26 Oct 2026 | Charli West

Week in Focus: Future of Brands – Creator Economy recap

Future of Brands: Creator Economy Week in Focus

Last week, The Media Leader put the spotlight on the creator economy, exploring the reasons behind its rapid growth, the challenges it faces with measurement and brand safety, and how creators are evolving from individual personalities into media businesses in their own right.

With UK creator partnership revenue forecast to reach £1.2bn in 2026, the industry is moving beyond one-off influencer campaigns. But questions remain over how brands should plan, price and measure creator partnerships alongside established media channels. Here is a roundup of the week’s coverage.

Creators as media businesses

One of the key themes to emerge was that creators offer brands more than just access to an audience. In The Media Leader‘s analysis of the market’s growth, Paul Greenwood, head of cultural strategy and insight for EMEA at We Are Social, argued that creators are becoming cultural translators, production partners and community connectors, increasingly integrated into wider marketing strategies.

Brandon Baum, CEO of StudioB, explored this evolution, examining how creators are building studios, developing intellectual property, and bringing creative expertise to brands behind the scenes.

The shift is also creating new commercial opportunities. On The Media Leader Podcast, Arcade CEO Matt Elek discussed the company’s ambitions to turn premium creators, including The Sidemen, into entertainment brands. He argued that creators are becoming the “new primetime”.

TV trade body Thinkbox subsequently responded to the interview, questioning the CEO’s claims about TV and whether creator audiences can be directly compared with television viewing.

How the media landscape is adapting

The creator economy is also reshaping traditional publishing, as journalists and publishers explore new ways to build audiences and generate revenue.

Senior reporter Jack Benjamin examined the trend of journalists such as Marina Hyde and Amol Rajan, who built careers in traditional publishing before moving to creator-led businesses, exploring the appeal of greater independence and direct audience relationships.

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Media Leader, Beehiiv’s CEO and VP of ad sales, Tyler Denk, discussed how the newsletter and podcast publishing platform is seeking to challenge the tech giants and support independent journalists with its scaling ad product.

Similarly, Liz Parkin, talent director at Bauer Media UK, argued that “the creator economy is a two-way street“, exploring the opportunities and tensions as established publishers and creators increasingly converge.

Authenticity and audience trust

As brands invest more heavily in creators, maintaining the trust that makes these partnerships valuable is becoming increasingly important.

“People still trust people“, argued Ocean Outdoor UK’s chief revenue officer, Andrew Gibson, and founder of Creator by Infinitum, Dafs Rhys Woodward. They explored how creator partnerships can extend beyond social platforms into the physical world through digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.

Elsewhere, Caroline Manning’s column considered the tension between commercial growth and preserving the qualities that make creators influential.

Representation was another part of the conversation. WPP-owned influencer marketing agency Purple Goat launched sister business Antidote, a talent agency for disabled, neurodivergent and chronically ill creators, highlighting the commercial case for more inclusive campaigns.

The challenges holding the market back

Despite its growth, the creator economy still faces questions around the fundamentals of media investment.

On brand safety, Billion Dollar Boy’s Thomas Walters argued that protecting brands requires ongoing governance throughout the campaign process, not just vetting talent at the outset.

Pricing also needs to evolve. HYDP’s Stefani Stamatiou argued that brands should move beyond transactional campaigns towards ongoing programmes that connect content, performance and distribution.

Measurement remains another sticking point. WPP Media’s VP of commercial paid social, Josh Gornell, explored how the industry can better demonstrate creator marketing’s value, while Hannah Mirza, founder and CEO of Responsible Marketing Advisory, examined the challenges posed by fragmented platforms and data.

Finally, in The Media Leader‘s vox pop, nine industry experts considered whether standardised measurement can help unlock further investment without losing sight of what makes creator partnerships distinctive.