According to Forbes, the IAB’s new Creator Economy Ad Spend Report projects a massive $37 billion in creator-media investment for 2025, growing four times faster than total media investment. The study surveyed over 450 U.S. advertisers across enterprise, mid-market and emerging brands, revealing that nearly 48% now consider creators a must-buy channel, ranking third behind only search and social. Retail leads with $12.3 billion in planned creator spending, a 38% year-over-year increase, while CPG follows at $5.5 billion representing 24% growth. Nine of ten major advertising categories are expected to invest over $1 billion in creator media next year, marking a fundamental shift from traditional television budgets to creator-driven content.
From Social to Entertainment
Here’s the thing – Instagram, TikTok and YouTube aren’t really social networks anymore. They’re entertainment platforms. Connor McKenna from Luma Partners dropped a stunning stat: on Instagram, only 7% of time is spent on friends’ content. The other 93% goes to creators, video and recommended content. That completely changes the game for brands. When the feed becomes entertainment, everything reorganizes around it. People aren’t there to connect with friends – they’re there to be entertained, just like they used to watch TV.
The Infrastructure Unlock
So how do you turn creator content into something enterprise brands can actually budget for? The platforms had to rebuild their systems. They created a layer that routes creator programming into paid media with the controls, targeting and accountability that big companies demand. Ian Schafer from Ensemble put it perfectly: “Think about all of this through the lens of media, not influencer work.” His company delivers everything through insertion orders – the same way brands buy traditional media. That means guaranteed reach, measurable delivery, and most importantly, accountability that unlocks those enterprise budgets.
Why This Matters Now
Look, creator marketing grew fast but the operational sophistication didn’t. Teams had tools, not systems. They could execute campaigns but couldn’t build anything consistent because the infrastructure didn’t exist. No proper tech stack, no connected workflow. Now that the industry is building the missing infrastructure, we’re seeing accelerated growth. It’s what pulls those enterprise budgets into the system and pushes that $37 billion curve forward even faster. The platforms have essentially created the media marketplace that fragmentation usually signals – and when media fragments, technology and dollars follow.
The New TV Networks
Remember when brands built their presence through must-see TV like Friends and Seinfeld? That era is over. Younger consumers shifted their attention to creator-driven entertainment, and social scrolling became the new channel surfing. But here’s the crucial evolution: platforms have adapted to function like entertainment networks with creator content as the programming. Cricket Wireless’s Making It series shows what this looks like – it premiered on their YouTube channel with extensions on TikTok and Instagram, running through paid media rails for guaranteed reach. Basically, we’re watching the birth of the next major media channel, and it’s happening inside the feed.
