A new report from Creator Economy financing firm Spotter identifies a subset of online video programming it calls “Creator TV” and argues the category now delivers audience scale and advertising performance comparable to traditional television.
The report, published this March, draws on data from Tubular Labs, Spotter’s proprietary analytics, and third-party measurement providers including Nielsen, Disqo, and Latitude. Spotter has invested approximately $900 million in creator content licensing, which the company disclosed as both a source of unique data access and a direct financial interest in the category’s growth.
Defining the Category
Spotter defines “Creator TV” using five quantifiable criteria: episodes of 22 or more minutes, a consistent release schedule, an average of at least 100,000 views per episode, connected television as the primary viewing device by share, and a minimum of 12 episodes published in the trailing 12 months.
Applying those filters to a universe of more than 26 million influencers and 4 billion annual video uploads, Spotter estimates approximately 6,600 channels targeting the U.S. market qualify as Creator TV. Those channels produced an estimated 717,000 videos in 2025 and drew an estimated 136 billion U.S. views, representing less than 0.02% of all social video.
Spotter calculated total hours watched by applying an average view duration of 11.5 minutes, derived from its partner network, to the total U.S. view count, producing an estimate of approximately 26 billion hours watched across all devices. The company noted that its partner sample may skew toward larger, more established channels and could index higher on watch time and connected TV viewership than the broader category. The average Creator TV video published in 2025 runs 35 minutes, and the median channel produces 39 episodes per year.
Comscore announced plans in January 2026 to measure creator content at the program level alongside broadcast and streaming television, a development the report cites as institutional recognition of the category.
Viewing Behavior
Spotter reports that 52% of Creator TV viewing time occurs on connected televisions, based on device analytics from its licensed creator partner network.
The report profiles several creators as examples of the category’s scale. Kinigra Deon, who operates a production studio in Birmingham, Alabama, publishes approximately 150 episodes per year with an average video length of 30 minutes. Spotter reports that 76% of her audience watches on TV screens, 72% of those viewers watch at least three episodes consecutively, and 75% binge her library content at least once per week.
“When people first discover my channel, they usually think they’re just watching a YouTuber. And then about ten minutes in, they realize, ‘Oh, this is a whole TV network,'” Deon said.
Dude Perfect’s long-form videos average more than 8 million views per episode, which Spotter compares to ESPN College GameDay’s reported 2.7 million viewers. Jordan Matter and his daughter publish new content every Saturday morning and have secured a multi-year expansion deal with Netflix while continuing to publish on YouTube. Markiplier’s self-distributed scripted series reached Amazon’s Top 10 overall, and his independently financed film Iron Lung opened on 3,015 screens in January 2026, debuting at number two domestically with $17.8 million.
Ad Performance Data
Spotter reports ad completion rates from its own network’s Q4 2025 campaign data. On connected televisions, 15-second skippable ads running within Creator TV content achieved an average completion rate of 70%, compared to 57% for videos 8-12 minutes long. Thirty-second skippable ads averaged 60% completion on Creator TV, compared with 39% for shorter content. Non-skippable 15-second ads averaged 96% completion on Creator TV, compared with 90% for shorter content.
The company also reports that campaigns combining paid media placements with creator-produced custom ads and brand integrations drove an average lift of 138% in branded search and an 800% increase in branded site visitation, as measured by third-party research firm Disqo across Spotter-commissioned studies from January 2025 onward.
A January 2026 Magid study found that consumers were twice as likely to trust information presented in an ad on creator content (66%) compared to streaming (33%).
In a campaign pairing Unilever’s Liquid I.V. brand with creator Pierson Wodzynski, third-party measurement provider Latitude found the combined approach generated a 358% increase in unaided awareness and a 37% higher view-through rate for creator-made custom ads compared to standard brand creative. In a separate Q4 2025 campaign, creator Jesser’s partnership with a quick-service restaurant chain produced 3.4 million in-store visits as measured by Google Store Visits Conversion.
Spotter estimates that Creator TV content carries approximately 2.4 minutes of advertising per half-hour, compared with approximately 8 minutes per half-hour on linear television, as reported by industry sources.
Infrastructure Gaps
The report identifies several constraints for media buyers. Cross-platform measurement has historically not captured Creator TV viewership at the program level in the way broadcast and streaming data is reported, though Comscore’s forthcoming content measurement product aims to address this.
The report also notes that Creator TV channels operate without network standards and practices departments, requiring advertisers to conduct their own brand suitability assessments. Inventory concentration among the top channels currently limits large-scale programmatic buys.
“Creator television is rapidly emerging as a core pillar of the media ecosystem, unlocking a more holistic, unified view of content performance and audience behavior across platforms, and enabling smarter, more effective planning,” said Steve Bagdasarian, Chief Commercial Officer at Comscore.
Image source: Spotter The full report is available here
Nii A. Ahene is the founder and managing director of Net Influencer, a website dedicated to offering insights into the influencer marketing industry. Together with its newsletter, Influencer Weekly, Net Influencer provides news, commentary, and analysis of the events shaping the creator and influencer marketing space. Through interviews with startups, influencers, brands, and platforms, Nii and his team explore how influencer marketing is being effectively used to benefit businesses and personal brands alike.
A new report from Creator Economy financing firm Spotter identifies a subset of online video programming it calls “Creator TV” and argues the category now delivers audience scale and advertising performance comparable to traditional television.
The report, published this March, draws on data from Tubular Labs, Spotter’s proprietary analytics, and third-party measurement providers including Nielsen, Disqo, and Latitude. Spotter has invested approximately $900 million in creator content licensing, which the company disclosed as both a source of unique data access and a direct financial interest in the category’s growth.
Defining the Category
Spotter defines “Creator TV” using five quantifiable criteria: episodes of 22 or more minutes, a consistent release schedule, an average of at least 100,000 views per episode, connected television as the primary viewing device by share, and a minimum of 12 episodes published in the trailing 12 months.
Applying those filters to a universe of more than 26 million influencers and 4 billion annual video uploads, Spotter estimates approximately 6,600 channels targeting the U.S. market qualify as Creator TV. Those channels produced an estimated 717,000 videos in 2025 and drew an estimated 136 billion U.S. views, representing less than 0.02% of all social video.
Spotter calculated total hours watched by applying an average view duration of 11.5 minutes, derived from its partner network, to the total U.S. view count, producing an estimate of approximately 26 billion hours watched across all devices. The company noted that its partner sample may skew toward larger, more established channels and could index higher on watch time and connected TV viewership than the broader category. The average Creator TV video published in 2025 runs 35 minutes, and the median channel produces 39 episodes per year.
Comscore announced plans in January 2026 to measure creator content at the program level alongside broadcast and streaming television, a development the report cites as institutional recognition of the category.
Viewing Behavior
Spotter reports that 52% of Creator TV viewing time occurs on connected televisions, based on device analytics from its licensed creator partner network.
The report profiles several creators as examples of the category’s scale. Kinigra Deon, who operates a production studio in Birmingham, Alabama, publishes approximately 150 episodes per year with an average video length of 30 minutes. Spotter reports that 76% of her audience watches on TV screens, 72% of those viewers watch at least three episodes consecutively, and 75% binge her library content at least once per week.
“When people first discover my channel, they usually think they’re just watching a YouTuber. And then about ten minutes in, they realize, ‘Oh, this is a whole TV network,'” Deon said.
Dude Perfect’s long-form videos average more than 8 million views per episode, which Spotter compares to ESPN College GameDay’s reported 2.7 million viewers. Jordan Matter and his daughter publish new content every Saturday morning and have secured a multi-year expansion deal with Netflix while continuing to publish on YouTube. Markiplier’s self-distributed scripted series reached Amazon’s Top 10 overall, and his independently financed film Iron Lung opened on 3,015 screens in January 2026, debuting at number two domestically with $17.8 million.
Ad Performance Data
Spotter reports ad completion rates from its own network’s Q4 2025 campaign data. On connected televisions, 15-second skippable ads running within Creator TV content achieved an average completion rate of 70%, compared to 57% for videos 8-12 minutes long. Thirty-second skippable ads averaged 60% completion on Creator TV, compared with 39% for shorter content. Non-skippable 15-second ads averaged 96% completion on Creator TV, compared with 90% for shorter content.
The company also reports that campaigns combining paid media placements with creator-produced custom ads and brand integrations drove an average lift of 138% in branded search and an 800% increase in branded site visitation, as measured by third-party research firm Disqo across Spotter-commissioned studies from January 2025 onward.
A January 2026 Magid study found that consumers were twice as likely to trust information presented in an ad on creator content (66%) compared to streaming (33%).
In a campaign pairing Unilever’s Liquid I.V. brand with creator Pierson Wodzynski, third-party measurement provider Latitude found the combined approach generated a 358% increase in unaided awareness and a 37% higher view-through rate for creator-made custom ads compared to standard brand creative. In a separate Q4 2025 campaign, creator Jesser’s partnership with a quick-service restaurant chain produced 3.4 million in-store visits as measured by Google Store Visits Conversion.
Spotter estimates that Creator TV content carries approximately 2.4 minutes of advertising per half-hour, compared with approximately 8 minutes per half-hour on linear television, as reported by industry sources.
Infrastructure Gaps
The report identifies several constraints for media buyers. Cross-platform measurement has historically not captured Creator TV viewership at the program level in the way broadcast and streaming data is reported, though Comscore’s forthcoming content measurement product aims to address this.
The report also notes that Creator TV channels operate without network standards and practices departments, requiring advertisers to conduct their own brand suitability assessments. Inventory concentration among the top channels currently limits large-scale programmatic buys.
“Creator television is rapidly emerging as a core pillar of the media ecosystem, unlocking a more holistic, unified view of content performance and audience behavior across platforms, and enabling smarter, more effective planning,” said Steve Bagdasarian, Chief Commercial Officer at Comscore.
Image source: Spotter
The full report is available here
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