Source: Digiday
As creator partnerships scale into major budget categories, marketers are discovering agency markups and opaque fee structures that obscure true influencer payouts—a cycle that began with programmatic advertising. The lack of standardized pricing models means brands can't easily compare whether they're getting fair value, and creators often don't know what portion of brand spend actually reaches them. Agencies and platforms that adopt transparent pricing first will gain competitive advantage as pressure builds for clarity.