As the calendar flips from 2025 to 2026, the creator economy shows no signs of slowing. IAB estimates U.S. creator ad spend reached $37 billion in 2025—up 26% year over year and growing nearly four times faster than the overall media industry.
“The creator economy remains in a bull market,” said Open Influence Founder and CEO Alex Dahan. “Brands are shifting budgets from traditional media to creators because attention, trust, and performance live there. Creator marketing is no longer an add-on—it’s taking real share from traditional advertising.”
So what comes next? While perspectives vary, the consensus points to sustained momentum—and meaningful change.
“Several forces will reshape creator marketing in 2026,” wrote EMARKETER Senior Analyst Minda Smiley. “Artificial intelligence pressure, platform shifts, and demands for measurable performance will collide with creators’ push for control, defining where investment grows—and where it strains.”
“Creator marketing is becoming core infrastructure,” Dahan added. “Holding companies, private equity, and strategic buyers will accelerate acquisitions to own the full funnel. The winners will be tech-enabled managed services that combine software with execution at scale. Everything else will get squeezed.”
Smiley echoed this evolution, predicting deeper human connection amid AI saturation through long-term ambassadorships, creator-led businesses, co-branded products, and integrated social commerce. “Expect more video commerce—from TikTok Shop to connected TV—and creators shifting from one-off campaigns to embedded brand partners or entrepreneurs.”
OI Vice President of Creative and Strategy Alexandra Mathieu framed this shift in cultural terms. “We’ve spent years talking about a loneliness epidemic. What’s emerging now is something closer to a great detachment. Traditional relationships are being decentered, but the craving for connection hasn’t gone away—it’s moved toward friendships, parasocial bonds, and modern community. The opportunity isn’t abandoning community, but redesigning it.”
Platforms Continue to Evolve
AI unsurprisingly dominates predictions for 2026. Platforms will face growing pressure—from regulators and users alike—to offer greater control over algorithmic feeds, enabling more intentional consumption and community-building.
Generation Z will lead a push for authenticity, favoring behind-the-scenes and imperfect content to counter AI fatigue. Despite backlash, AI will remain integral to content creation and personalization, with increased emphasis on human oversight and transparency.
Short-form video will remain foundational, but long-form storytelling—including serialized, appointment-style viewing—will grow. Private communities powered by micro- and nano-creators will continue to thrive, particularly within niche verticals. Social platforms will also further cement their role as search engines for discovery, product research, and education.
In B2B, creator marketing will increasingly resemble B2C—prioritizing personality, storytelling, and entertaining, human-led content.
Looking beyond screens, Mathieu noted the rise of ambient technology. “Tech used to be something we logged into. Now it’s worn, whispered into, and always collecting. Smart jewelry and ambient devices mean more content, more data, and fewer off moments—raising new questions around privacy, consent, and culture.”
The Return to the Analog Era
As digital experiences become faster, more optimized, and increasingly mediated by AI, 2026 will also see a renewed cultural pull toward the analog.
This shift is not about rejecting technology, but about reclaiming presence.
Across cultures, people are gravitating toward slower, more tactile, and more intentional experiences—from physical books and film photography to in-person gatherings, handwritten notes, vinyl, and spaces designed for real conversation. What once felt nostalgic is becoming aspirational.
“People aren’t craving less technology,” said Maria A. Rodriguez, VP of Communications and Marketing at Open Influence. “They’re craving moments that feel unoptimized, unrecorded, and real. The analog shift is really about agency—choosing presence over performance.”
This return to analog is closely tied to AI fatigue. As feeds fill with polished, automated, and emotionally frictionless content, imperfection becomes a signal of authenticity. Physical experiences—where nothing can be paused, edited, or regenerated—carry a new kind of value.
“For brands and creators, the analog era is a reminder that not everything meaningful needs to scale instantly,” Rodriguez added. “Some of the strongest connections happen when things are small, tactile, and shared in real time.”
Rather than replacing digital strategies, the analog movement is reshaping how digital is used—less as an end point and more as a gateway to deeper connection.
The Rise of the Phygital Bridge
While digital remains the most powerful engine for scale, 2026 will mark a shift in how brands think about connection.
“Digital is still where everything starts,” said Maria A. Rodriguez, VP of Communications and Marketing at Open Influence. “It breaks down geographic barriers and allows brands and creators to build global communities with almost zero friction. But scale alone is no longer enough.”
In 2026, the industry will lean into what Open Influence calls the Phygital Bridge—a more intentional blending of digital and physical experiences.
“Digital is the invitation to the world,” Rodriguez explained. “Physical is the handshake. One gives you reach, the other gives you depth. The brands that win will understand how to design for both.”
Creators sit at the center of this shift. Their ability to build trust and cultural relevance online—and then translate that energy into offline moments—positions them as natural bridges between digital and physical worlds.
“Creators don’t just activate audiences,” Rodriguez added. “They make experiences feel human, whether that’s on a screen or in real life.”
The takeaway is clear: digital is where brands reach people, but physical is where they connect. In 2026, the strongest strategies will seamlessly bridge both realities.
How Brands and Creators Will Interact
Brands will continue moving away from transactional, one-off activations toward long-term partnerships and deeper integrations. In some cases, creators will receive equity, lead product development, or launch brands of their own.
“Influencers aren’t just amplifying marketing anymore—they are the business,” Mathieu said. “We’re seeing creators build agencies, studios, and internal brand units. The shift from individual to media empire to business empire is happening in real time.”
That shift is forcing traditional media and marketing organizations to rethink how they work with creators.
“Creators aren’t just talent,” Rodriguez said. “They’re talent, production companies, and distribution engines all rolled into one.”
As brands increasingly adopt a media-company mindset, creators will be treated less like external partners and more like integrated collaborators—capable of developing IP, producing high-quality content, and owning direct relationships with audiences.
“This is why we’re seeing creators move beyond endorsements into ownership and creative leadership,” Rodriguez added. “They’re not just participating in the media ecosystem—they are the media ecosystem.”
At the same time, platforms are competing for creator exclusivity through podcasts, original programming, and gated content features. Not every creator will aim to scale.
“We’ll see more intentionally small, high-trust communities that monetize better than massive, burned-out audiences,” Mathieu noted. “Intimacy, not reach, becomes the premium.”
As investment grows, so will scrutiny. Brands will lean into more robust measurement and vetting, evaluating creators not just for content, but as long-term business partners. Trust, brand safety, and credibility will increasingly shape who brands choose to work with.
Vertical vs. Horizontal Marketing in the Creator Era
Another defining shift in 2026 will be how brands communicate with consumers.
“Horizontal marketing—broad messaging designed to speak to everyone at once—continues to lose effectiveness,” Rodriguez said. “What we’re seeing instead is vertical marketing: going deeper into specific communities, interests, and cultural contexts.”
Creators play a central role in this evolution, not as megaphones, but as community builders and cultural translators.
“Creators help brands speak with communities rather than at them,” Rodriguez explained. “They understand nuance, language, and context in ways traditional media simply can’t replicate.”
In an increasingly fragmented media environment, relevance—not reach—will define success.
“In 2026, the brands that stand out won’t be the loudest,” Rodriguez said. “They’ll be the ones that show up in the right places, with the right voices, and a real understanding of the communities they’re trying to reach.”
Shifts in Content
“In 2026, creative trends won’t replace each other—they’ll coexist,” said OI Senior Director of Creative and Strategy Sierra Moore. Raw, candid content will continue alongside elevated, high-production storytelling supported by thoughtful creative direction.
Creators will expand beyond short-form video into podcasts, newsletters, live experiences, and serialized content formats. Recurring series will become a core strategy for both creators and brands, balancing fast dopamine with slower, more meaningful engagement.
“As AI-polished content floods feeds, authenticity shifts,” Dahan said. “Raw, imperfect, human content wins. Anti-aesthetic becomes the new aesthetic.”
Commerce, AI, and What’s Next
Social commerce and live shopping will continue to scale, with creators driving sales across platforms and into connected TV and physical retail. As AI flattens outputs, taste and cultural translation will become the true differentiators.
AI itself will move from experimentation to infrastructure—supporting workflow efficiency, forecasting, rights management, and measurement without replacing human creativity. Clear labeling and human signals will become essential as audiences demand transparency.
The outlook for AI-generated creators remains mixed, but 2026 may mark the first time they win meaningful brand dollars—alongside human creators, not instead of them.
Looking Ahead
Creator marketing enters 2026 not as an emerging channel, but as a foundational pillar of modern marketing. Platforms will evolve, AI will mature, and creators will continue reshaping how culture, commerce, and community intersect.
Open Influence will continue tracking these shifts closely, helping brands navigate what’s next with clarity, creativity, and confidence.