Creator partnerships become publishers' answer to distribution problem

Forbes is seeking to expand its reach through creators, launching a network that will bring entrepreneurs and social media personalities into its content operation.

The move is the latest sign of publishers looking to creators as audiences increasingly discover information through people rather than traditional media brands, but also raises a question the industry has not yet resolved: whether creator partnerships can help publishers reach new audiences as traffic from search and social becomes less reliable.

Under the Forbes Creator banner, the company will produce social content, podcasts, video and live-event coverage with an inaugural roster that includes career creator Erin McGoff, entrepreneur Griffin Johnson and workplace commentator Sho Dewan. The network will also launch Creator Correspondents, a live-event reporting programme starting at Forbes' Power Women's Summit in September.

"By bringing together trusted industry experts and influential creators, the Forbes Creator Network extends Forbes' mission to inform and connect audiences wherever they discover ideas and shape conversations," said chief executive Sherry Phillips.

A method that works

Forbes' move is indicative of how publishers are responding to changing audience habits, the scale of which was laid out in the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026, published last week.

For the first time globally, social media and video platforms are now the most widely used source of news, used by 54% of respondents - ahead of news organisations' own websites and apps.

Google search referrals to news sites fell 33% globally between November 2024 and November 2025, while publishers expect search traffic to fall by almost half over the next three years. Trust in news has also fallen to 37%, its lowest level since the Reuters Institute began measuring it in 2015.

Against that backdrop, 27% of people globally now get at least some news from news-focused creators - a figure that rises to 46% when broader creator content is included.

Last week, LADbible owner LBG Media acquired social-first creative agency Uncovered in a deal worth up to £33.8 million, combining its publishing business with a company that helps brands create social content. Elsewhere, CNN earlier this month appointed financial content creator Kyla Scanlon as an economic analyst and contributor, bringing a creator with more than one million followers directly into its newsroom operation.

As previously reported by The Daily Influence, broadcaster-turned-entrepreneur Piers Morgan has argued that personality-driven media businesses are increasingly competing with traditional news organisations for audience attention. His view is that institutions matter far less than the individual fronting them.

For publishers watching the numbers, the logic of working with creators rather than competing against them is becoming harder to ignore.

The distribution challenge

Even so, the tension remains. The Reuters report found that more than two-thirds of publishers said they were concerned creators were taking time and attention away from their content.

At the same time, three-quarters said they planned to get journalists to behave more like creators this year, and half said they would partner with creators for distribution.

Publisher concerns about creators taking attention away from their content have not changed, but they appear – at least for the time being – to be responding differently.

The same publishers embracing creators are simultaneously pushing back on the platforms driving their traffic decline – using creators that benefitted from platforms to solve a distribution problem, while challenging the infrastructure behind it.