertainment, and other ventures, building his own IP.

Not every creator should launch a chocolate brand or streaming show, but it’s a lesson in understanding an audience and developing formats they engage with and value.

This understanding is driving growth in the creator economy. Creator-led agencies and branded entertainment are booming, as recent IAB UK research finds UK creator revenue is set to surpass £1bn for the first time in 2026. 

At Studio B, we’re witnessing this first-hand. Brands are increasingly coming to us to think beyond the next campaign: to build entertainment worlds, recurring characters and creative formats that audiences want to return to. That requires a different starting point. Rather than asking how to fit a brand into a piece of content, we’re asking what we can create that people will actively choose to watch.

This is a true sign that creators don’t need to be a part of the content itself, but their skills and expertise are becoming essential to brand marketers behind the scenes. Their value can lie in shaping the idea, bringing the right talent together and building something that lasts beyond a single post or campaign.

From campaigns to creative partnerships 

The next phase of the creator economy isn’t just about more creators, bigger audiences, or higher production value. It’s about a new relationship between creator and brand, based on a shared understanding of what audiences actually want. 

It’s about thinking beyond one-off campaigns, taking a long-term approach to the relationship with that individual. That means experimenting with new formats, recurring characters, entertainment franchises and stories that evolve alongside their audience over time. What’s key is giving ideas the time and space to grow, just like a creator would with their own content. 

And it might not be right for every brand or every campaign. But they should be asking: are we making content audiences actually want to watch, or is it something we want them to see? 

Creators have been asking that very question for years. As their businesses mature, they bring that knowledge to the industry. It isn’t just about reaching an audience but building something that they want to come back to. 

That won’t just change who appears in their next campaign, but it will change who they work with to create it. 

Brandon Baum is the founder and CEO of Studio B