44% of US college sports fans say sponsorship positively influences their purchase decisions, according to February data from Big Chalk.

57% of ad buyers will prioritize creator ads in 2026—but success will be driven by repeat partnerships with genuine brand advocates.

Newsletters are becoming creator power centers; onfluencers owning their audiences is reshaping how they monetize—and how brands leverage those audiences.

FIFA’s deal taps short-form video to spark fandom, fuel real-time viewing, and drive World Cup commerce

Semafor’s rise shows publishers are supplementing inconsistent ad revenues with events and sponsorships.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss our “very specific but highly unlikely” predictions for 2026: sports team sponsorships pushing the envelope, the ceiling for TikTok Shop, and a budding relationship between creators and retail media networks. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Analyst Ross Benes, Senior Forecasting Analyst Oscar Orozco, and Principal Analyst Max Willens. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Substack is testing its first structured sponsorship program, allowing selected writers to insert paid brand placements directly into newsletters—an opt-in beta that keeps creators in full control and avoids programmatic ads. The move follows significant audience growth, with US uniques doubling in a year, but minimal marketer adoption: only 5% of brand marketers use Substack today. Sponsorships offer a way to monetize large free audiences while preserving the platform’s editorial identity. For advertisers, the beta introduces a premium, high-intent environment suited to thought leadership and niche expertise—an early indication that creator newsletters may become more formal components of influencer and upper-funnel strategy.

Acast has launched the UK’s biggest integrated podcast marketplace, combining audio and YouTube video inventory through a partnership with Little Dot Studios. The deal gives podcasters access to Little Dot’s 11 billion monthly YouTube views and enables advertisers to buy premium CPM audio alongside dynamic YouTube video ads and sponsorships within one system. This aligns with shifting listener habits: nearly half of UK consumers now prefer watching podcasts, and YouTube will reach over three-quarters of the country by 2029. As podcast video growth steadies, Acast’s unified analytics across audio, YouTube, and social offer marketers a more efficient, accountable way to scale creator-led campaigns.

The New York Times is posting advertising momentum as its proprietary AI stack reshapes how marketers reach premium audiences. Q3 ad revenues climbed 11.8%, with digital ads rising more than 20% and generative AI tool BrandMatch now powering more than 150 campaigns. NYT’s first-party data engine interprets emotional cues, reading patterns, and topic affinities to deliver precise contextual placements—fueling strong campaign lift for partners such as Crown Publishing and Belmond. With 11.76 million digital subscribers and a diversified product suite, NYT’s fully owned ecosystem gives it targeting capabilities most publishers cannot replicate.

A Snapchat, Publicis Media, and Ipsos study revealed creator preferences for brand collaborations, outlining the path ahead for brands who increasingly rely on influencer marketing. Accounting for creator preferences is key to striking influencer partnerships that last and make a tangible impact.

YouTube wants to be the home for both product discovery and ecommerce as it rolls out new shopping features across long-form videos and Shorts, per The Verge. Incoming additions include dynamic brand segments for swapping out sponsors, AI tagging of eligible products, and brand links in Shorts. YouTube is announcing new features—like shoppable masthead ads and text-to-video tools—at a breakneck pace, looking to capitalize on its growth across platforms. Brands should partner with both top creators and smaller influencers to boost discovery and purchases.

Despite brands increasing influencer marketing spending, creators are struggling to grow their content business and earn more from sponsorship deals, per Digiday. And while holiday season typically provides a boom, 70% of creators expect traditional sponsored posts to account for under a quarter of their holiday content as focus shifts to performance-driven efforts, according to Collective Voice. Influencer marketing continues its growth trajectory, and the future of the sector relies on how creators adapt to the rise of third-party inventory solutions that divert brand spend away from traditional sponsorships.

LGBTQ+ influencers note drop in Pride deals: The change, attributed to pressure from the administration, could have consequences for brands.

Twitch expands sponsorship opportunities: While the change might attract creators, whether brands will buy in is debatable.

Contrary to popular belief, not every creator has a podcast. But those who do are a driving force behind the roughly $1.50 billion US creators will generate from digital audio distribution channels this year.

Name, image, and likeness deals keep attracting brands to college sports: Powerade signed 35 college athletes and struck a deal with March Madness.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of a seventh consecutive US monthly ad market decline, how ad prices look compared to before the pandemic, and what we expect ad spending in Q2 to look like. "In Other News," we talk about an initiative aimed at reducing barriers to buying ad inventory and sponsorships for women's sports, as well as how many Americans still have cable—and for how long. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Paul Verna.

Long-time Olympics advertisers face controversy, waning viewership: Brands sponsoring the event are staying hushed to avoid upsetting domestic and international consumers.

Spotify’s video podcasting push could bring in more users and marketers: Podcasts are already gaining steam with both groups, and video will help make the medium—and ads in it—even more engaging.