Any channel that takes a big enough share of the budget eventually gets here, and creator marketing is the latest. Programmatic had its reckoning a decade ago, and principal media deals face the same accusations today. Now, it looks as if agencies are running that playbook on creator budgets, rolling talent fees and their own margin into one line the client can’t pick apart.
Consultants, never backward in coming forward, are already warning advertisers about it, with the useful caveat that they’d also like to be paid to fix it. That doesn’t make their concerns any less valid. If anything, their warnings show how little marketers know about where their creator money goes, just as they’re putting more of it there.
This is a member-exclusive article from Digiday. Continue reading it on digiday.com and subscribe to continue reading content like this.