The creator economy has matured into a powerhouse of intellectual property and highly engaged, niche communities. Discussions on the Next in Media podcast during Cannes 2026 revealed that the industry is no longer viewing creators as just influencers, but as standalone media networks.
Natalie Silverstein, Chief Innovation Officer at Collectively Inc., pointed out a massive shift in how platforms and advertisers are treating creators. “They’re recognizing that creators are the media product in addition to obviously all of the various ad units… There are creators who have multiple streams of IP, multiple shows that they’re doing. They’re their own little media networks essentially.”
This evolution raises a classic chicken-and-egg question: Do creators need brands, or do brands need creators? Jon Morgenstern of VaynerX believes it’s highly symbiotic, but fundamentally economic. “Creators need brands. It’s like unless creators become brands… it needs to be funded, but then brands of course need creators to be relevant.”
However, tapping into this relevance requires rigorous validation and a holistic approach. Kyle Kreuger of Deep Focus emphasized the challenge of understanding audience composition and creating scale. “Our mindset always is like, how do you partner creators with other media tactics or other targeting tech… Any single tactic is never really gonna deliver exactly what they need.”
To make these holistic partnerships work, brands must rely on sophisticated data. As Andy Davidson, Chief Data Officer at Bright Mountain, advised:Â “You have to do your homework and you have to collect the right data sources and understand the audience’s requirements and then use innovative tools to make sure that you validate the selection of creators against those audience requirements.”
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Check out more content from Cannes!
The quotes featured in the blog post are from the Next in Media podcast hosted by Mike Sheilds. You can check out this year’s Cannes episodes on our YouTube channel here [LINK] to hear even more from industry experts.