Everyone wants the same creators. Are there enough to go around?

What happens when every platform wants the same creators, and each expects to be put first?

A version of that dynamic is beginning to play out in the creator economy, as platforms compete for the same group of talent with established audiences, using a mix of payouts and distribution incentives to secure their loyalty.

It's a development that was foreshadowed at the end of last year, when executives at Instagram and X signalled that creators would sit at the centre of their strategies for 2026. Since then, a series of updates have begun to show how that positioning is being put into practice.

Last week, Meta launched a programme offering guaranteed monthly payments and increased distribution on Facebook to attract creators from rival platforms.

Participants with at least 100,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube can earn up to $1,000 a month, while those with more than a million followers will earn $3,000 per month – a direct attempt to bring established audiences into Facebook's ecosystem.

It follows recent moves by X to expand its subscription features, allowing creators to place content behind paywalls and generate recurring revenue. The company has positioned payouts as a way to increase original content on the platform.

Platforms not traditionally associated with creator monetisation are also moving in. 

LinkedIn has expanded BrandLink, which lets brands place ads alongside videos from selected creators and publishers, and its Top Voices programme, which connects brands with creators such as Steven Bartlett, Bernard Marr and Corporate Natalie for sponsored content – a sign that even professional networks now see creator relationships as a commercial priority.

While each reflects a different mechanism, the direction of travel is consistent: platforms are prioritising creators who can bring and retain audiences. The challenge is that fewer can do so consistently – and Meta's own tier structure makes clear which creators it is actually after.

For the few, not the many

In fact, while the creator economy is projected to approach $480 billion by 2027, recent data paints a more uneven picture. 

A survey of 1,000 US-based creators by the Influencer Marketing Factory found the industry splits into three distinct bands: 48.7% earning under $10,000 a year, 45.6% bringing in between $10,000 and $100,000, and just 5.7% earning above $100,000. The platforms competing hardest for talent are competing for the very top.

For its part, Meta’s approach appears to be leaning on financial incentives, and making it clear it has the resources to make prioritising its platforms worthwhile. Its Facebook creator push came with a headline figure: it had paid nearly $3bn to creators in 2025, up 35% year on year.

Snapchat, meanwhile, moved earlier to formalise creator payouts, building a monetisation model around revenue sharing from Stories and Spotlight, with earnings tied to consistent posting rather than one-off viral reach. In February, it also launched creator subscriptions.

TikTok, which reshaped the market by prioritising discovery and attention, is also exploring new routes. Its recent partnership with Tubi offers selected creators the opportunity to develop longer-form content for streaming, pointing to alternative ways of scaling creator-led IP beyond short-form video.

Taken together, the approaches point to how central creators have become to platform activity, and how hard platforms are now working to keep them.

A model under pressure?

For some, however, that focus is an early sign of strain.

Speaking at Adobe Creator Live last week, Jordan Schwarzenberger, founder of Arcade, argued that traditional influencer marketing is already showing cracks – and predicted the model as it currently exists will become increasingly difficult to sustain over the next decade. 

He pointed to brands competing for the same audiences as creators, suggested brands are a full ten years behind where the market actually is, and argued that the future lies not in sponsorship deals but in brands hiring creators directly and building in-house creative operations. 

A KFC acquisition of Chicken Shop Date, he suggested, was the kind of outcome that direction of travel could produce.

What is clearer in the meantime is how platforms are responding. The growing use of mechanisms to entice creators all suggest a recognition of the role they now play in sustaining cultural relevance.

But if Schwarzenberger is right, the more important question is actually not which platform wins the race for creator talent, but whether that race is even running in the right direction.

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