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Trending The Market
Instagram Beats TikTok In Creator Monetization
A study by Forbes found that Instagram provides creators higher payouts and brands more consistent engagement than TikTok, even when creators have fewer followers on the former.
The Big Pitch: Understanding the nuances of platforms can help brands make smarter decisions on where to invest their marketing dollars. While content has the ability to blow up on TikTok, Instagram provides the performance consistency that brands typically look for.
The Fine Print: Instagram is the flywheel generator of the brand-creator economy.
Some creators are earning 10x more on Instagram than TikTok, even if they have 10x more followers on the latter platform.
That’s because there are more ways for creators to earn on Instagram — posts, Reels, carousels, and ManyChat.
Gaining an Instagram follower also has more of a commitment tied to it — people are more discerning about following an account because that content will appear on their personal feed. So, each follower on Instagram is more valuable than one on TikTok.
Additionally, there’s a cultural element to it — Instagram users are more used to being sold to, which makes brand sponsorships more palatable.
The Analysis: Alexis Teichmiller, the Brand Partnerships Lead at community-building platform Circle, told Forbes that “A creator can have a much larger following on another platform, but if their Instagram audience is more connected, more trusting, and more likely to take action, those followers can be significantly more valuable to a brand.” That’s exactly what’s happening on Instagram — brands activating on there are getting a more “intentional conversion” than they would on TikTok.
But this is a problem that TikTok is aware of. That’s why the company is investing highly in TikTok Shop, which is quickly changing the conversion-conversation on the platform. It’s still early days, but if TikTok can program more forecastable performance for both content and sales, it could balance the power of Instagram.
Together with Consumable
Audio For The Outcomes Era
Most media plans treat audio as a few line items: a streaming buy, maybe a podcast sponsorship. But the audio ecosystem is far bigger than that… and much of it is going untouched.
Mobile apps, addressable podcast audiences, and creator-led content extended across platforms — these are spaces where attention is intentional and trust already exists.
Consumable opens up that ecosystem.
The tool helps you reach 210M+ Comscore-verified monthly users across formats and channels.
It’s powered by listener intelligence, precision targeting, and modern identity infrastructure.
Every audio impression is measurable, addressable, and tied to real outcomes.
Consumable lets brands reach audiences wherever they listen, with the same precision and accountability marketers expect from their best digital channels.
Through immersive ad experiences that combine audio, visuals, and interactivity, brands can finally turn listening into engagement and business impact.
Building The Stack
YouTube Opens Its Wallet To Keep Creators From Netflix
YouTube is reportedly none too happy about Netflix snapping up creator content — even if it’s also on YouTube. The Google-backed media company is offering creators deals worth millions of dollars to continue posting exclusively to YouTube for a certain period of time. On the other hand, it’s also disincentivizing cross-posting by refusing to include them in major marketing campaigns or events and barring them from sharing in revenue from some brand campaigns. YouTube is already nearing deals with several top (but still unnamed) influencers.
YouTube And Amazon Collab On Creator-Backed Product Sales
YouTube and Amazon are joining forces to make YouTube more of a “premier shopping destination,” according to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. US-based creators enrolled in both of the companies YouTube Partner Program and the Amazon Influencer Program can now sell Amazon products directly in long-form videos and Shorts. There are stipulations though — products have to be chosen from a curated list put together by Amazon. Still, the feature is meant to be YouTube’s answer to TikTok Shop’s growing clout.
BiliBili Wants YouTube’s Crown
After 17 years in operation, Chinese video-sharing platform BiliBili is expanding to the West. The company is reportedly launching an international platform and hiring key roles across regions. BiliBili’s rise was helped by the fact that YouTube is banned in China, which is why some top creators (like MrBeast) joined the platform to grow audiences there and access several monetizable features. Maybe YouTube will also pay creators to stay off that platform too.
How much of your creator budget is earmarked for Instagram?
Social Updates
YouTube will start counting a “view” the moment a video starts — making deeper engagement metrics more important for brands.
Instagram is rolling out a new feature called “First Draft” that will autonomously edit a first cut of a video for a creator.
Instagram is also pushing accounts with AI-generated profiles to label themselves as such… or they’ll see their engagement go down.
X is debuting a new dedicated feed on the platform for NFL content called “NFL Gametime.”
LinkedIn’s new “seems like AI-slop” button has already been used by over a million users, and has reportedly cut down AI-generated writing on the platform by up to 40%.
Bluesky introduced a new feature that can keep users’ posts from going viral by taking them out of algorithmic recommendations.
Wrapping Up
That's the week in the brand-creator economy. We'll be back in your inbox next Tuesday.
For those new here: Authentic, the Brand-Creator Summit, is coming to New York on November 18th… and it’s going to be an event you don’t want to miss.
A single day of curated conversations with decision-makers across brand marketing, creator platforms, talent, agencies, and investment — all in direct conversation about what's driving the future of the brand-creator economy.
We're bringing the community this newsletter is built for into the same room, and we intend to make it the kind of gathering worth coming back to year after year.
If you want to be one of the first to know when tickets go on sale, request a notification at authentic.aivanta.io
And make sure to follow Aivanta on Linkedin for exclusive offers, discounts, and ticket packages for Authentic's Brand-Creator Summit.
— The Authentic Team