Creator economy splits into mega partners and media buys

The creator economy is no longer one market. It is splitting into two distinct operating models, and brands that treat every creator the same will overpay on one side and underinvest on the other.

Two lanes, one industry

On a recent Digiday Podcast episode, Zach Blume, co-founder and president of Portal A, described the divide. At the top, big creators like MrBeast, Alix Earle and Druski are being hired less like ad placements and more like creative agencies. Brands bring a problem, ask for a pitch and build longer, deeper partnerships.

At the other end, nano and micro creators are becoming something closer to programmatic media. Just as advertisers buy ad inventory across long-tail publishers, they now use scaled influencer agencies to place branded content across many small creators at once.

The media business analogy

Blume framed it as two familiar sides of media. Companies like Disney and NBCUniversal sell upfront packages around major events such as the Super Bowl, with sponsorships, brand integrations and negotiated partnerships. That relationship is forming around top creators.

On the long-tail side, advertisers make programmatic buys to show up across many niche publishers. That is the role micro and nano creators are now playing: a scale play rather than a bespoke creative exercise.

Why the split matters

Each lane answers a different marketing question. The top lane answers, “How do we create brand desire and cultural relevance?” The long tail answers, “How do we get efficient, scaled reach?” If you measure a top-tier creator campaign on cheap impressions alone, you will miss the value. If you brief a thousand nano creators like creative partners, you will drown in process.

A simple portfolio rule

• Creative partners: select a small set of mega or mid creators and brief them like an agency, with a clear brand problem, creative latitude and longer measurement windows.
• Media buys: use scaled influencer networks to run many nano creators for reach, frequency and category proof, optimised on cost and conversion.
• Testing lane: keep a small budget to move proven micro creators up into deeper partnerships before competitors do.

Run it as a portfolio

Blume says the market is expanding fast enough for both lanes to grow, so this is less a battle than a barbell. The brands that win will manage creators as a portfolio, matching the tier to the job rather than forcing one contract, one brief and one KPI on everyone.

Source: Digiday