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- Influence Weekly #421 - Creator Economy Jobs December 2025: Twitch, Adobe, Lowe’s Hiring Spree Caps Year Of Professionalization
Influence Weekly #421 - Creator Economy Jobs December 2025: Twitch, Adobe, Lowe’s Hiring Spree Caps Year Of Professionalization
Why Lowe’s Is Betting On A Creator Network To Turn DIY Into Social Commerce
Nii Ahene
December 26, 2025
Spotlight Stories
Creator Economy Jobs December 2025: Twitch, Adobe, Lowe’s Hiring Spree Caps Year Of Professionalization
Instagram’s Algorithm Reset Clarifies The Rules, But Raises The Stakes For Creators
Why Lowe’s Is Betting On A Creator Network To Turn DIY Into Social Commerce
LinkedIn Bets On Games To Build Professional Connections, Daily Habits
Great Reads
NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani topped Instagram's November growth charts with 6.2 million new followers, bringing his total to 11 million after winning the mayoral election as the city's first Muslim mayor. MrBeast added 2.2 million followers to reach 81.5 million total, ranking second despite his larger follower base.
Netflix's "Stranger Things" Season 5 finale on November 26 drove growth for multiple cast-related accounts. Noah Schnapp gained 1.5 million followers, Sadie Sink added 1.3 million, and actress Cara Buono gained 477,000. A Joe Keery fan account increased by 842,000 followers.
Political figures benefited from election momentum, with Donald Trump adding 982,000 followers to reach 39.2 million total. Platform accounts also grew, with Instagram's official account gaining 1.5 million followers and Netflix US adding 538,000. Creator Jordan Howlett rounded out the top performers with 1 million new followers, reaching 15.8 million total.
Tel Aviv-based AI creator platform Humanz raised $15 million and acquired two companies to expand its U.S. market presence. The funding round brought Humanz's total capital raised to $32 million and was backed by previous investors and new institutional funds.
Humanz acquired Ubiquitous, which brings established brand relationships and an influencer network, and Bambassadors, which specializes in user-generated content technology and performance marketing tools. The company said it plans to use the funds for AI product development and at least three additional acquisitions in early 2026.
Humanz operates an all-in-one platform that consolidates creator economy tools, enabling brands to discover creators, manage campaigns, coordinate content approvals, process payments, and track performance analytics. The platform supports more than one million creators and has grown 250% year-over-year.
The company works with brands including Google, L'Oréal, McDonald's, Nestlé, P&G, Unilever, and Zara. Humanz said it has facilitated millions of collaborations generating hundreds of millions in attributable sales.
Creator economy hiring accelerated in December 2025 as traditional retailers and specialized platforms expanded their creator operations. Twitch launched 11-month contractor roles for bilingual Creator Outreach Associates, paying $31-$39 hourly to identify and onboard emerging talent with Japanese fluency requirements.
Fortune 500 retailers built in-house influencer teams, with Lowe's hiring an Assistant Manager of Influencer Marketing in Mooresville and Advantice Health appointing an Influencer + Creator Lead for skincare brands including Kerasal and AmLactin, offering $90,000-$120,000 salaries. Adobe introduced an 8-week Student Athlete Micro Internship Program for social media influencer work, paying $25-$30 hourly for 25 hours weekly.
Specialized platforms strengthened creator support infrastructure. Fanfix hired a Creator Success Coordinator at $30 hourly, while Thunkable sought a Head of Creator Success for $100,000-$210,000. Gaming platform GameGrid recruited an Influencer & UGC Lead for $50,000-$90,000.
Direct creator opportunities emerged through specialized job boards, with YouTube creators including John Rusanov and MySwimPro offering remote editing positions ranging from $10-$50 per project.
Campaign Insights
Lowe's reached 26,000 members in its creator network launched earlier this year, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Wilson announced. The home improvement retailer moved away from one-off influencer partnerships toward a programmatic model blending affiliate monetization with brand safety vetting and creator coaching. The network accepts creators with at least 10,000 followers and focuses heavily on micro-influencers with 50,000 to 100,000 followers.
Wilson said Lowe's tracks traffic and revenue as primary metrics, using creators as a customer proxy to identify business issues like delivery costs and product gaps. The company hosted feedback sessions where creators discuss assortment and fulfillment directly with internal teams.
Lowe's Black Friday campaign through the network generated over 60 million views and drove 6% traffic growth compared to 0.3% for a primary competitor, according to Placer AI data. The retailer offered 50 loyalty buckets per store filled with nearly $100 worth of merchandise plus golden tickets for $2,000 appliances. Wilson credited the creator network as the campaign's difference maker.
Debt.com President Don Silvestri announced the company has reimagined its FinTalk Awards to reflect changing consumer behavior in financial education. Debt.com, a consumer platform focused on credit card debt and bankruptcy assistance, repositioned the awards to recognize creators across multiple platforms rather than focusing solely on TikTok content.
Silvestri stated that traditional financial authority has shifted from banks and advisors to social media creators who share personal financial experiences. The company now operates as both a fintech platform and content-driven business, connecting users with financial creators and vetted providers based on individual situations.
The 2025 FinTalk Awards expanded beyond short-form video to include podcasts, YouTube content, and newsletters. Silvestri noted the awards received numerous quality submissions from creators reaching global audiences. Debt.com plans to explore physical award ceremonies to build community among financial creators and potentially expand collaboration in the sector.
Trip.com Group launched Trip Community in December 2025, a unified platform consolidating six existing creator products including Trip.Moments, Influencer 4 Biz, and Trip.Planner. The Singapore-based online travel agency created a CNY 100 million ($14 million) incentive fund to support creator monetization through traffic rewards, sales commissions, and brand collaboration payouts.
The platform connects over 12,000 verified creators called Trip.Pals with more than 500,000 travel brands and suppliers across 170 countries. Trip.Moments, launched in 2019, reached 2.5 million users globally as of October 2025. Commercial matches between creators and merchants grew 80% month-on-month in the past year, while total collaboration value doubled.
The incentive program currently operates in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. Trip.com plans European expansion in 2026, starting with Italy, France, and Spain. The company reported average monthly creator activity increased over 45% throughout 2025.
Instagram launched "Your Algorithm" on December 10, allowing users to view and customize content topics for Reels in the United States, with broader English-language expansion planned. The transparency tool represents a shift from behavioral inference to explicit preference signaling, enabling users to add or remove interests and reset recommendations entirely.
The platform formalized its move away from hashtag-based discovery, discontinuing hashtag following and feed integration. Instagram now prioritizes keyword-based discovery through bio text, captions, alt text, and closed captions. The algorithm emphasizes topical consistency, penalizing accounts that post across unrelated themes while rewarding niche-focused creators.
Carousel posts continue outperforming single-image content, and the platform maintains penalties for low-value reposting and templated content. Early engagement signals carry increased weight in distribution decisions. Meta plans to expand "Your Algorithm" beyond Reels to Feed and Explore sections in 2026, with more granular interest categories and enhanced creator analytics expected.
Kitchen appliance maker Ninja partnered with creative agency Movers+Shakers on the CREAMi Celebration Squad campaign, which used 17 creators to amplify existing user-generated content around its ice cream maker rather than create traditional sponsored posts. The fall 2025 campaign generated 6 million views, 275,000 engagements, and a 7.4% engagement rate over two weeks.
The campaign selected fan recipes from Ninja's organic community and provided them to creators including Morgan Evelyn Cook, Tom McGovern, Jason Rodello, and UK-based Tim Cheese. Each creator recreated fan recipes while crediting the original recipe creators in their posts across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook. The 64 pieces of content were produced in six weeks.
Sarah Gerrish from Movers+Shakers said the strategy addressed brands' challenge of maintaining authenticity when products already have organic momentum. The campaign required creators to actually use the product, including overnight ingredient preparation, prioritizing credibility over reach. All fan recipe creators provided consent before their recipes appeared in paid content.
QVC dominated TikTok Shop rankings in November 2025 with $25.54 million in revenue, marking a 178.8% increase from October. The home shopping network sold 442,500 items at an average price of $57.73, securing its fourth consecutive month at the top position.
Korean skincare brand medicube US Store held second place with $22.46 million in revenue, posting 44.3% growth while selling 549,080 items. Shark Home ranked third with $11.92 million despite a 25.2% decline from its October performance.
Ninja Kitchen recorded the month's highest growth rate at 368.1%, generating $8.40 million in revenue from just 36,880 items sold at a premium average price of $227.62. Beauty brands Dr.Melaxin Global and Tarte Cosmetics also secured spots in the top 10, with revenues of $11.71 million and $7.98 million respectively.
POPMART US Shop entered the rankings at tenth place with $7.02 million, replacing Goli Nutrition from the previous month's list.
ASOS relaunched its ASOS Insiders influencer programme in February 2024 after shutting it down in 2020 during the pandemic. The UK-based fashion retailer selected 36 influencers to curate fashion picks and share style tips with customers across Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The programme targets 20-something consumers and forms part of ASOS's updated marketing strategy aimed at rebuilding brand engagement. ASOS chose influencers based on their individual style and knowledge of fashion trends.
Dan Elton, Senior Customer Director at ASOS, said the company wanted to create authentic connections with customers through its own employees who are fashion enthusiasts. The selected insiders can also participate in ASOS marketing campaigns and become faces of brand promotions.
The relaunch comes as ASOS works to remind customers of its multi-brand marketplace positioning and reignite interest in the platform among its core demographic.
Listerine partnered with three Twitch creators to transform mouthwash sounds into music through livestreams running from New Year's Eve through January 9. The Kenvue-owned brand enlisted drummer officedrummer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist mcd00dle for individual two-hour streams where each creator developed 30-second song snippets using Listerine sound packs.
The creators united in Los Angeles on January 9, known as Quitter's Day, to collaborate on a final soundtrack. That completed track served as audio content for Amazon Ads campaigns. Listerine supported the "Wash Your Mouth Your Way" campaign with paid media on Twitch, including headliner placements and targeted display ads plus 15-second brand spots during programming.
The timing targeted New Year's resolutions and Quitter's Day when consumers typically abandon their commitments. The campaign built on similar sonic branding efforts, following PepsiCo's Tostitos 2022 campaign that used chip crunching sounds for an audio logo that drove 38% brand recall improvement.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation on December 11, 2025 requiring advertisers to disclose when AI-generated "synthetic performers" appear in commercials, effective June 2026. The law applies to advertisers and agencies, imposing $1,000 fines for first violations and $5,000 for subsequent violations.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists supported the legislation amid concerns that video-generating AI applications like OpenAI's Sora would replace human performers. The law exempts audio advertisements, language translation uses, and promotional materials for entertainment content.
Hours later, President Trump issued an executive order seeking to halt state AI laws that create "a patchwork of 50 different regulatory regimes." The order directs the Attorney General to establish a task force challenging state AI laws and threatens to withhold federal broadband funding from states with "onerous AI laws."
Law firm Davis+Gilbert reported the executive order will likely face legal challenges over its enforceability without congressional action.
Interesting People
TikTok held its first U.S. Awards ceremony on December 18 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, with food reviewer Keith Lee winning Creator of the Year. The event streamed live on TikTok's official account and on streaming platform Tubi, which served as the official streaming partner and made the ceremony available on demand the following day.
Lee, who reviews small businesses on TikTok, accepted the top honor saying the platform allowed him to showcase restaurants across the country. Other winners included Bretman Rock for Video of the Year and DJ Paris Hilton for Muse of the Year. Jeremiah Brown, a former Love Island USA contestant, won Rising Star of the Year in a category sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics.
The ceremony featured multiple content categories including beauty, education, TikTok Shop, and activism awards. Grammy winner Ciara performed songs including "Goodies" and "Level Up." The event operated under the theme "New Era, New Icons" and included viral moment recreations and interactive elements for the live audience of hundreds of creators.
Creator marketing agency Influencer hired Ryan Fitzpatrick as Chief Financial Officer to manage the financial systems needed for scaling its creator payment infrastructure. Fitzpatrick joined after spending a decade in global agency finance, most recently at VaynerMedia and VaynerX, where he built financial systems for social-first organizations.
The appointment signals Influencer's shift from experimental creator campaigns to enterprise-level operations requiring working capital management for creator payments. The agency faces cash flow challenges common in creator marketing, where agencies pay creators quickly while waiting longer for brand payments.
Fitzpatrick's mandate includes pricing strategy, commercial finance functions, and advancing Waves, Influencer's proprietary platform for campaign and payment automation. His priorities include embedding finance partners within client services teams and building AI-driven automation to increase operational efficiency. The role reflects broader pressures on agency models as AI reshapes resourcing and brands move toward shorter project engagements, requiring new commercial structures beyond traditional rate card approaches.
Formula 1 photographer and content creator Kym Illman generated 1.36 billion views across four social media platforms in 2025, gaining 626,000 followers. Illman posted 4,234 pieces of content throughout the year, including 166 long-form YouTube videos, 468 YouTube shorts, 2,000 Instagram posts, 1,000 Instagram reels, 600 TikTok posts, and 3,600 Facebook posts.
YouTube delivered revenue between three and five figures per video, while Facebook also provided monetization. Instagram and TikTok generated no direct revenue for Illman, who attributed TikTok's lack of earnings to the absence of a creator fund in Australia.
Platform performance varied: YouTube accumulated 56 million views, Instagram generated approximately one billion annual views, TikTok delivered 96 million views, and Facebook generated 210 million views. Growth rates reached 48% on Instagram, 40% on YouTube, 119% on Facebook, and 18% on TikTok. Male viewers comprised 88% of YouTube's audience and 66% on Instagram and TikTok, with the 25-34 age group representing the largest demographic across platforms.
Jon Youshaei, former YouTube and Instagram product marketing executive, launched Boring Stuff on December 9, a creator-focused accounting and operations company. The service provides bookkeeping, tax preparation, financial reporting, and back-office support designed specifically for content creators.
Youshaei developed the company throughout 2025 alongside business partner Amanda Marcovitch after identifying financial mismanagement as a threat to creator sustainability. The company has supported creators ranging from early-stage independents to established YouTube channels, with Youshaei serving as a test user for the service.
Boring Stuff operates as a modular service offering accounting and bookkeeping as primary services, with optional add-ons for business formation and payroll. The company targets creators who struggle with financial infrastructure as their businesses professionalize, addressing issues like missed tax deductions, late filings, and lack of per-video profitability tracking. Youshaei positions the service as addressing operational burnout rather than creative burnout in the creator economy.
Canadian immigration consultant Leila Zare led Instagram growth in Canada during November 2025, adding 492,000 followers to reach 511,000 total followers. The regulated Canadian immigration consultant helps primarily Farsi-speaking clients navigate Canadian visas and residency requirements.
Kindness creator Zachery Dereniowski, known as MDMotivator, gained 402,000 followers to reach 8.6 million total. Punjabi musician Karan Aujla added 349,000 followers for 12.1 million total, while inline skating creator Alexei Morita gained 313,000 followers to reach 1.1 million.
Pop duo Crash Adams rounded out the top five with 214,000 new followers, bringing their total to 3.8 million. Other notable gainers included fitness influencer Aishah Sofey, Toronto Blue Jays player Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and miniature artist Maryinthefairyland.
The data from HypeAuditor showed Canadian Instagram growth concentrated among creators providing practical services, emotional content, and niche entertainment rather than traditional celebrity accounts.
Kyasia Watson became the first recipient of the British Fashion Council's Fashion Award for Metaverse Design in 2021 after building a virtual fashion business on Roblox spanning 13 years. Watson, known as "cSapphire," has partnered with brands including Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, L'Oréal, Netflix, Walmart, and Crocs to design digital clothing within the gaming platform.
Watson joined Roblox in 2009 at age eight and received her first brand collaboration with Gucci in 2020. Her initial Developer Exchange payout in 2018 totaled several hundred dollars. She left nursing school during the pandemic to pursue Roblox creation full-time as brand demand accelerated.
In early 2023, Watson transitioned from 2D clothing design to 3D modeling through Roblox's user-generated content program, which allows higher pricing for virtual accessories. She earns income through both brand partnerships and direct sales to users, with Roblox increasing its Developer Exchange rate by 8.5% in 2025 to improve creator monetization.
Industry News
Acast, a Stockholm-based podcast advertising platform, acquired Wake Word Studios, a Munich and Berlin-based podcast production company, on December 23. Wake Word Studios will rebrand as Acast Creative Studios following the transaction. The acquisition brings 50 podcast titles with more than two million monthly listens to Acast's network.
Wake Word Studios was founded in 2019 and has received awards including the "Deutscher Podcast Preis" and "Apple Podcast of the Year." Germany's podcast advertising market is forecast to reach nearly €79 million in 2025, according to the OVK-Report 2025/02.
The acquisition includes Wake Word's media-planning platform Podius, which will continue operating independently for German advertisers. Ruben Schulze-Fröhlich, Wake Word's founder, will become head of Acast Creative Studios Germany and remain part of Podius management. Acast operates a marketplace spanning 140,000 podcasts, 3,300 advertisers, and 1 billion quarterly listens.
iHeartMedia announced December 22 that it will launch free video podcast distribution through its iHeartRadio platform in early 2026. The media company, which operates one of the largest podcast networks, will allow creators to upload both video and audio content via standard RSS feeds without requiring revenue sharing.
The platform expansion coincides with iHeartMedia's exclusive video rights partnership with Netflix, which begins early 2026. Netflix gained exclusive video distribution rights to more than 15 iHeartMedia podcasts while iHeartMedia retains audio-only rights.
Popular shows moving to Netflix include "The Breakfast Club," which has surpassed one billion downloads, and "My Favorite Murder," with approximately two billion lifetime downloads. Creators using the new iHeartMedia platform can choose their own video hosting providers and maintain full control over monetization strategies, mirroring the company's current audio distribution model.
Meta's Threads launched podcast previews, allowing users to upload short audio clips that play directly in the platform's feed. The feature builds on existing podcast integration that currently links users to external platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Connor Hayes, head of Threads, told Bloomberg the company wants to become the primary destination for podcast discussion rather than a hosting platform.
Meta tested this approach through live events, including hosting basketball podcast "All The Smoke" in Los Angeles and inviting influencers to post reactions on Threads. Hayes said similar events are planned around sports and reality television podcasts.
Threads reached 150 million daily active users and 400 million monthly active users as of August 2025, up from 175 million monthly users at its first anniversary. Mobile usage data from Similarweb showed Threads reached 115.1 million daily mobile users in June, a 128% year-over-year increase, while X declined 15% to 132 million daily mobile users. Research from Metricool found podcast-related posts generated comment rates 229% higher on YouTube, 2,431% higher on Instagram, and 1,849% higher on Facebook compared to platform averages.
Digital talent management company Fixated secured a follow-on investment from Eldridge Industries, bringing its total available capital to over $50 million, the company announced December 22. This builds on Eldridge's initial $10 million investment completed in March 2025 as part of a $12.8 million funding round. Eldridge, led by CEO Todd Boehly, now holds what the company called a "vast minority" stake.
The funding will support Fixated's acquisition strategy across talent representation, content production, distribution, and creator infrastructure. Fixated was founded in 2023 by former FaZe Clan president Zach Katz and TalentX co-founder Jason Wilhelm. The company manages creators including Zach Justice, Twitch streamer Sketch, chess influencers Andrea and Alexandra Botez, and contortionist Sofie Dossi, who has 12.4 million TikTok followers.
Fixated operates an in-house studio and 25,000-plus clipping and distribution network, providing content development, production, brand partnerships, and platform monetization services. Eldridge Industries' portfolio includes A24, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a stake in The Hollywood Reporter.
G&B Digital Management signed four lifestyle creators for representation in December 2025, expanding its roster that manages more than 100 content creators. The Los Angeles-based firm, founded in 2015 by Kyle Hjelmeseth, has secured approximately $100 million in brand partnerships with companies including Chanel, Dior, Target, Estée Lauder, Walmart, and Disney.
The new signings include Eva Amurri, daughter of actress Susan Sarandon, who operates the lifestyle blog "Happily Eva After" with 529,000 social media followers and nearly 2 million annual website visitors. Her content has generated more than 14 million video views across platforms.
Real estate agent Eric Goldie, ranked the number-one real estate agent on social media for two consecutive years by Property Spark, brings 745,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. Interior designer Kellie Brown operates "Deeply Madly Modern" with 325,000 followers, while TikTok creator Mark O'Brien has accumulated more than 469,000 followers as the platform's "Brownstone Whisperer." The creators aim to expand their social media presence through partnerships and develop long-term business strategies under G&B's management.
Collective Voice, a creator monetization platform serving 140,000 creators and 22,000 brands, announced it will shut down operations after more than a decade. The company disclosed the closure in December 2025, ending a platform that launched in 2008 as ShopStyle Collective before rebranding in March 2023.
The platform provided creators with affiliate tools, brand partnership opportunities, and educational resources through features including link-in-bio storefronts, automated direct messages, and real-time analytics dashboards. Collective Voice operated as a marketplace connecting creators with brand partners across multiple verticals, expanding beyond its initial fashion focus.
The company reported 23% year-over-year revenue growth in 2023 and launched a Creator-in-Residence program in March 2025 that resulted in 42% increased creator retention. Campaign revenue more than doubled from 2019 levels. Recent product updates included a Gifting Portal for brand samples and AI-powered Instagram automation tools. Brand partners included Biossance and Newell Brands.
TikTok Shop's top 10 creators earned $20.21 million in November 2025, representing a 78% increase from October's $11.34 million total. @dealswithty led with $4.87 million, up 191% from October's $1.67 million despite gaining only 12% more followers to reach 127,400.
@hannahbentley placed second with $1.94 million despite having just 29,900 followers and starting on TikTok Shop in January 2025. @highland.fashion7 earned $1.90 million in third place, while @myfamilypov took fourth with $1.81 million.
Two creators tied for fifth place at $1.65 million each: @be.lush and @sarahgibbons_. Mikayla Nogueira ranked seventh with $1.63 million despite having the largest following at 17.4 million. @magnificentwalnut earned $1.58 million with only 50,400 followers after joining in August 2024.
Four creators on the list joined TikTok Shop in 2025, demonstrating the platform's accessibility to newcomers in the social commerce space.
LinkedIn expanded its gaming strategy by launching five puzzle games designed to build daily engagement habits on the professional networking platform. The company introduced Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Queens in May 2024, later adding Tango and Zip to create a complete gaming portfolio.
The games produced strong retention metrics, with 84% of players returning the next day after first playing and 80% returning within a week, according to LinkedIn Senior Product Manager Nicholas Pezarro. Each puzzle takes under five minutes to complete and refreshes daily, mimicking successful formats like Wordle.
LinkedIn leveraged its professional data to create competitive leaderboards comparing users against colleagues, industry contacts, and alumni networks. The games transformed solitary activities into social conversation starters while maintaining the platform's professional identity.
The company does not monetize the games directly but uses them to increase overall platform engagement and advertiser value. LinkedIn historically functioned as a situational tool during career transitions but aims to become a daily destination through gaming-driven habit formation.
ByteDance formed a joint venture with American and global investors including Oracle for TikTok's U.S. operations to prevent a U.S. ban and reduce trade tensions. The arrangement allows ByteDance to retain ownership of TikTok's U.S. operations while ceding control of user data, content, and algorithm to the new joint venture.
The joint venture will manage U.S. user data and the algorithm, while ByteDance retains a separate division for revenue-generating operations like e-commerce and advertising. Former National Security Council member Rush Doshi noted uncertainty about whether the algorithm will be transferred, licensed, or remain under Beijing's control, with Oracle potentially only providing oversight.
ByteDance had previously indicated it would close the U.S. app rather than part with the algorithm. The Chinese government has not taken a position on this deal, though previous laws give it approval rights over algorithm exports. Research indicates TikTok's algorithm recommends content outside users' known interests 30% to 50% of the time to enhance engagement.
Sports apparel brand Oakley renewed its partnership with Australian PR and influencer marketing agency Always Human, extending a relationship that began in 2016. Always Human serves as Oakley's lead PR partner in Australia, managing PR strategy, social talent seeding, and integrated campaign execution across performance sports, fashion, and lifestyle segments.
The agency executed several brand initiatives for Oakley in 2025, including 50th-anniversary activities and the launch of the Oakley Meta Vanguard product line. Always Human implemented earned storytelling, strategic partnerships, and social-first activations to support Oakley's market positioning in Australia.
The partnership renewal reflects broader social media engagement trends in Australia. Research from Sprout Social indicates that 91% of Australian consumers rely on social media as their primary channel for tracking trends and cultural movements, with Instagram leading at 54% adoption. Always Human will continue leading PR and cultural strategy as Oakley focuses on athlete-led campaigns, innovation storytelling, and cultural integration in 2026.
StreetTalk, a creative agency specializing in street-interview video content, appointed Jesse Eisenberg as Chief Executive Officer. Eisenberg joined from Tinuiti, where he served as Chief Growth Officer for 17 years and helped scale the performance marketing agency from $1 million to more than $200 million in revenue through multiple exits.
StreetTalk, formerly known as 203 Media, produces unscripted street-interview content for brands including Dr. Squatch and NOBS. The agency calls its approach "Conversation Creative" and positions it as an alternative to AI-generated content and influencer-based marketing campaigns.
The appointment supports StreetTalk's expansion strategy as it aims to scale operations and grow its advertising industry presence. The agency works with brands across consumer packaged goods, consumer apps and services, food and beverage, health and wellness, and entertainment sectors, distributing content across digital, social, paid media, and experiential channels.
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Unilever announced in March 2025 that it would work with 20 times the number of influencers it previously used and allocate half of its ad budget to social media, up from 30%. CEO Fernando Fernández said in December the company now works with close to 300,000 influencers globally.
The announcement sparked increased influencer marketing investment across the industry. Companies including General Mills, SharkNinja, Victoria's Secret, Gap, Allbirds, and Bath & Body Works detailed plans to increase influencer budgets during recent earnings calls.
A July survey by influencer marketing agency Linqia found 62% of 200 marketers planned to increase influencer budgets in 2026. US advertiser spending on creators reached $37 billion in 2025, a 26% year-over-year increase, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
The shift created pricing pressure in certain market segments. Macro-influencers with 100,000-plus followers commanded higher fees, while user-generated content creators faced downward pressure as supply increased 93% year-over-year, according to influencer marketplace Collabstr.
A medical spa owner learned a costly lesson about influencer marketing after partnering with a social media personality who had over 300,000 followers. The influencer received approximately $10,000 in free services in exchange for promotional posts. Despite fulfilling the agreement with proper posts and tags, the campaign generated zero booked appointments. The entrepreneur discovered the influencer's audience consisted largely of men interested in lifestyle content, not potential medical aesthetics patients.
The key mistake was conflating follower count with business results. The founder now recommends evaluating three factors before influencer partnerships: audience alignment with target customers, proven track record driving similar business results, and testing small collaborations before committing significant resources. The experience highlighted that visibility doesn't equal viability in marketing investments.
TikTok's U.S. operations are being acquired by a consortium led by Oracle in a deal valued at roughly fourteen billion dollars, significantly below earlier estimates of thirty-five to fifty billion. The joint venture will be majority-owned by American investors, with Oracle, Silver Lake Management, and Abu Dhabi's MGX each holding fifteen percent stakes. ByteDance retains nineteen-point-nine percent ownership while thirty percent goes to existing ByteDance investor affiliates.
The deal addresses national security law requirements mandating ByteDance reduce its stake below twenty percent by January twenty-second. TikTok's algorithm will be leased from ByteDance and retrained using U.S. data under Oracle's oversight, with American users' information stored in Oracle-managed secure cloud servers. ByteDance will lose access to U.S. subscriber data and algorithm control. The valuation represents a price-to-sales ratio comparable to mature low-growth companies, despite TikTok generating over ten billion in annual revenue.