The rise of creator-led brands provides a new sponsorship target for rights holders and an opportunity to grow their own audiences

This article covers why creator-led brands should be in your sponsorship prospecting lists.

Over the past decade, the global creator economy – the online ecosystem of content creators featuring YouTubers, TikTokers, podcasters or streamers who earn money through their content – has grown into a $250-billion market. Goldman Sachs Research predicts this will reach a mammoth $480 billion by 2027.

In many cases, the power of these creators with consumers has overtaken the influence of traditional advertising. In fact, 61% of consumers are more likely to trust recommendations from creators than from brands themselves.

As creators’ influence grows, more of them are spreading their entrepreneurial wings and expanding their personal brands into actual brands and products.

According to influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy, 93% of creators have either launched a product or service or plan to do so in the next 12 months. What’s more, two-thirds of consumers have already purchased from a creator-founded brand in their lifetime. This is a new type of challenger brand that builds audiences before they build their businesses.

Why rights holders should care

What’s particularly encouraging for any organisation selling sponsorship is that creator-led brands are emerging across many of the ‘usual suspect’ categories that go big on sponsorship. These include Food & Beverage, Clothing/Apparel, Personal Goods and Sports/Health Products; categories that account for 20% of all sponsorship deals.

The difference is that creator-led brands are typically more aligned with younger, tech-savvy audiences. They actively engage more with popular culture and trends, and lead with content production to build a community that can ultimately engage with a product.

In a sense this provides two opportunities for rights holders.

Firstly, and most obviously, these brands represent a new target group for rights holders to approach about sponsorship.

The signature example of a creator-led brand engaging in sponsorship is Prime, the sports drink founded by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI. Prime quickly built a global sponsorship portfolio with rights holders including the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB), soccer teams Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, plus the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

More recently is that of…example in full article.

Both these demonstrate how creator-led brands use sports properties to drive their content strategy. It adds another dimension or subject matter with which to create virally conducive material to reach wider audiences, perhaps beyond their core audience.

Secondly, sponsorship deals also offer rights holders themselves the opportunity to reach…explanation in full article.

The long game is that a rights holder who does this will…explanation in full article.

caytoo’s news-based lead generation platform has uncovered the following signals from creator-led brands:

• Example brands in full article

More creator-led brands feature in caytoo’s news-based lead generation platform with new brands being added all the time.