The rise of the creator conglomerate

September 30, 2025 Presented by Creators as media, marketing and entertainment moguls. Yup, creator-owned media companies like Mythical Entertainment and Smosh are now a widely accepted part of the broader media landscape, evolving into something much larger. And they're rapidly expanding into new business units beyond content production. While creative agencies used to maintain red lines over AI usage, that's changed in the last year with hundreds of brands embracing the tech across the full creative process. And why Horizon and Havas are joining forces in the U.S. TOP STORY The Creator Economy The rise of the creator conglomerate  As creators like Dhar Mann and MrBeast reach new heights in terms of both following and investor interest, today's creator media companies are evolving into something much larger. They're rapidly expanding into new business units beyond content production — and hiring experienced executives to lead the charge. OTHER THINGS TO KNOW Join this virtual workshop on Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. ET for insights from leaders at Western Media Group, Nexstar Media Group and more, on how media companies are unifying fragmented ad tech. Partner insights from WideOrbit. Gen Z takes a thoughtful approach to shopping, despite their reputation for short attention spans. That's why marketers are emphasizing authenticity, transparency and value to win their interest. Partner insights from TeenVoice. Composable identity infrastructure isn't a theoretical future. In travel and hospitality, composable identity infrastructure already connects pricing strategy with behavioral context, helping revenue teams manage elasticity and dynamic offers with greater precision. Partner insights from Adstra. MEDIA AND PLATFORMS Evolving Agencies Why Horizon and Havas are joining forces in the U.S. market Horizon and Havas have formed a media joint venture in order to chase larger clients. Together, they hope to exploit market disruption. Member exclusive Ad Tech Briefing: PE firms are eyeing take-private deals but Google's fate casts a shadow   IAS ends Nasdaq run with $1.9B Novacap buyout amid political oversight, with market pressures expected to further M&A. Modern Newsroom A day in the life of Stephanie Wu: How Eater's EIC uses Slack reminders, a color-coded calendar and Google Docs to stay atop her to-do list Wu joined the Digiday Podcast for the latest installment of the show's "Day in the Life" series, in which members of the media and marketing industries share their systems and tips for getting through the average work day. MARKETING Generative AI 'The red line keeps moving': Advertising creatives have lost the AI ick As new Kantar study suggests audiences treat AI ads much the same as regular spots, agency creatives are pushing past previous lines in the sand between advertising craft and technology. Advertisement PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM CRITEO How incrementality reveals KPIs that A/B testing misses Marketers rely on A/B testing as the gold standard for proving retail media's impact, but it isn't the only way. DIGIDAY EVENTS Network with programmatic leaders from Mindgruve, Publicis, Giant Spoon and more Join us for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit, December 1-3 in New Orleans, where we will unpack the forces reshaping programmatic advertising — from agentic ad-buying and AI-powered attribution to the latest automated overhauls of internal workflows. Secure your passes by October 20 to save. Learn more PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM AMAZON ADS Local advertisers are punching above their weight with generative AI and automation For local advertisers in particular, generative AI helps condense lengthy, extensive workflows of creative design, insight generation and customer targeting into weeks or even days. Advertisement PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM BLOCKBOARD Programmatic CTV helps marketers optimize investments without sacrificing scale Blockboard CEO Matt Wasserlauf spoke with Digiday about how marketers are driving growth through smarter, more accountable programmatic CTV buys. DIGIDAY + Member exclusive Digiday+ Research: Unwrapping brands' 2025 holiday marketing strategies Digiday+ Research examined which commerce channels are dominating brands’ and retailers’ holiday strategies this year, and how some are moving away from Amazon and looking at other channels heading into Q4. Written by Jim Cooper and Sara Jerde Were you forwarded this email? Sign up to get it daily. Advertise | Digiday+ | Events | Awards Update your email | Unsubscribe | Privacy policy