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- Influence Weekly #411 - Gap Inc. Unveils Cross-Brand Creator Program
Influence Weekly #411 - Gap Inc. Unveils Cross-Brand Creator Program
How Vaseline Made Creators Co-Authors Of Its Stories
Nii Ahene
October 17, 2025
Spotlight Stories
Gap Inc. Unveils Cross-Brand Creator Program
YouTube's New Brand Pulse Report Links Paid, Organic Video Impact
How Vaseline Made Creators Co-Authors Of Its Stories
True Religion taps Ari Fletcher for 'Baddie in the City' campaign
Great Reads
Media expert Evan Shapiro partnered with What's Trending's Shira Lazar and Filmhub to create a comprehensive map of the creator economy called The Creator Ecosphere. The map was published in October 2025 and analyzes platforms with billions of users, including YouTube's 4.6 million active channels, TikTok's 1.6 billion users, and Instagram's 3 billion users.
The map introduces engagement quality metrics beyond traditional monthly active users to measure the difference between followers and fans. Analysis showed MrBeast maintained the largest YouTube presence with high engagement quality, generating ten times more engagement than Eminem despite both being top creators.
The YouTube section represents ten percent of the complete map, which covers major platforms, top creators, and supporting infrastructure including agencies, studios, distributors and creator economy tools. The project aimed to provide comparative data for an industry where more Americans now consume news from social media than traditional sources, positioning the creator system as the most important marketing platform globally.
YouTube launched its "brand pulse report" on October 13, combining paid advertising and organic content performance data for marketers. The new measurement tool uses artificial intelligence to track brand mentions across the platform by detecting logos, product shots, and verbal references in creator content.
The report provides metrics including "Total Unique Viewers" and "% Share of Watch Time" within categories, enabling competitive benchmarking. It tracks how paid advertising drives organic video views and measures how combined exposure influences brand searches.
YouTube partnered with Influential to develop applications for the tool. The system captures both deliberate brand partnerships and incidental product mentions, allowing brands to boost popular organic videos through partnership ads.
Creator economy companies presented their business models at MIPCOM's Creator Upfronts on Tuesday, hosted by "What's Trending" founder Shira Lazar. After Party Studios, founded by YouTubers Callux and Rvbberduck in 2015, operates as a bridge between creators, brands and broadcasters with over 30 employees. The company announced "The Nella Rose Show" starring YouTuber Nella Rose, who has over 4 million followers across platforms.
Dhar Mann Studios reported 143 million global followers across Facebook and YouTube, producing five and a half hours of content weekly with nine crews operating 18 hours daily. Executive Sean Atkins said revenue comes from platform sharing (50%), brand deals (50-60%), and ancillary business through agency Fifth Quarter.
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Campaign Insights
Gap Inc. launched a cross-brand creator affiliate and advocacy platform in October 2025, connecting content creators with its four brands: Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta. The program serves as a centralized hub offering commission opportunities, early product access, seeding, exclusive promotions, and content collaboration possibilities.
The platform requires creators to be U.S.-based, aged 18 or older, with at least 1,000 followers on a single platform. Gap Inc. plans international expansion in future phases. Selected creators receive content amplification across paid, social, and brand-owned channels, plus regular newsletters and creator spotlights.
The launch follows Gap Inc.'s "Better in Denim" campaign, which generated over 600 million views and 8 billion impressions in one month. The initiative mirrors similar moves by retailers like Sephora, which recently introduced "My Sephora Storefront," allowing influencers to build customizable digital storefronts within Sephora's channels.
Unilever's Vaseline launched its "Vaseline Verified" platform to work with creators on scientifically proven product uses, addressing the 3.5 million pieces of existing content about unconventional Vaseline applications online. The 150-year-old skincare brand partnered with influencers to verify creative hacks rather than combat unregulated social media content.
Global brand director Nathalia Amadeu announced at the IPA Effectiveness Conference on October 8 that the campaign delivered double-digit sales growth and reached previously untapped audiences. The platform won a Titanium Lion at this year's Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
The initiative aligns with Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez's commitment to hire 20 times more influencers and allocate up to half the marketing budget to social channels. New IPA data from 59 UK campaigns showed influencer marketing delivered a 99 ROI index, outperforming linear TV's 97 and paid social's 86, despite contributing only 4.5% of short-term sales compared to TV's 32%.
Executives from Unilever, Gap, and Marriott International discussed rising expectations for creator agencies during an Advertising Week panel in October 2025. Unilever's Casey DePalma McCartney said creator agencies must now provide strategic and insights-driven work with account excellence standards matching traditional agencies like Ogilvy.
Gap's Damon Berger emphasized that brands should own measurement frameworks when partnering with creator agencies and tailor strategies for different creator tiers. Gap works with creator software platform CreatorIQ and agencies including Buttermilk. Marriott's George Hammer stressed that creator agencies must function as integrated team members rather than external vendors to remain competitive in an efficiency-focused business environment.
World Poker Tour partnered with streaming network Creator Television to produce the inaugural Creator Poker Championship, scheduled for December 18 in Las Vegas. The tournament will feature content creators including King Bach, Wengie, Daphnique Springs, Soy, and Jenny Lorenzo, with livestreaming across Creator Television and WPT distribution channels.
The event marks Creator Television's entry into sports and gaming programming. Creator Television is owned by ad-tech company Sabio Holdings and distributes content across Amazon Fire TV Channels, LiveTVx, Plex, Sling Freestream, and Xumo Play.
World Poker Tour, in its 23rd season, has conducted tournaments in 48 countries since 2002 and awarded more than $1.5 billion in prize money. The televised event will offer brand integration opportunities for advertisers targeting the combined audience of creators' fans and established WPT viewership.
CNN announced the launch of "CNN Creators," a new content unit based at its Middle East hub in Media City Qatar, Doha. The division will produce a 30-minute weekly competition show debuting October 23, where creator teams compete to craft compelling stories around news-adjacent topics including AI, tech, art, culture, sport, and social trends.
The show format features two content creator teams selecting weekly topics and competing in "high-stakes storytelling challenges," with viewers watching their creative process from brainstorming through final presentation. Andrew Potter, formerly of Vice Media, will lead the team.
The creator unit represents part of CNN's broader digital transformation under CEO Mark Thompson, who implemented restructuring that cut hundreds of jobs while investing $70 million toward digital platforms. Other recent initiatives include launching a paywall on CNN.com and planning a new streaming product for fall 2025.
True Religion selected influencer and beauty entrepreneur Ari Fletcher to star in its "Baddie in the City" campaign promoting the brand's latest women's collection. Fletcher, who founded Remedy By Ari and Remedy Swim brands and co-founded Kyche Extensions, brought her personal style to showcase the streetwear label's denim, baby tees, oversized bombers, and accessories.
The campaign launched in October 2025 as True Religion expanded its focus on female consumers and women's business growth. Fletcher also hosts "Dinner with the Don," a YouTube cooking show, adding to her media presence across multiple platforms.
True Religion distributed the campaign content across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to reach Fletcher's audience. The brand positioned Fletcher as representing today's "Baddie" customer - someone who shapes trends rather than follows them, according to Chief Marketing Officer Kristen D'Arcy and Creative Director Tina Blake.
BDG Media, parent company of fashion and lifestyle publications including Bustle, Nylon and Scary Mommy, projected revenue of up to $130 million for this year compared to $110 million in the previous year. CEO Bryan Goldberg said the company expected to reach profitability in 2024 after cutting staff from 400 employees at peak to 240 currently.
The media company launched its first membership program through Nylon brand this year, selecting 1,100 members from over 12,000 applicants. The free membership targets social influencers who attend BDG-hosted events at Art Basel, Coachella and New York Fashion Week. BDG plans to expand membership to 2,500-3,100 total members by next year.
The company generates revenue by selling event sponsorships to brands seeking influencer access and launched a gifting program in recent months. Columbia Sportswear participated as an early client, providing merchandise to members. BDG plans to expand the membership model to other properties including parenting website Scary Mommy, which it acquired in 2021.
UK-based TikTok agency Nonsensical released a report examining B2B brands' strategies on the platform, identifying successful content approaches across companies including Semrush, ClickUp, and Hootsuite. The report found 83% of marketers consider short-form video integral to B2B strategy, with 71% reporting it provides the highest return on investment, according to HubSpot data.
Semrush achieved over 10 million views through character-driven content featuring "Chris," generating engagement from NBC Studios, IMDb, and Vimeo. Project management platform ClickUp reached 19 million views with corporate humor and office parodies. Social media management company Hootsuite combined mascot content with employee-generated videos.
The report analyzed brands based on content uniqueness, consistency, brand personality, and engagement metrics. Companies focused on entertainment over product promotion, with recurring characters and episodic content structures proving effective. Financial services company Square created the "Talking Chit" interview series, while design platform Canva balanced educational content with office moments.
Forbes partnered with Walmart Creator to host its second annual Creator Upfronts on October 28-29, 2025, in Los Angeles. The two-day summit will bring together more than 300 creators and brand executives, compared to over 350 attendees who participated in the inaugural 2024 event.
The 2025 programming focuses on creator-driven commerce, AI integration, long-term brand partnerships, and creators' roles in media networks. Confirmed speakers include Dhar Mann of Dhar Mann Studios, TikTok's Sofia Hernandez, and Walmart U.S. CMO William White.
The event features an interactive format where emerging creators present directly to marketing decision-makers. Participating creators include Sal Farzin, Kate Greenwell, Chelsea Parke Kramer, and Jenna Wood. The summit includes hands-on workshops, interactive sessions, and networking opportunities designed to facilitate business connections.
Walmart Creator serves as title sponsor and will create shoppable activations for attendees. The event coincides with Forbes' 2025 Top Creators list release, which highlighted 50 influential creators across social platforms.
Metricool and HypeAuditor released the "Instagram Content Playbook 2025" analyzing 700 million Instagram posts from January to June 2025. The research found carousel posts outperform Reels for larger accounts, while Reels remain effective for smaller creators.
For accounts under 50,000 followers, Reels generated higher reach, with accounts under 1,000 followers seeing median reach of 134 views for Reels versus 56 for carousels. However, for accounts with 500,000 to 1 million followers, carousels matched Reels in reach while delivering superior engagement, generating 1,034 median likes for brands compared to 807 for Reels.
The most notable finding showed posting frequency directly correlates with account growth. Accounts posting 2-3 times weekly achieved 19% average growth, while those posting more than 10 times weekly experienced 79% yearly growth. Despite this, 93.5% of Instagram accounts post once weekly or less, resulting in 2% average follower loss.
The study identified 8 p.m. as optimal posting time globally, with Wednesday and Friday showing highest user activity. Influencer-created content generated three times more engagement than brand-created content across all account sizes.
ADthlete, a Dallas-based ad platform launched in April 2025, entered the $2 billion Name, Image, and Likeness market with AI technology that integrates brand messaging into athlete content. The company allows brands to purchase athlete content programmatically while enabling student-athletes beyond the top 2% to monetize existing social content without additional production demands.
The platform treats athlete content as media channels that brands can access through a dashboard system. Marketers establish campaign parameters, use ADthlete's AI to define target audiences, and create ad specifications that get sent to approved athletes. The system identifies natural integration points and inserts brand messages while maintaining the athlete's voice.
CEO Erick Schwab, who previously co-founded Sylo in 2016 and developed Talent Pitch Pro for over 200 talent agencies, said the platform offers "50 to 60% savings for marketers" compared to traditional influencer campaigns. Athletes can monetize 20-30% of their content views rather than the typical 5-10%. The company aims to redirect digital ad spending toward all tiers of student-athletes, particularly targeting female college sports monetization.
NMDP, a global nonprofit focused on cell therapies and donations formerly known as Be the Match, partnered with AI influencer Lil Miquela to raise awareness about leukemia among 18-to-24 year-olds. The campaign launched this summer and featured Miquela, who has 2.3 million Instagram followers, documenting a fictional leukemia diagnosis and treatment journey.
Miquela is owned by Dapper Labs and reportedly generates over $10 million annually from brand partnerships with companies including Prada, Dior, and Samsung. NMDP worked with Dapper Labs to train the AI influencer using data and stories from real blood cancer patients to create authentic content about the patient experience.
The campaign generated over 5 million organic impressions across Miquela's social channels. A collaboration with influencer Jojo Siwa expanded reach to 11.3 million Instagram followers and 46.1 million TikTok followers while promoting blood stem cell donor registration.
NMDP used the slogan "She's not real, but the crisis is" and included disclaimers identifying Miquela as AI to address ethical concerns about using artificial intelligence to portray serious illness.
CBS released a 45-minute "36-Hour Survivor Influencer Experience" on YouTube featuring eight content creators, including MrBeast team member Karl Jacobs, Barstool Sports' Tommy Scibelli, and RuPaul's Drag Race winner Monét X Change. The promotional video attracted new viewers through cross-platform audience acquisition, with participants bringing established followings from different platforms.
The abbreviated format presented structural limitations compared to traditional Survivor seasons. Without the $1 million prize stake or extended timeline for strategic gameplay development, the experience lacked the high-stakes motivation that drives intense competition. The single elimination and compressed timeframe prevented contestants from adapting strategies over time.
The special coincided with Survivor's Emmy momentum, as the show accumulated 462.4 million viewing hours during the 2025 eligibility period, making it the most-watched Emmy-nominated series. Host Jeff Probst leveraged four Emmy nominations during the awards ceremony. The initiative preceded the landmark 50th season featuring returning contestants.
YRS TRULY, a UK marketing agency, surveyed 109 European gaming creators with 12.4 million combined followers about brand partnerships and sponsorship preferences. The October 2025 study found 90.8% of creators considered games pitched without payment, with 66% regularly creating content about unpaid game promotions.
Only 30.3% of surveyed creators worked full-time, while 49.5% balanced content creation with employment or education. Nearly 93% operated without agency representation and monitored their own email communications directly.
Creators identified personalized outreach as the top factor for successful pitches, with audience fit and genre matching as priorities. Generic mass emails received immediate rejection from respondents. All creators expressed willingness to negotiate sponsorship rates, with 65.1% describing themselves as completely flexible on pricing.
How the Influencer Economy is Shaping Political Creative - Campaigns & Elections
YRS TRULY, a UK marketing agency, surveyed 109 European gaming creators with 12.4 million combined followers about brand partnerships and sponsorship preferences. The October 2025 study found 90.8% of creators considered games pitched without payment, with 66% regularly creating content about unpaid game promotions.
Only 30.3% of surveyed creators worked full-time, while 49.5% balanced content creation with employment or education. Nearly 93% operated without agency representation and monitored their own email communications directly.
Creators identified personalized outreach as the top factor for successful pitches, with audience fit and genre matching as priorities. Generic mass emails received immediate rejection from respondents. All creators expressed willingness to negotiate sponsorship rates, with 65.1% describing themselves as completely flexible on pricing.
Interesting People
Instagram influencer Rayna Kingston and podcast host Justine Sandoval entered the Democratic primary race for Colorado's House District 5 seat, representing areas from Denver's River North neighborhood to Ruby Hill. Kingston runs @raynakingdenver Instagram account and founded the Denver Activist Women's Group, while Sandoval serves as correspondent for City Cast Denver news podcast.
The race follows other creator political campaigns, including 26-year-old TikTok commentator Kat Abughazaleh's bid for Illinois's 9th Congressional District. Research from creator agency Billion Dollar Boy showed 28% of U.S. content creators received approaches to produce political content ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Kingston announced her candidacy through Instagram, focusing on Denver affordability, LGBTQ and women's rights, and air quality. Sandoval previously worked on Rep. Diana DeGette's campaign and served as Denver Young Democrats president. A Voxtopica study found 85% of registered voters trust podcast content over other media formats, reflecting creators' growing political influence.
TikTok fan editors created viral content promoting entertainment projects without compensation, according to interviews with five creators aged 15-25. One editor's "Creed" video gained 19 million views ten years after the film's release. Another creator's "The Summer I Turned Pretty" edit received 1.2 million likes.
Entertainment companies HBO and Lionsgate adopted fan edit tactics for their own TikTok promotion campaigns. Public relations expert Angelique Phipps noted fan communities generate content that becomes part of artists' brand identity faster than paid campaigns.
The interviewed creators spend one to five hours per edit and report viewers saying the videos convinced them to watch shows or films. Editor compensation opinions varied, with some supporting payment for promotional impact while others viewed it as hobby expression using copyrighted material.
Creator Kevin Akoto suggested a revenue-sharing model between editors and copyright holders. Most editors said recognition from companies would be valuable, with 23-year-old Jacqueline Felix stating studios should "take the time to notice us, to respond, or even to reach out."
The Hollywood Reporter published its second annual Creator A-List featuring 50 influencers across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. The list highlighted creators who transitioned from digital fame to traditional entertainment ventures.
Notable business developments included creator partnerships dissolving, with Alix Earle ending her podcast partnership with Alex Cooper's Unwell Network amid reported friction. Several creators secured traditional media deals, including Veronika Slowikowska joining Saturday Night Live as a featured player and Jack Henry Robbins developing a comedy series for Hulu with PEN15's Sam Zvibleman producing.
Platform metrics varied significantly among honorees. Kai Cenat topped Twitch with 18 million followers, while Nick DiGiovanni led YouTube with 29 million subscribers. Noah Beck dominated TikTok with 33 million followers, and Emma Chamberlain maintained 12 million YouTube subscribers while expanding into fashion partnerships with Louis Vuitton and Cartier.
The list emphasized creators building multimedia businesses beyond social media, with many launching podcasts, touring comedy shows, and securing brand partnerships with companies including Netflix, HBO, and Atlantic Records.
YouTube creator Petra Luna launched CatCrazy, a freeze-dried raw cat food brand, leveraging her five years of feline nutrition content creation. Luna's channel attracted more than 226,000 subscribers through product reviews and educational content focused on cat health.
The brand's debut product, "Puckin' Crazy Chicken Feast," features humanely raised whole chicken from USDA-approved facilities as its primary ingredient. The formula contains no corn, wheat, soy, or artificial preservatives and positions itself as a complete meal for cats.
Luna developed the product after losing her cats Chopin and Wazoo to what she identified as tainted treats containing preservatives harmful to felines. Working with a food scientist, she created a freeze-drying formula that preserves chicken nutrients. The pet industry reached $147 billion in sales in 2023, according to the American Pet Products Association, creating favorable market conditions for creator-led products targeting niche audiences.
DIY creator Danie Berger launched her YouTube channel "DIY in Progress" in 2019 after transitioning from behind-the-scenes digital producer work. The channel publishes content every Saturday morning focused on home renovation and woodworking projects for small spaces.
Berger signed with UK-based talent management agency Ziggurat XYZ, represented by Sophie Thompson-Gray. She prioritizes audience retention metrics over subscriber counts and collaborates with an external editor rather than handling post-production herself.
The creator completed a three-bay garage and studio construction project in 2025, performing most work including flooring, siding, roofing, and insulation alongside her husband after contractors handled the foundation and basic structure. Her content distribution spans YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Berger's monetization strategy focuses on selective brand partnerships aligned with DIY and creativity themes, including potential collaborations with paint companies, women's tools, and furniture accessories. She plans to complete her workshop space by 2026 and shift toward designing original furniture rather than recreating existing pieces.
Nicholas Carlson, former Global Editor-in-Chief of Business Insider from 2017 to 2024, launched Dynamo in 2024, a video network creating educational content about business and global phenomena. The company operates flagship show "Business Explains the World" and "Real Big Machines," publishing approximately two episodes monthly on YouTube with distribution across TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, Discord, and Substack.
Dynamo targets "people building careers, companies, communities, and lives" with 10-to-15-minute explainer videos. The business model focuses on helping technology companies and business services providers reach decision-makers through creator-style marketing rather than traditional business media channels.
The company works with contractor networks including producers, hosts, editors, animators, and graphics artists. Content creation involves field research, expert interviews, and on-location filming. Dynamo prioritizes watch time and average view duration as key performance metrics over click-through rates, emphasizing quality over quantity in content production.
Jonathan Katz-Moses built Katz-Moses Tools into a company with 25 employees after starting with YouTube woodworking content in 2010. The Santa Barbara entrepreneur recently secured venture capital funding after years of bootstrapping, maintaining consistent annual growth for nearly a decade.
Katz-Moses developed his business model by creating products based on audience feedback rather than pursuing traditional sponsorships. His first product, a magnetic dovetail jig, generated his primary income for several years after he made a YouTube video demonstrating it.
The company produces content efficiently, creating 20-minute videos in four days from filming to publication. Katz-Moses and his business partner Marc streamlined operations across content creation, product development, and logistics to support rapid scaling.
Katz-Moses spent four years creating content before achieving profitability. He established the Katz-Moses Woodworkers with Disabilities Fund in 2019 and recently launched the Universal Sharpening Jig. The company plans to release multiple new products this holiday season while leveraging its VC funding to accelerate expansion.
Industry News
YouTube launched its "brand pulse report" on October 13, combining paid advertising and organic content performance data for marketers. The new measurement tool uses artificial intelligence to track brand mentions across the platform by detecting logos, product shots, and verbal references in creator content.
The report provides metrics including "Total Unique Viewers" and "% Share of Watch Time" within categories, enabling competitive benchmarking. It tracks how paid advertising drives organic video views and measures how combined exposure influences brand searches.
YouTube partnered with Influential to develop applications for the tool. The system captures both deliberate brand partnerships and incidental product mentions, allowing brands to boost popular organic videos through partnership ads.
The report remains available to select advertisers only. YouTube plans to announce wider availability details in coming months. The tool addresses analytics gaps for marketers seeking unified measurement across YouTube's paid and organic content ecosystem.
FOX Entertainment acquired an equity stake in Ukrainian vertical video company Holywater, which operates four platforms including My Drama vertical streaming service that reaches over 55 million users. FOX Entertainment Studios committed to creating more than 200 vertical video titles for Holywater's platform over two years, with initial productions "Billionaire Blackmail" and "Bound by Obsession" currently filming in Atlanta.
The partnership targets the growing vertical video market, which generated approximately $700 million in Q1 2025 revenue from short drama apps according to Sensor Tower, nearly quadrupling year-over-year. Global downloads of short drama apps exceeded 370 million in Q1 2025, with cumulative revenue approaching $2.3 billion since early 2024.
Holywater, founded in 2020, monetizes through subscriptions, transactional purchases, and advertising across its platforms. The Raine Group advised on the transaction, though financial terms were not disclosed. This follows FOX's June investment in The Lighthouse creator campus through Whalar Group.
The Podglomerate, an independent podcast services company founded in 2016, managed nearly 90 podcasts generating 30 million monthly downloads while remaining profitable during industry-wide layoffs and restructuring. The company, led by founder Jeff Umbro, operates three revenue streams: production services, audience development, and monetization strategy through ad sales for approximately 65 podcasts.
The Podglomerate employs nine full-time staff and allows creators to retain ownership of their content while providing professional support. The company recently secured NOTUS, a news organization founded by Politico co-founder Robert Allbritton, to launch its first podcast in November 2025.
Umbro attributed the company's stability to its diversified business model, where different revenue streams can offset losses in others. While major networks like Wondery underwent restructuring amid reduced advertising spending, The Podglomerate maintained consistent operations. The company uses measurement tools from Bumper to track verified listeners and engagement metrics beyond basic download counts.
The Signal Awards announced its fourth annual podcast honors on October 15, recognizing shows across multiple genres with listener voting surging 126% year-over-year. Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson's "IMO" podcast and Jon Stewart's "The Weekly Show" secured top honors, alongside creator-driven efforts including "Baby, This is Keke Palmer."
The awards recorded more than 385,000 votes from approximately 127,000 voters, marking substantial audience participation growth. Ashley Flowers, creator of "Crime Junkie," received the Audio Icon Award. Other winners included Katie Couric's "Next Question" for Best Host in News & Politics and "The Mel Robbins Podcast" for Best Guest.
iHeartPodcasts claimed "Podcast Company of the Year" for earning the most Signal Awards in 2025. The ceremony highlighted the expanding video podcast category with winners including "All There Is with Anderson Cooper" from CNN and "The Colin and Samir Show." International submissions expanded with entries from the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Qatar.
iKala Group partnered its AI influencer marketing platform Kolr with Japanese platform REECH to connect Japanese brands with global influencers. The integration provides REECH customers access to Kolr's database of over 300 million influencers across 190 countries, while REECH contributes its database of more than 600,000 domestic Japanese influencers.
The partnership addresses international expansion needs of Japanese businesses, with studies showing nearly 80 percent of Japanese companies are expanding internationally or planning to do so. More than half identify market intelligence as their primary overseas challenge.
Kolr processes nearly 6 billion social data points monthly across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X. The platform recently added pre-campaign evaluation features that allow brands to estimate post reach and engagement metrics for selected influencers. iKala currently serves more than 1,000 enterprises and 50,000 brands worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies.
TikTok announced plans to eliminate 439 content moderation positions in London, prompting calls for a UK parliamentary investigation from Labour MP Chi Onwurah, Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. The job cuts are part of a global reorganization of TikTok's Trust and Safety operations that began in 2024.
The platform confirmed it aims to concentrate operations in fewer locations while increasing reliance on artificial intelligence for content review. TikTok reported that automated systems already identify and remove 85% of content that violates community guidelines. The company will shift moderation work to AI systems and workers in Kenya and the Philippines.
Trade unions and online safety advocates, including the Trades Union Congress and Communication Workers Union, submitted a letter urging parliamentary investigation. They alleged union-busting tactics, noting the announcement came eight days before workers were scheduled to vote on union recognition. The letter cited TikTok's 40% revenue increase in the UK and Europe, questioning the business case for cuts affecting child safety on a platform with 30 million UK users.
Creator commerce platform Howl reached $100 million in creator payouts and facilitated $1.1 billion in sales within three years. The New York-based company, founded in 2022 by Li Haslett Chen, specializes in gaming, technology, and wellness categories through partnerships with Samsung, Target, and Walmart.
Howl targets high-consideration purchases where traditional affiliate programs offer limited monetization. The platform provides creators with real-time analytics and "Superlinks" technology for instant link generation and performance tracking. Its "Portfolios" feature gives creators access to exclusive product launches and promotional opportunities, resulting in conversion rates three times higher than industry standards.
Adobe research showed generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased 4,700% year-over-year in July 2025, supporting Howl's focus on AI-powered shopping guidance. Chen previously founded Narrativ and held board positions at Warner Bros. Discovery and American Express Digital. The company plans to double its creator base by end of 2026.
Social-first marketing group SAMY Alliance acquired Amsterdam-based social media agency team5pm in October 2025, expanding its European footprint. The Madrid-headquartered SAMY operates 20 offices serving 55 markets and added team5pm's operations in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Cape Town, and Warsaw to its network.
team5pm specializes in influencer marketing on YouTube, long-form content, and social SEO with a data-driven approach. The agency's existing leadership, including CEO Jelmer Wind, acquired stakes in SAMY and retained their positions while keeping the team5pm name temporarily.
The acquisition follows SAMY's April purchase of German agency Intermate, which added 250 employees across three German cities. Both deals were backed by majority shareholder Bridgepoint Group, which supported SAMY's international growth strategy after taking control in February 2025.
SAMY reported annual turnover exceeding €100 million in 2024. The transaction occurred during a surge in creator economy M&A activity, with deal volume jumping 73% year-over-year in the first half of 2025, according to Quartermast Advisors.
Meta expanded its AI-powered translation capabilities for Facebook and Instagram Reels on October 13, adding Hindi and Portuguese to its existing English and Spanish language support. The technology translates, dubs, and lip-syncs content while maintaining creators' original sound and tone.
The service is available to Facebook creators with at least 1,000 followers and all public Instagram accounts in countries where Meta AI operates. The translation feature is free and includes optional lip-syncing functionality to align translated audio with creators' mouth movements.
Meta's expansion comes as YouTube advanced its own AI dubbing capabilities in December 2024, rolling out automatic dubbing from English into eight languages including Hindi and Portuguese. YouTube's system focuses initially on educational content creators and allows videos to be dubbed without additional creator work.
All translated reels display a "Translated with Meta AI" label, and users can disable translations or choose original language viewing through platform settings. Meta indicated more languages will be added as part of its strategy to connect global audiences.
Content creators are transforming from influencers into business moguls, with MrBeast earning more from his Feastables chocolate brand's $250 million in sales than from YouTube despite 444 million subscribers. The creator economy, worth $250 billion, is attracting venture capital through new investment models. Slow Ventures raised $64 million to invest directly in creators via holding companies, taking equity in their multiple ventures.
UK creator Grace Beverley exemplifies this trend with four companies including venture-backed Tala. Unlike traditional brand deals, creators are building lasting value through ownership. With over 700 creators seeking funding from Slow Ventures alone, this shift signals creators becoming serious competitors to traditional businesses they once promoted.
Wings Group Indonesia, a consumer goods manufacturer, partnered with AnyMind Group to execute data-driven influencer marketing campaigns through AnyMind's AnyTag platform. The partnership allows Wings Group to identify, engage, and track influencer campaigns for its Segar Dingin and Baby Happy brands in Indonesia.
AnyTag provides Wings Group with influencer discovery, campaign management, and performance analytics capabilities. The partnership addresses Indonesia's shifting influencer landscape, where nano-influencer market share increased from 5% in 2021 to 11% in 2024.
Indonesia has positioned itself as Southeast Asia's content production hub, with approximately 12 million creators producing 500,000 to one million pieces of content monthly according to GroupM-GOAT Indonesia. The country accounts for 25% of projected $100 billion GMV growth in emerging markets.
AnyMind Group, founded in 2016, completed 12 acquisitions globally including 2025 purchases of Vibula and NADESIKO. The Asia-Pacific creator economy is projected to surpass $75 billion by 2032, with the region's live commerce market expected to exceed $77 billion by 2030.
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Tiny external microphones have evolved from quirky accessories to essential creator tools, with brands like Miu Miu now sending branded versions to influencers. Beauty creator Hailey Anderson received a white Miu Miu lavalier mic alongside perfume samples, using it to deliver product reviews to her 180,000 TikTok followers.
These miniature devices, including rectangular lavaliers and square mics with "deadcat" covers, emerged post-pandemic as creators shifted from dance videos to original commentary. Pioneer Tinx popularized the trend for dating advice content, while Cara the Vet Tech used them to "interview" animals. Now ubiquitous across platforms, mini mics serve as conversation starters in celebrity interviews and aesthetic accessories that signal important announcements, though sound quality improvements remain secondary to their attention-grabbing appeal.
The creator economy experienced a division following the launches of Meta's Vibes tab and OpenAI's Sora app in October 2025. Meta built a scrollable stream of AI-created video, while OpenAI enabled on-demand AI video generation without cameras. These platforms forced creators to choose between embracing AI tools for faster content production or emphasizing human authenticity and vulnerability.
Creator agency Billion Dollar Boy hosted a London event highlighting this split. The discussion featured Danae Mercer, who built 2.2 million Instagram followers through honest content, and Omar Karim, an AI image maker exploring synthetic authorship. Industry executives noted creators are either adopting or rejecting AI based on their audience expectations and platform strategies.
Several consultancy leaders expressed concerns about AI-generated content quality. Leslie Morgan of Every Problem Solved said many creators worry about Sora eroding authenticity, while Thobey Campion of Lore Machine predicted human-driven content would ultimately prevail over "auto-generated content with no human inside."
Influencer marketing evolved from an experimental tactic to an essential component of brand marketing strategies, according to executives from Gap, Unilever, and Marriott speaking at Advertising Week New York. Casey DePalma McCartney, chief brand communications officer at Unilever US, said the approach shifted from tactical content needs to strategic consumer connection.
The marketing approach now spans multiple creator tiers including affiliates, niche communities, mid-tier creators, mega influencers, and celebrities, each requiring separate strategies and agencies. Damon Berger, head of consumer digital marketing at Gap Inc., noted this complexity means each level can have its own agency of record.
Brands increasingly blend internal teams with external partners, keeping long-term creator relationships and brand strategy in-house while outsourcing large-scale campaigns. The integration of commerce capabilities, particularly through platforms like TikTok Shop, transformed influencer marketing from brand awareness to direct sales, according to Berger.
YouTube creator Dhar Mann is revolutionizing influencer marketing by producing scripted moral stories that integrate brands directly into narratives. His studio charges $125,000-$150,000 per episode integration, creating five hours of weekly content reaching 145 million followers across platforms. At Advertising Week, Mann demonstrated real-time brand integration with Old Navy, transforming their brief into a storyline about budget-conscious fashion.
Unlike traditional influencer content, Mann's approach makes brands story characters rather than interruptions. His audience spans 13-21 year-olds, is 60% multicultural, and drives family co-viewing. During a CMO session, executives competed to pitch brand stories, with winners earning free episode integration. This model represents a shift from skippable ads to emotional storytelling that builds authentic brand connections.
Lara Sophie Bothur created a new corporate role at Deloitte Germany, becoming the consulting firm's first full-time corporate influencer in 2022. Bothur started as a business analyst in February 2021 before transitioning to what Deloitte initially called "Voice for Innovation."
In her corporate influencer role, Bothur generated 400 million LinkedIn impressions globally last year, which she valued at $13 million in marketing value, and produced 10,000 marketing leads for Deloitte. Her work directly resulted in new business, including a cloud transformation project from a company that discovered Deloitte's Google Cloud partnership through her posts.
Bothur left Deloitte in summer 2025 to work freelance with multiple technology companies including SAP, Salesforce, AWS, Meta, and HP. Deloitte Germany now employs approximately 250 part-time corporate influencers who Bothur trained on LinkedIn strategies, with two achieving LinkedIn Top Voice status.
TikTok faced uncertainty over its planned U.S. spin-off while new AI-powered competitors entered the short-form video market. The U.S. version raised concerns about recreating TikTok's algorithm with only 170 million American users, creating a smaller content pool compared to the global platform.
OpenAI's Sora video generation app reached the top of Apple's App Store rankings after launch. The invite-only platform requires users to create personal "Cameo" videos before accessing other content. However, advertisers showed limited interest due to the absence of advertising options and brand safety concerns around AI-generated content.
Meta also launched Vibes, an AI-generated video feed competing in the same space. Both AI platforms faced challenges around advertiser adoption, with industry observers noting difficulties in distinguishing clickable ads within entirely artificial content environments.
Advertisers remained cautious about TikTok's transition while continuing to invest due to strong ad performance. Industry analysts noted that regardless of platform challenges, marketers typically follow audience migration patterns when user bases reach critical mass.
Spotter, a creator funding company that provides capital to YouTubers in exchange for licensing their back catalogs, reported that 78% of watch time for its long-form creators now occurs on connected TVs. The company has deployed nearly $1 billion to creators using predictive models to forecast viewership and revenue potential.
Nic Paul, Spotter's co-founder and president, said top YouTube creators are operating like "TV networks" and producing serialized content that commands appointment viewing. He noted that one family-focused creator in Spotter's portfolio ranked as the eighth most-streamed show across all US streaming platforms in 2024.
Paul emphasized that creators are building sustained intellectual property and ongoing franchises with predictable audience loyalty. He argued that advertisers must adopt TV-style metrics like completed views and frequency rather than clicks when measuring CTV creator content performance. The shift represents creators evolving from individuals into full-fledged media companies competing directly with traditional television networks for viewer attention.