By Andy Oakes and Justin Pearse
The creator economy is no longer a side channel to the media mix. It is a core part of how brands reach audiences, how agencies earn their fees, and how publishers hold on to relevance. New Digital Age is launching Creator Age because the industry needs a dedicated place to understand that shift.
Let’s start with the numbers. In the US, the IAB puts creator ad spend at $37 billion in 2025, rising to a projected $43.9 billion this year. In the UK, IAB UK’s first study sizing the market found creator partnership revenue reached £966m in 2025, up 20.1%, and forecasts it will pass £1bn for the first time this year, rising 26% to £1.2bn.
That is where agencies come in. The best are redefining their role in the creator relationship. Many of the holdcos have built influencer arms, others have acquired specialist shops, and a growing number position themselves as strategic partners that connect creators to brand objectives. The work goes beyond mere matchmaking; it’s much more about negotiating long-term partnerships over one-off posts, managing usage rights and brand safety, and helping creators produce work that feels native to their audience while serving a campaign goal. With 93% of UK brands and agencies expecting to increase influencer spend over the next 12 months, the pressure to do this well will grow.
Of course, this is advertising and therefore none of this works without proof and measurement. Creator partnerships account for around 2.4% of the UK’s £40.5bn digital adspend, and as that share grows, so will scrutiny from finance directors and CMOs. Measurement and analytics are vital, and being honest, still unfinished business. Only 38% of UK marketers use metrics such as ROI to quantify effectiveness, and reach and engagement alone will not satisfy a boardroom. Brands want to connect creator activity to brand lift, attention, traffic and sales. Those who build credible, consistent measurement frameworks will win budget; those who rely on vanity metrics will lose it.
As ever, the publishers are feeling the pressure too. IAB UK has argued that creators should be seen as media owners rather than a marketing tactic, and publishers are responding by bringing them inside their offering rather than treating them as competition. That means hosting creator-led content, building partnerships that pair editorial credibility with creator reach, and giving advertisers access to creator talent alongside traditional inventory.
Creator Age will exist to draw these threads together. Our coverage will look at the commercial forces behind the creator economy, the relationship between agencies, brands and talent, the analytics that make investment defensible, and the strategies publishers are adopting to stay relevant. It will draw on the people doing the work: marketers, agency leaders, platform executives, publishers and creators.
New Digital Age has always helped the industry make sense of change and focused on the individuals who drive that change. We’ve done that with NDA, Retail Media Age, and now Creator Age will follow the same ethos and will play a central role in how the industry develops, builds a community and celebrates those who make the market what it is. We’d love for you to be a part of it: sign up here to start receiving Creator Age to your inbox.
