Merry Christmas to anyone sneaking a look at their inbox today! | If there is one thing on every brand’s Christmas wish list this year, it is a bigger creator budget. | The numbers are climbing fast, the ROI is getting harder to ignore, and creators are stepping into the spotlight as the channel everyone wants more of in 2026. | Brands are shifting spend. Creators are building real platforms. Even MrBeast is turning his influence into infrastructure. The momentum is real and it is not slowing down. | This week’s Signals breaks down why the creator economy is having its biggest moment yet and what operators should be watching as the new year hits. |
|
| | | Creator ad spend is about to explode | The IAB is projecting creator-economy ad spend to hit $37 billion in 2025, growing 4x faster than the total media industry. | Brands are shifting budget toward creators because the performance gap is widening. Creators are delivering stronger engagement, lower production costs, and higher trust compared to traditional ads. | The big unlock is distribution. More brands are moving to creator-made assets as ongoing paid media inputs, not just organic posts. UGC is becoming the new default creative pipeline. | And as we wrap 2025, it is hard not to look at this curve and imagine how aggressive the shift will be in 2026. If this is the baseline, next year is going to be even heavier on creator-led performance. | For operators, this signals a budget shift that is not slowing down. If creators are where the attention and efficiency are moving, brands need a real system for sourcing, testing, and scaling creator content. | | | | | | | What’s the vibe across the D2C ecosystem right now? | The creator-to-brand pipeline is evolving again | The MrBeast effect is back in the conversation this week. Feastables started as a DTC brand powered by his audience. Now he is building something bigger: a creator ad platform designed to help influencers run full-funnel campaigns for brands in a more structured, measurable way. | This is the clearest sign yet that the creator ecosystem is maturing. It is moving from “hire a creator, hope it works” to an actual performance engine creators can plug brands into. | | What stands out is the shift in mindset. Creators are not just talent anymore. They are becoming distribution channels, media companies, and now platform operators. | MrBeast building infrastructure instead of just campaigns says a lot about where the industry is heading. | 💡For operators, there is a real takeaway here:
Creators are no longer just amplification. They are becoming part of the backend. The workflow. The media mix. The tooling. If the next wave of platforms gives creators the ability to deliver predictable outcomes, brands are going to build around that. | The line between creator commerce and traditional performance marketing is getting thinner. And the brands that adapt fastest will have a serious edge going into 2026. |
| |
| | |
| | | We’re data nerds so you don’t have to be. Each week we’ll bring you some data to chew on with The Data Drop. | Creator marketing is finally growing up, and the numbers prove it | CreatorIQ’s new report shows an industry moving from vibes to verification. Budgets are rising fast, expectations are sharpening, and brands are treating creators like a real performance channel with real accountability. | A few standout numbers: | 171% surge in average creator marketing budgets year over year 93% of brands say creator content now matches or beats traditional ROI 81% repurpose creator content across ads, organic, email, and onsite 73% say attribution and measurement are now essential High-performing creators get re-engaged 4-5x more often
| But the most interesting shift is how brands decide who to partner with. | Follower count used to drive everything. Now it sits at the bottom of the list.
Suitability and brand fit rank number one, chosen by 22% of brands, compared to just 8% for follower count. | | Why the shift?
More enterprise involvement, tighter reputation management, and rising pressure around brand safety. Agencies cite creator vetting as their top challenge, and 72% of enterprise brands say brand safety has become more critical year over year. | The signal here is clear.
Creators who feel aligned, authentic, and low-risk are beating creators who are simply big. | đź’ˇFor operators, this means the next wave of growth will come from creators who match your values and your audience, not just your reach goals. |
|
| | | One tool, one brand, one agency to watch out for this week. | Brand Spotlight: Fishwife | | Fishwife is turning tinned seafood into a cultural moment | Fishwife took a sleepy category and injected personality, taste, and storytelling into it. They did it through sharp branding, chef-level sourcing, and a vibe that makes tinned fish feel less like pantry storage and more like lifestyle. | What operators should pay attention to is how they built the category. Fishwife leads with transparency around sourcing, sustainability, and partnerships with small fisheries. The brand feels premium without crossing into inaccessible. | And they have cracked something hard. They turned a utilitarian staple into a brand people collect, gift, and photograph. | That is not packaging. | That is positioning. | | | In the Toolkit: MagicBrief | | MagicBrief is becoming the creative hub teams wish they had years ago | MagicBrief helps operators organize, analyze, and produce high-performing ad creative without drowning in Dropbox folders or Slack threads. It centralizes inspiration, competitor ads, briefs, scripts, and edits so teams can build and iterate faster. | The magic is in how the tool blends structure with speed. You can pull winning ads from the library, break them down shot by shot, storyboard your own version, and keep everything aligned across your creative team. | For brands scaling paid social, MagicBrief makes the workflow smoother. Less chaos. More clarity. Better creative inputs. | It is the rare creative tool that feels built for operators, not just designers. | |
|
| | Agency Assist: Absolute Web | | Absolute Web: Build, Scale, Win in Ecommerce | Absolute Web is a full-service ecommerce agency helping ambitious brands build, scale, and optimize high-performing digital commerce experiences. As a Shopify Plus Partner with deep expertise across B2B and DTC, they design and develop custom ecommerce solutions that drive real growth, not just good-looking sites. | From UX/UI and conversion rate optimization to custom development, system integrations, and AI-driven personalization, their team works as an extension of yours. They help brands unlock performance through smarter customer journeys, faster sites, cleaner architecture, and data-backed decision-making. | Absolute Web is also the team behind EEE Miami 2026, an in-person ecommerce retreat bringing founders and senior operators to Miami on February 4–5, 2026. The event is built for high-growth brands looking to go deep on growth, CX, automation, personalization, and operational scale without sales pitches or fluff. Claim your spot for EEE Miami 2026. | | | | | | | Are you D2C (Down 2 Collab)? | At 1-800-D2C, we spotlight the real builders behind the tools and brands featured on our site and the D2C players putting those tools to work. Let’s collab: | For Brand Founders: | | For Tool Founders: | List your tool on 1-800-D2C today to show off your brands and become a Friend’s Rates member. Sign up today. Want to share the story behind your tool and how it's changing the D2C space? Fill out our founder questionnaire to get featured in our Behind The Tool interview series!
|
| |
| | |
| |
|
