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A bar chart showing U.S. creator economy ad spend from 2021 to 2024, with projections for 2025 and 2026. Annual spending increased from approximately $13.9 billion in 2021 to a projected $43.9 billion in 2026.

U.S. creator economy ad spend

Data: IAB + Advertiser Perceptions; Note: Includes direct partnerships brands have with creators, paid amplification of those partnerships and content adjacencies, i.e. investment; Chart: Axios Visuals

Retailers are tapping creators as collaborators and encouraging their employees to become online ambassadors.

Why it matters: Consumer products that sell are the ones discovered and championed by trusted online voices. 

By the numbers: U.S. ad spend in the creator economy was expected to reach $37 billion in 2025, up 26% from the prior year, according to a 2025 IAB report. That spend, which includes direct creator partnerships and paid amplification, has nearly tripled since 2021.

Retail and consumer packaged goods, including beauty and personal care, are the top spenders at an estimated $12.3 billion and $5.5 billion, respectively, in 2025, per IAB. 

State of play: Retailers are launching official creator programs and hiring new content-focused roles. 

Dick's Sporting Goods last month opened applications for its creator program, which launched for employees in 2023 and expanded to the public in 2025. It plans to hire more creators across more sports this year, Digiday reported.

Starbucks hired its first global coffee creators in November: Josiah Varghese, a Chicago-based barista, and Juliana Galofre, a longtime customer. They will travel to "Starbucks locations all around the world to tell stories on social media," the company said. 

Ulta Beauty launched Ulta Beauties, its associate ambassador program, in 2024. CMO Kelly Mahoney tells Axios her team this year will grow the program from 30 to 50 employees, who are trained, coached and compensated. It also runs a collective of external creators.

Zoom in: Brands like Ulta also work with external partners. More than 55,000 creators are actively posting Ulta products on LTK, an app where individuals share recommendations and earn affiliate revenue. 

"People are looking for a real human that has a real expertise to be able to go to for purchase decisions," LTK co-founder and president Amber Venz Box says. "Whereas creator was something that was very niche back [in] 2011 when we started. Today, I would describe [it] as like a hospitality business." 

LTK said $6 billion in products were purchased through its platform last year, up by $1 billion from the prior year.

Zoom out: Creators are also launching their own brands, competing with existing retailers and becoming potential acquisition targets.

George Clooney and his co-founders sold their tequila brand, Casamigos, to Diageo back in 2017. Last year, Hailey Bieber's Rhode, a skincare and cosmetics brand, sold to e.l.f. Beauty.

Paris Hilton launched Parívie, her own skincare line, last May. Unlike her past products, it's not a licensing deal. She has more than 300 SKUs with different partners. Parívie operates as a joint venture between Hilton's 11:11 Media and Guthy-Renker.

"Creators are developing brands that are endemic to whatever they're doing," 11:11 Media senior vice president and head of commerce Adam Domian says. "It's trust and authenticity, first and foremost for me, why consumers are in. It's part of the community, part of the dialogue."

What's next: Domian says 11:11 is exploring other products.

"We do some brand partnership work in the food space today, but there's certainly opportunity within consumables," he says.

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