US creator ad spend just crossed $37 billion. That is not a rounding error or a pandemic-era blip. It is a 26 percent year over year jump, the kind of growth rate that makes CFOs ask hard questions and CMOs start rewriting next year’s deck. If you are still treating creator spend as a side budget to traditional media, this is the number that should change your mind.
The Number Behind the Number
$37 billion is a big figure, but the growth rate tells the real story. A 26 percent jump means creator spend is outpacing most other media categories tracked by analysts at eMarketer and Statista. Linear TV is flat. Search is maturing. Social display is getting squeezed by privacy restrictions. Creator spend, meanwhile, keeps climbing because it delivers something those channels increasingly cannot: trusted, first person distribution at a moment when audiences are actively tuning out branded messaging.
This growth is not evenly distributed, and that matters for how you plan. Mega-budget brand campaigns with celebrity talent still exist, but the dollar growth is concentrated in performance-driven, always on programs. Brands are not just spending more. They are spending differently.
A 26 percent spend increase in a single category, during a year when most media budgets grew in the low single digits, is not noise. It is a structural shift in where brands believe attention and trust actually live.
Where the Money Is Actually Going
Break down the $37 billion and a pattern emerges fast. The biggest gains are not in one-off campaign bursts tied to product launches. They are in sustained, year-round creator programs that function more like always-on media buys than traditional sponsorships. We covered this shift in detail in always-on creator engines, and the spend data backs it up: brands that moved away from campaign spikes toward continuous creator relationships are the ones driving the bulk of this year’s growth.
Short-form video still dominates allocation, but the lines between platforms are blurring. Connected TV budgets are increasingly folding into creator line items, a trend detailed in our piece on CTV and creator budget convergence. Add in the growth of pay-per-conversion deal structures, and you get a market where “creator spend” no longer means a flat sponsorship fee. It means a flexible mix of flat fees, commission, and media boosting, which makes the $37 billion figure harder to compare apples to apples with prior years, but also more revealing of how brands actually think about creator ROI now.
Platforms are adapting their ad products accordingly. TikTok’s advertising tools and Meta’s business suite have both leaned harder into creator-centric formats over the past year, which tells you the platforms see the same demand signal the spend data shows.
Procurement Is Running the Show Now
Here is the part that should actually worry (or excite, depending on your seat) marketing leaders: this money is increasingly being treated as media spend, not marketing experimentation budget. That reclassification changes who signs off on it, how it gets forecasted, and what kind of reporting it demands. We explored this shift in influencer spend reclassified as media, and the 26 percent jump is further evidence that procurement teams are no longer treating creator budgets as a rounding error line item buried inside “social.”
What does this mean operationally? If your creator program still runs on spreadsheets, informal rate negotiations, and loose reporting, you are about to have an uncomfortable conversation with finance. Procurement wants the same rigor applied to creator deals that gets applied to programmatic buys: documented rate cards, performance benchmarks, and contract terms that hold up to audit. Brands that have already moved in this direction, building pay-per-conversion structures covered in CPM to conversion pricing shifts, are better positioned to defend their 2027 budget asks than those still negotiating flat fees based on follower count.
Why This Changes Budget Conversations for Next Year
Budget planning cycles are already underway at most mid-size and enterprise brands, and the $37 billion figure is going to show up in more than one boardroom deck. The practical effect: creator spend requests that come with performance data, clear attribution models, and procurement-ready documentation will get funded faster and at higher levels. Requests that rely on vibes and follower counts will get trimmed, regardless of how strong the growth narrative is at the category level.
Separately, brand and agency leaders surveyed earlier this year already signaled where this was headed. Our coverage of brands planning creator budget increases found that most marketers were not asking whether to grow creator spend, only by how much and under what governance structure. The 26 percent jump is the market confirming that intent turned into actual dollars.
What 2027 Budgets Will Likely Demand
- Attribution that survives finance scrutiny. Expect procurement to require conversion-level reporting, not just engagement metrics, before approving increases.
- Consolidated vendor relationships. Brands managing hundreds of nano and micro creator relationships through spreadsheets will face pressure to adopt platforms that can scale sourcing and contracting.
- Blended channel planning. CTV, paid social, and creator spend are converging into a single line item in more media plans, which means creator leads need to speak the language of media buyers, not just community managers.
- Compliance documentation built in, not bolted on. As spend scales, so does regulatory exposure, and brands that treat disclosure as an afterthought will pay for it later.
None of this means creator marketing is becoming less creative or less relationship-driven. It means the money behind it is being governed the way other major media categories are governed, and brands that resist that shift will find their budget requests harder to justify next cycle.
The Risk Side Nobody Wants to Talk About
Bigger budgets attract bigger scrutiny. The Federal Trade Commission has made clear that disclosure enforcement is not slowing down, and as creator spend scales past $37 billion, the number of campaigns running without airtight compliance processes scales right along with it. Brands that have not audited their disclosure workflows, contract language, and FTC guideline alignment are sitting on exposure that a single viral complaint could turn into a real problem.
There is also a valuation question lurking underneath all this growth. As spend climbs, so does disagreement about what the creator economy is actually worth and how sustainable this growth rate is. We broke down that debate in the creator economy valuation gap, and it is worth reading before you build a 2027 forecast that assumes 26 percent growth repeats indefinitely. It might. It might not. Either way, betting the entire budget model on an uninterrupted growth curve is not a strategy, it is a hope.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the $37 billion creator ad spend figure actually measure?
It reflects total US brand and agency spend directed toward creator partnerships, including flat sponsorship fees, performance-based commission deals, gifting programs valued as media, and creator-driven paid social and CTV placements over the past year.
Why did creator ad spend grow 26 percent in a single year?
Growth was driven by brands shifting from one-off campaigns to always-on creator programs, the rise of pay-per-conversion deal structures, and procurement teams formally reclassifying creator spend as media rather than experimental marketing budget.
How should brands use this data when planning next year’s budgets?
Treat the 26 percent jump as a signal to build attribution and compliance documentation now, since procurement teams are increasingly requiring performance data before approving creator budget increases.
Does this growth rate mean creator budgets will keep climbing at the same pace?
Not necessarily. Analysts are split on how sustainable current growth is, and brands should build 2027 forecasts with a range of scenarios rather than assuming the same percentage increase repeats.
What is the biggest risk for brands scaling creator spend quickly?
Compliance exposure is the most underestimated risk. As spend and creator partner counts grow, disclosure errors and contract gaps become more likely unless brands build documented, auditable processes alongside their budget increases.
The takeaway is simple: the $37 billion figure is not a headline to admire, it is a planning input. Pull your current creator contracts, check them against FTC disclosure standards, and build your 2027 budget request around conversion data procurement can actually defend.
Top Influencer Marketing Agencies
The leading agencies shaping influencer marketing in 2026
Agencies ranked by campaign performance, client diversity, platform expertise, proven ROI, industry recognition, and client satisfaction. Assessed through verified case studies, reviews, and industry consultations.
Moburst
-
2
The Shelf
Boutique Beauty & Lifestyle Influencer AgencyA data-driven boutique agency specializing exclusively in beauty, wellness, and lifestyle influencer campaigns on Instagram and TikTok. Best for brands already focused on the beauty/personal care space that need curated, aesthetic-driven content.Clients: Pepsi, The Honest Company, Hims, Elf Cosmetics, Pure LeafVisit The Shelf → -
3
Audiencly
Niche Gaming & Esports Influencer AgencyA specialized agency focused exclusively on gaming and esports creators on YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. Ideal if your campaign is 100% gaming-focused — from game launches to hardware and esports events.Clients: Epic Games, NordVPN, Ubisoft, Wargaming, Tencent GamesVisit Audiencly → -
4
Viral Nation
Global Influencer Marketing & Talent AgencyA dual talent management and marketing agency with proprietary brand safety tools and a global creator network spanning nano-influencers to celebrities across all major platforms.Clients: Meta, Activision Blizzard, Energizer, Aston Martin, WalmartVisit Viral Nation → -
5
The Influencer Marketing Factory
TikTok, Instagram & YouTube CampaignsA full-service agency with strong TikTok expertise, offering end-to-end campaign management from influencer discovery through performance reporting with a focus on platform-native content.Clients: Google, Snapchat, Universal Music, Bumble, YelpVisit TIMF → -
6
NeoReach
Enterprise Analytics & Influencer CampaignsAn enterprise-focused agency combining managed campaigns with a powerful self-service data platform for influencer search, audience analytics, and attribution modeling.Clients: Amazon, Airbnb, Netflix, Honda, The New York TimesVisit NeoReach → -
7
Ubiquitous
Creator-First Marketing PlatformA tech-driven platform combining self-service tools with managed campaign options, emphasizing speed and scalability for brands managing multiple influencer relationships.Clients: Lyft, Disney, Target, American Eagle, NetflixVisit Ubiquitous → -
8
Obviously
Scalable Enterprise Influencer CampaignsA tech-enabled agency built for high-volume campaigns, coordinating hundreds of creators simultaneously with end-to-end logistics, content rights management, and product seeding.Clients: Google, Ulta Beauty, Converse, AmazonVisit Obviously →