Three weeks from today, we’ll be gathering in New York for Authentic, the Brand-Creator Summit.
The day will feature creators including Shantell Martin, Angwi Tacho, and Nimay Ndolo, alongside brand leaders from Mastercard, EOS, Edgewell, and Google — all in conversation about how the strongest brand-creator partnerships actually get built.
Tickets are on sale now at events.aivanta.io/e/authentic-2026.
Now, on to the week in the brand-creator economy.
Trending The Market
Billion Dollar Boy Group Wants To Go B2B Viral
Billion Dollar Boy Group Wants To Go B2B Viral
Billion Dollar Boy (BDB) Group has acquired three-year old marketing agency Creator Authority for an undisclosed amount.
The Big Pitch: Just how the average consumer turns to influencers for guidance, companies crave their expertise to keep up with an ever-evolving business landscape. This is especially true as LinkedIn has added more social features that have turned it into the ideal platform for career connections, marketing outreach, and profession-oriented entertainment.
The Fine Print: BDB Group purchase of Creator Authority is not about broad reach — it’s about influential impact.
BDB will “integrate Creator Authority clients including Amazon, Adobe, AT&T, IBM, Dropbox, Gamma, HubSpot, Lovable, Mastercard, and Notion,” according to Marketing Dive.
Creator Authority will also work alongside BDB’s various arms, including its social agency, community platform FiveTwoNine, and marketing management platform Companion.
The acquisition will also allow London-headquartered BDB Group to expand its US footprint, with specific focus on the West Coast.
BDB expects its global revenue to pass $100 million next year after the deal closes.
As part of the deal, Creator Authority co-founder and CEO Brendan Gahan, will become the SVP B2B at BDB, while co-founder Cassie Jackson will be group account director of B2B.
The Analysis: A study from LinkedIn found that an incredible 59% of B2B buyers “pay attention” to creator content on its platform, which is why it’s the second-most popular investment space in the brand-creator economy this year. That’s a strong business case for BDB’s M&A move, especially since the company found that B2B creators have the highest ROI of any other marketing strategy it uses.
There’s also a critical technological aspect for the importance of integrating B2B creators — AI. Chatbot-generated answers and summaries heavily rely on the product recommendations and reviews of B2B influencers. Owning that channel may be the most-influential thing of all.
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Building The Stack
Instagram Recruits Big Names To Judge Rings
For the second annual Rings awards program, Instagram has tapped some of the biggest names across film, music, fashion, and more. The panel of judges — which includes Hamnet filmmaker Chlóe Zhao, rapper A$AP Rocky, former GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch, fashion designer Donatella Versace, and several top Instagram execs — will announce honorees later this week. From that list, chosen winners will not only receive a physical Ring trophy, but will be given several digital tools so that they stand out on Instagram. The brands working with them should expect a big boost in interest.
YouTube Command TV Watch Time
The August edition of Nielsen’s Gauge report shows that YouTube is growing its lead in TV-watch time, leaving PVOD services like Netflix, Prime Video, and HBO Max far behind. The report found that YouTube now accounts for 15.8% of all TV viewership — a new best for the platform and more than double of the second-place platform, Netflix. Those rankings could have an outsized influence on YouTube’s dealmaking moving forward.
Twitch Creators Graduate To Premium Streaming
Spanish boxing influencer Ibai Llanos hosts one of the biggest annual events on Twitch — “La Velada del Año” (“The Night of the Year”). Netflix now wants some of that engagement, striking an exclusive three-year deal with Llanos for his events in 2027, 2028, and 2029. To get a sense of how popular “La Velada del Año" is, the 2025 edition was the most-watched stream on Twitch up to that point, with 9.3 million concurrent viewers. We’re sure sponsors are already lining up.
Does your company pay attention to B2B creator marketing?
Social Updates
Instagram announced that it’s testing horizontal video uploads of up to 90 minutes with select US creators.
Twitch is rolling out “Stream Recaps” — clips for users to catch up on broadcasts that they’ve missed.
YouTube is testing hiding the dislike button to the three-dots menu on videos.
Spotify debuted a new feature that allows podcasters to offer paid-membership perks like bonus content and early access to episodes.
Substack is introducing dynamic-ad insertion to creators’ podcasts.
Wrapping Up
That’s the week in the brand-creator economy. We’ll be back in your inbox next Tuesday.
One more thing before you go: Authentic, the Brand-Creator Summit, takes place November 18th at the People Inc. Event Center in Brookfield Place… and the room is filling with the people shaping this space.
You’ll hear directly from creators like Shantell Martin, Angwi Tacho, and Nimay Ndolo, and from brands like Mastercard, EOS, and Edgewell on what’s working, what isn’t, and where the brand-creator economy goes next.
If you want to be in the room, now is the time to get your ticket: events.aivanta.io/e/authentic-2026
— The Authentic Team