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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justfineinfotech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/trade-desk-advertisers-digiday.jpg\")
\nMarketing on Platforms<\/p>\n
The Creator Economy
\nThe case for and against the \u2018programmatic-ification\u2019 of the creator economy
\n\u00a0\u2022\u00a0 August 27, 2026 \u00a0\u2022
\nIvy Liu<\/p>\n
The creator economy is officially trying to build its own ad stack<\/p>\n
It\u2019s probably the most arresting signal that parts of the creator economy are starting to mirror the programmatic ad industry \u2014 at least at the infrastructure level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just look at LTK. The creator commerce platform this week rolled out its own AI-powered offering that allows marketers to structure campaigns, identify creators and recommend next steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LTK joins a growing list of companies aiming to automate influencer marketing. Meanwhile, holdcos and other companies have spent the last two years snapping up influencer companies for their tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All signs point to an industry pivot toward the programmatic-ification of the creator economy. Platforms and AI are streamlining creator discovery, pricing, contracting, content production and measurement. But turning creators into standard, easy-to-buy ad inventory is easier said than done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis practice has always been some combination of art and science,\u201d said Natalie Silverstein, chief innovation officer at Collectively. She later added, \u201c\u2026but the art is what makes it work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the case for and against a programmatic-style creator marketplace:<\/p>\n
Marketers have been trying to get influencer and creator marketing down to a science. Hence the buffet of tech solutions cropping up for things like creator discovery, campaign management and measurement<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an efficiency play in these AI dashboards, agency execs say. These AI dashboards promise end-to-end management, allowing brands to work with many creators at one time as opposed to negotiating individual deals with single influencers. (In some cases, it may be necessary \u2014 as is the case with Unilever\u2019s army of 300,000 creators.) They also promise to reduce fragmentation as an all-in-one system rather than brands working across various influencer platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe black box of millions of data points, once seemingly impossible to analyze, is now doable. And with that, brands and agencies are trying to pull apart why, what, and how creator marketing works,\u201d Thomas Markland, founder of the global creator agency HYDP, told Digiday in an emailed statement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the discovery aspect. An automated system can pinpoint creator partners at scale, reducing the amount of hands on keyboards, per execs<\/p>\n
And as more money flows into the creator economy, marketers are demanding reliable return on investment.\u00a0Part of LTK\u2019s pitch is its proprietary commerce intelligence, built on 15 years of data including 100-plus billion commerce signals, Amber Venz Box, LTK co-founder, told Digiday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can target and buy contextually the audience the data, and you can even measure the performance of that,\u201d said Gregory Curtis Jr., director of brand and growth at Empower Ocean Media Group. He later added, \u201cThe programmatic-ification of this actually measures the media value.\u201d<\/p>\n
The programmatic marketplace isn\u2019t without its faults, like ad fraud, hidden supply chain costs, a surplus of ad tech fees and lack of placement transparency. As marketers hand over more of the influencer and creator marketing playbook to automated tools, they run the risk of recreating programmatic\u2019s pitfalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over-reliance on automation risks producing low-quality content, similar to the phenomenon of so-called AI slop, said Gabe Gordon, Reach Agency CEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCreators are not interchangeable media inventory, and the industry risks automating away the very thing brands are buying: human trust and creative judgment,\u201d Gordon added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Automation and standardization stands to break the value exchange between creators and shoppers \u2014 shoppers trade their attention and trust for authentic product recommendations, education and entertainment. Consumers are more aware (and perhaps less tolerant) of when they\u2019re being sold to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The programmatic ad market was built on the concept of standardization. That doesn\u2019t exist across the length of the creator economy. Affiliate or sponsored content, where brands aim to \u201cscale word of mouth\u201d works for programmatic-style creator marketing, according to Collectively\u2019s Silverstein<\/p>\n
It\u2019s harder to standardize bespoke creator-led campaigns across various niches and platforms. The industry doesn\u2019t have a standard creative unit to automate and measure like the programmatic ad market does, Gordon said, adding to Silverstein\u2019s point<\/p>\n
\u201cA creator partnership can become a sponsored post, an original entertainment series, a product collaboration, an affiliate relationship, a live experience or a long-term spokesperson role,\u201d Gordon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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