I’m 19, and I’ve watched more than 200 brands quietly give up on influencers

TL;DR

A 19-year-old founder who runs a 200+ brand UGC marketplace argues the influencer model is breaking down economically. Brands are shifting from single expensive influencer bets to batches of creator-made videos tested as paid ads, where each piece generates data. The next step is AI agents handling the creative loop: matching, briefing, reviewing, and optimizing at speed a human team cannot match.

I’m 19, and I’ve had an odd seat for the last couple of years of the creator economy. My company runs a marketplace that connects consumer brands with creators, and it’s grown to more than 200 brands. From that seat, I keep watching the same thing happen: companies walk in expecting to pay for reach, and then very quickly start paying for something else entirely.

For about a decade, marketing on social mediaran on a single move: find the biggest creator you can afford, pay...

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