Digital creators are no longer confined to social feeds. New research from the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) suggests that creator audiences are increasingly intersecting with TV and streaming, creating a potentially valuable opportunity for advertisers seeking both creator credibility and the scale, measurement and brand-safety environment associated with premium video.

VAB Research Points to a New Role for Creators in TV and Streaming Advertising

The creator economy has spent years building influence on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. The next stage may involve taking that influence into more traditional premium video environments.

That is the central finding of new research from the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), which examined how consumers perceive digital creators and how creator partnerships within TV and streaming programming can affect advertising outcomes.

The report, “Expanding the Creator-Verse: Why Digital Creators Are Embracing Premium Video Platforms,” was produced using a June 2026 online survey of 1,600 people ages 16 to 74 conducted by VAB in partnership with Hub Entertainment Research.

Its findings point toward a convergence between the creator economy and premium video advertising — one that could reshape how agencies plan creator campaigns and how television and streaming platforms compete for advertiser budgets.

Creator Audiences Are Now a Cross-Generational Opportunity

The first signal is scale.

VAB found that 55% of people aged 16 and older actively follow at least one digital creator. While younger audiences remain the most engaged, creator followings extend substantially into older demographics.

Among respondents ages 16 to 24, 84% said they follow digital creators. That figure was 83% among 25-to-34-year-olds, 54% among those 35 to 54 and 23% among respondents ages 55 to 74.

The numbers challenge the idea that creator advertising is primarily a Gen Z or young-millennial strategy.

For advertisers, that distinction matters. If creator audiences are increasingly distributed across age groups, creator partnerships can potentially be considered alongside TV, CTV and streaming campaigns rather than treated as a separate social-media tactic.

That shift also creates a strategic opening for premium video platforms.

Creator Trust Could Follow Audiences Onto the TV Screen

The more consequential findings involve what happens when consumers encounter a creator they already follow inside television or streaming content.

According to VAB, 50% of respondents who follow online creators said they are more likely to pay attention to a brand advertised or integrated into a show featuring a creator they follow.

That elevated attention appears to extend down the advertising funnel.

Forty-eight percent said they were more likely to consider a brand featured in such programming, while 52% said they would be more likely to search for the brand.

The reported impact continues through purchase intent: 43% said they were more likely to buy a brand advertised or integrated into a show featuring a creator they follow.

And the effect does not necessarily stop at the transaction. Forty-one percent said they were more likely to tell a friend about a brand featured in programming with a creator they follow.

For media buyers, the progression is notable because it maps creator influence against familiar advertising objectives: attention, consideration, intent, purchase and advocacy.

Premium Video Could Solve a Scaling Problem for Creator Advertising

Creator marketing has historically offered advertisers authenticity and audience trust, but scaling those relationships can be difficult.

Brands may need to manage numerous individual creators, fragmented audiences, varying production standards and different brand-safety requirements.

Premium video platforms offer a different proposition.

Connected TV (CTV) and streaming environments can provide larger-scale distribution, professional production, established measurement systems and more controlled advertising environments. Pairing those characteristics with recognizable creator personalities could give marketers a way to combine the strengths of influencer marketing and traditional video advertising.

This is increasingly relevant as advertisers move toward more fragmented viewing environments.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has projected continued growth in CTV advertising as viewing shifts from traditional linear television toward streaming. That migration creates more inventory where creator-led programming and creator integrations can potentially operate alongside conventional CTV advertising.

The opportunity is therefore not necessarily about replacing social creator campaigns.

Instead, the emerging model is closer to creator-led omnichannel advertising: social content creates familiarity, while premium video extends the creator relationship into a higher-scale media environment.

The Advertising Technology Challenge Is Measurement

The concept is attractive, but the operational question remains measurement.

Advertisers increasingly want creator partnerships evaluated against the same business outcomes as other media investments. That requires consistent approaches to reach, frequency, attribution, brand lift and conversion measurement across social platforms, CTV services and premium video.

The problem is that these environments have historically used different measurement methodologies and data structures.

A creator campaign might report engagement and views, while a CTV campaign reports reach and completed views. Neither metric alone answers whether the combination generated incremental business results.

That creates an opportunity for media platforms and AdTech providers to develop better cross-channel measurement and identity solutions.

For agencies, creator partnerships could increasingly become part of the broader media plan rather than an isolated influencer budget. For streaming services, creator-led programming could provide another way to differentiate premium inventory.

Creator Advertising Is Moving Toward the Mainstream

VAB’s findings suggest the creator economy is entering a new stage.

The key development is not simply that more people follow creators. It is that creator influence may increasingly travel across media environments.

When a consumer sees a familiar creator inside a streaming program, the relationship is different from encountering an unfamiliar commercial. The creator brings an existing audience relationship into a premium video environment.

That does not guarantee advertising effectiveness, and the VAB research measures consumer-reported likelihood rather than actual purchase behavior. But it provides a useful signal for marketers evaluating where creator partnerships could fit within larger media strategies.

The implication for AdTech is equally significant. As creators move into CTV and premium video, advertisers will need technology capable of connecting creator content, audience targeting, media buying and measurement.

The next phase of creator advertising may therefore be less about choosing between social and television and more about making the two work together.

Market Landscape

The creator economy is increasingly intersecting with CTV, OTT, premium video and programmatic advertising.

That convergence creates a new category of media opportunity. Social platforms offer creators direct relationships with audiences, while premium video environments offer scale, production quality, predictable viewing experiences and increasingly sophisticated advertising infrastructure.

For agencies, the challenge will be building campaigns that preserve creator authenticity while meeting enterprise requirements around brand safety, measurement, audience reach and performance attribution.

For publishers and streaming platforms, creator partnerships could also provide differentiated programming and new advertising inventory.

The bigger market question is measurement. As creator content spreads across social, CTV and premium video, advertisers will increasingly need cross-platform measurement systems that can distinguish incremental reach from duplicated audiences and connect exposure to business outcomes.

Top Insights

• VAB finds 55% of adults follow digital creators, signaling that creator partnerships now represent a cross-generational advertising opportunity beyond social platforms.
• Half of creator followers report greater brand attention when familiar creators appear in TV or streaming programs, strengthening the case for premium video integrations.
• Creator-led premium video reportedly influences consideration, search, purchase intent and advocacy, giving agencies additional reasons to connect influencer and CTV strategies.
• The expansion of creators into premium video increases demand for cross-platform measurement, audience identity, attribution and brand-safety technology.

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