4 Ways Creators are Making Money in 2026

**Colin** (0:00)
I'm Arch Manning.

**Samir** (0:01)
I'm Madison Skinner. I'm Eva Jovovich. I'm Decoria Moore.

**Colin** (0:03)
Wanna train like a Red Bull athlete?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:05)
Tell us your fitness goals this summer to enter the Red Bull Athlete Challenge.

**Colin** (0:15)
Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome back to The Colin and Samir Show. On today's episode, we're talking about ads.

**Samir** (0:20)
Mainly because we made one. We made a bunch, actually. But not how you would think, not historically what you would think of when we say ads.

**Colin** (0:26)
So in this episode, we're gonna talk about four ways creators and brands are working together and talk a lot about the future of advertising in the creator economy. If you're in the creator economy, you gotta love ads.
It's kind of the thing.

**Samir** (0:38)
The future of the creator economy and its growth, in my opinion, hinges on the ability of brands and creators to work better together.

**Colin** (0:46)
Why are you yelling?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:47)
Because I really mean it. Yeah, you feel very passionate about that. I feel very passionate.

**Colin** (0:51)
All right, if you're into ads, you're gonna like this episode. All right, let's talk about ads.

**Samir** (1:00)
Honestly, one of my favorite things.

**Colin** (1:02)
Yeah, actually.

**Samir** (1:03)
I'm not even kidding.

**Colin** (1:03)
Yeah, it's something I deeply love and something that is the economic engine of the internet. It's really interesting to go back in time and go like, advertising is what enabled the internet to be free.

**Samir** (1:15)
And the economic engine for creators. The majority of creators make the majority of their money from brand partnerships.

**Colin** (1:23)
So what's interesting and why this is coming to life right now and why we're having this conversation so much is in part because of a deal we just did that we're going to talk about. But also, we're about a month out from Ken Lyons.
And coming home from Ken Lyons, I wrote up these observations of what I saw at this festival of advertising and what was deemed as like the Super Bowl for creators. And we were in a lot of closed door meetings there with major brands. And there was this like palpable anxiety around solving creator.

**Samir** (1:56)
Yeah.
Feeling like they need to work with creators because of their cultural impact, because of even just the buzzword right now of creators. But feeling like there is also a bit of discomfort in giving up control to creators, right? Giving our brand voice to these people who, we haven't met yet. We don't speak the same language all the time.

**Colin** (2:23)
Especially as the brands get bigger, right? Like the bigger the brand, the more complexity with that. But the headline that I wrote was that every brand is trying to solve creator, but they have a very narrow view of what creator meets. And so coming out of it, I wrote down four different ways that brands can engage with creators and that are engaging with creators to kind of clarify what this modern advertising industry is with independent creators, like what do they represent to the ad world? Just some numbers, creator spend is projected to hit $39 billion in 2026
Total global advertising spend is going to hit a trillion dollars, which is crazy, but $39 billion to creators is insane.

**Samir** (3:10)
Yeah, when I heard that, I thought it candidly was a mistake because I just can't even comprehend and understand a number that large, let alone within our space because you and I, I feel like I know every creator or know of. And I'm like, wait, how is this $39 billion being disseminated?

**Colin** (3:29)
Yeah, but I don't think that's true. I think if you go out globally and explore the definition of creator, it's actually, there's a lot.

**Samir** (3:38)
Yeah.

**Colin** (3:38)
Right?

**Samir** (3:40)
Because if just our friends were getting that $39 billion, I think we would know. We would know.

**Colin** (3:46)
Some of them are getting large portions of that $39 billion.

**Samir** (3:50)
Or they're just not telling us.

**Colin** (3:51)
Now, in this episode, we're also joined by Conor, producer on our team, because we need a vantage point of somebody who's a consumer of advertising on the Internet, not a creator of advertising on the Internet. I say this because, again, you and I are fans of advertising. We have a bias towards advertising, and I have no relationship with a brand deal from a creator. That isn't coming from the perspective of me analyzing it.

**Samir** (4:19)
Of how it was done.

**Colin** (4:20)
Of as a producer of advertising. So, Conor, welcome.