Everyone thinks media is shrinking. It’s not – the money just moved.
Creators are pushing into premium storytelling. Traditional players are shifting toward creator-style formats, DTC distribution, live content, commerce, and fast-turnaround storytelling.
I’m seeing it first-hand – and 2026 is shaping up to be a real inflection point.
Here’s what the data shows:
🔹 Creator spend is exploding.
Creator ad spend will hit $37B in 2025 (IAB), growing 4× faster than the broader media industry. WPP projects YouTube, TikTok and Meta will overtake all traditional media in ad revenue for the first time. Nearly half of advertisers now call creators a must-buy.
🔹 Live, sports, events and commerce are surging.
Brands are paying creators to anchor events, livestream product moments, and drive real-time commerce.
Studios are pouring billions into sports rights, live events and sports-adjacent storytelling — the exact formats creators already dominate.
🔹 Investors are all-in.
ShopMy raised $77.5M (WSJ).
Whalar, Jellysmack, Night and others are accelerating M&A.
Forbes reports investors now acquiring creator back catalogs like long-term IP assets.
🔹 Studio spend is rising – just not back into traditional scripted.
Disney (+$1B), Paramount (+$1.5B) and Netflix (+$1.6B) are increasing content spend but redirecting it to: international content, vertical-friendly formats, franchise-style creator engines, and sports.
Not mid-budget drama.
🔹 And short dramas might be the clearest signal yet. A format that barely existed three years ago is now a $3B+ category outside China.
Top apps hit 250M MAUs, tripling YoY.
🔹 Disney, Fox, Bytedance and major VCs are already in.
Pay-gated finales, flash drops, embedded commerce – creator-led entertainment is becoming formalized.
Bottom line:
Money isn’t drying up. It’s being redirected – toward creators, live formats, social commerce, global content, vertical narratives, and fast, scalable storytelling.
The creator world is becoming more premium.
The traditional world is becoming more creator.
And the real opportunity is right in the middle.
2026 is going to be a wild year. #content