First-order effects

• Advertisers are expected to direct a larger share of incremental media budgets toward creator partnerships, paid social distribution, and creator-produced video rather than the media market’s slower-growing segments.
• Creators, agencies, and platforms that package creator inventory gain a stronger basis for pricing and sales planning, though the $37B figure remains an IAB forecast rather than reported spend.

Second-order effects

• Media sellers and ad agencies face pressure to show that their inventory can deliver comparable audience engagement, targeting, and measurement as creator campaigns.
• Faster creator-budget growth increases demand for the operational layer around campaigns—talent representation, production, brand-safety controls, attribution, and payment systems—rather than benefiting creators alone.

Third-order effects

• If creator spending continues to outgrow overall media budgets, creator distribution is likely to become a core media-buying channel with more formalized buying, measurement, and compliance requirements.
• The broader shift is toward advertising bought around individuals and their audiences, making platforms’ control of creator reach and campaign data increasingly important to industry power.