The ‘pay-per-post’ influencer model is losing its edge
Forward-thinking brands are treating creators as long-term business partners, integrating equity, royalties and revenue-share models into their deal structures.
· Marketing WeekOpinion
By Simon Harwood 16 Sep 2026 7:00 am
As the creator economy matures, the market for top-tier creators is becoming intensely crowded. Despite rising budgets, marketers risk losing creators to their direct competitors.
As the creator economy matures, the market for top-tier creators is becoming intensely crowded. Despite rising budgets, marketers risk losing creators to their direct competitors.
This presents a challenge for both effectiveness (building distinctive brand associations) and efficiency (delivering returns at a decent ROI).
For example, if you’re a successful new parent creator then you can bet every nappy brand out there will be in touch at some point. This creates a distinctiveness problem when trying to cut-through against the rest of the sector, with multiple brands jumping onto the same creator voice.
Paying high, standard fees for fleeting, transactional impressions also leads to high churn among a narrow creator set, with limited defensibility against competitor bids.
Escalating competition for top talent and rising customer acquisition costs means the transactional ‘pay-per-post’ model is losing its edge. Demand is outpacing the size of the creator pool affiliated to a particular category. That new parent creator can expect to charge a higher CPM for the same effort, putting ROI under pressure.
Depth and breadth
There are two routes to solve for this increased competition. One is by going wide. By expanding the breadth of selected creators to those outside the category, using unexpected influencers from different verticals, brands can increase their chances of being remembered by building lateral associations, cementing the core brand idea.
The other option is to go deep. This means increasing the commitment to and longevity of the partnership with specific creators to make it more than a transactional relationship.
The IPA’s research last October highlighted influencer marketing’s long-term ROI multiplier is ahead of any channel. Given this, it makes sense for marketers to activate it in the long-term.
Paying high, standard fees for fleeting, transactional impressions also leads to high churn among a narrow creator set, with limited defensibility against competitor bids.
Forward-thinking brands are shifting from treating creators as media channels to viewing them as long-term business partners. Skin in the game drives long-term creative output. In one particular ambassador programme, Billion Dollar Boy’s creators over-delivered by 34%, providing a huge value-add in terms of content and driving an additional 1.2 million organic views.
Beyond exclusivity arrangements, some are integrating equity, royalties and revenue-share models into their deal structures. Modern equity structures align incentives toward long-term brand building rather than short-term vanity metrics, like clicks or engagements.
When creators shift from paid spokespeople to shareholders, their audience perceives endorsement to be genuine commitment rather than just another sponsored post.
Creator Alix Earle took an early equity stake in prebiotic soda brand Poppi, supporting the company through organic TikTok pushes, Coachella activations and Super Bowl moments. This long-term alignment paid off massively when PepsiCo acquired Poppi for nearly $2bn (£1.5bn).
Emerging platforms, such as creator ownership platform OWM, are being built explicitly to match creators with brands based on equity deals rather than one-off fees, moving influencer marketing onto the cap table.
Embrace creator-led brands
Meanwhile, some creators are taking matters into their own hands. Billion Dollar Boy research in October 2024 found the vast majority of creators (88%) had already launched a product or service. Two thirds (65%) of consumers were also found to be buying creator-founded products and services.
The rise of creator packaged goods has been a phenomenon with mixed results over the last few years – from KSI and Logan Paul’s Prime to Mr Beast’s Feastables to Top of the Mornin’ Coffee by gaming creator Jacksepticeye.
Skin in the game drives long-term creative output.
Some brands are yet to get on board with this rise. Influencer Steph Elswood faced pushback from her own personal traditional brand deals when she founded non-alcoholic spirit company Carouse. She shifted toward negotiating royalty and equity deals, allowing her to pair her storytelling and community insights with the distribution scale of established brands.
While some may see fast-growing creator brands as a direct threat to heritage brands, there is also an opportunity for collaboration through royalties and co-creation, fusing the creator’s cultural relevance with the legacy brand’s scale and supply chain.
Ligia Patrocinio, global head of Desperados at The Heineken Company, advocates for viewing creator brands as co-creation opportunities. At The Digital Marketing World Forum in 2024, she said “rather than viewing creator-led brands as a threat, savvy brand leaders can recognise the opportunity to leverage their complementary strengths”.
Treating creators as invested partners for long-term growth is a much more sustainable and effective way to build brands together, rather than throwing money into the category bear pit and seeing which creators are willing to bite.