The creator economy is now creating jobs on an even bigger scale. Live Nation just launched Creator Nation, a new company that will work across creator management, brand partnerships, commerce, and live experiences. It’s co-founded by Scott and Alexis Fisher, and it plans to buy creator management firms and related businesses rather than operate as a traditional talent shop. First acquisitions are expected in the coming months. Hiring, meanwhile, is already underway for roles in creator strategy, commerce, touring, data, operations, and marketing.
And it does seem like the most logical step for the founders. Scott Fisher started Select Management Group, which represented more than 500 creators with a combined audience of over a billion. Alexis Fisher founded Timeline Management, which handles creator and music management, branding, and touring. Live Nation has backed Timeline since 2024, and it will keep operating separately from Creator Nation.
But Live Nation isn’t the only media giant pouring money into the space. FOX Corporation just filled out the leadership of FOX Creator Studios, naming Bryan Thoensen senior vice president of content partnerships and Kirsten McAuliffe senior vice president of strategic partnerships and growth. Thoensen, who comes from content-partnership roles at TikTok, Spotify, and Hulu, will build creator-led content franchises and advertiser-ready formats. McAuliffe, formerly of Moonbug Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery, will run commercial strategy and act as the link between creators and FOX’s ad sales team, turning creator IP into advertising, licensing, and franchise deals.
The hires build on a structure FOX started assembling in March, when it named Billy Parks to run the division. The studio launched in January at CES with food-focused content from Gordon Ramsay’s Studio Ramsay Global, baker Rosanna Pansino, and others, alongside creator programming at Tubi and an advertising investment in Whalar Group’s physical creator campus, The Lighthouse. Parks said creators are “building the next generation of entertainment businesses,” and that the studio exists to help them scale.
The trade press has taken notice of the power and, of course, the money growing within the creator economy. Adweek is now accepting entries for its 2026 Creator Economy Power List, which honors the executives behind the boom rather than the creators themselves. Individual creators and on-camera talent aren’t eligible unless they’re entering for a business role, like founder or executive. The eligible categories read like a map of the industry that has grown up around the people on screen: creative and influencer agencies, brand-side marketers, social platforms, content tools, talent management firms, creator adtech, and creator monetization platforms, a category Adweek defines as companies helping creators earn through subscriptions, commerce, tipping, and licensing. Judges say they’ll favor hard results over vision, meaning revenue growth, funding, new clients, and measurable gains for the creators a business serves. Early entries run $175 until November 6, and the final deadline of December 7 costs $275.
It was only a matter of time before these big companies began exploring the creator economy on a grander scale. Forbes’ 2026 Top Creators list found its 50 featured creators collectively earned $1.02 billion, up from $853 million a year earlier and 80 percent above the $570 million the list reported when it launched in 2022. That’s growth most legacy media categories would sacrifice a division to see. And the pattern is spreading downstream: managers, marketers, data analysts, tour producers, and deal-makers are all needed to turn individual audiences into durable companies.
But you have to wonder what will happen as these big companies get involved and begin building lucrative careers around creators. Will the creators themselves end up owning a meaningful piece of what gets built? Or will the industry around them outgrow them somehow?