The creator economy has experienced unprecedented growth in 2026, with 70 creator-economy acquisitions announced in the first half of 2026, representing the strongest first half on record according to Quartermast Advisors, an M&A advisory firm specialising in the creator economy. This marks a 23% year-on-year increase in transaction activity, spanning media companies, creator networks, agencies, technology platforms and other creator-focused businesses. For the first time since Quartermast began tracking the market, media properties overtook software as the most acquired category, representing 27.1% of transactions versus 24.3% for software. The shift reflects a fundamental change in how capital is entering the creator economy, moving beyond individual channels to platforms that own, acquire, and monetise dozens of YouTube channels.
Private equity firms are moving up the value chain by backing platforms that own, acquire, and monetise dozens of YouTube channels rather than individual channels themselves. The clearest example came in April when Fixated, a creator-media company built through acquisitions, received a $50 million strategic investment from Eldridge Industries to accelerate further dealmaking. The company then acquired Studio71's North American business from ProSiebenSat.1, adding a creator network and podcast publisher that generated roughly €246 million of revenue in its last full year, creating a combined entity representing more than 1,000 creators. This pattern appears elsewhere with Blackstone backing Candle Media, which owns Moonbug Entertainment behind CoComelon, and North Equity backing Recurrent Ventures, which acquired Donut Media in 2021. The same technology making software easier to replicate is also making content dramatically cheaper to produce, potentially fragmenting attention across more claimants while making established audience relationships increasingly valuable.
Creator-media properties typically trade at two to ten times EBITDA, with valuations ranging significantly based on business characteristics. At the lower end sit businesses dependent on one platform with monetisation below $10 per thousand views, while at the upper end sit businesses with direct audience relationships and monetisation density of $40 to $100 per thousand views. The fivefold valuation gap is primarily driven by control rather than raw audience size, with buyers willing to pay more for audiences they can monetise through multiple channels including subscriptions, merchandise, events, commerce and licensing. However, as Electrify's lead investor Stephan Lobmeyr notes, "Whatever the creator does—if they get hit by a bus or decide to do something else—we could be very vulnerable to that." The second risk is the creator themselves, with talent-management businesses trading at roughly three to nine times EBITDA, where concentration risk becomes a significant factor - if a single creator generates more than 30% of revenue, valuations tend to sit near the bottom of the range, while businesses with no creator accounting for more than 15% can move toward the top.
AI technology is creating competing forces in the creator economy. While it makes content dramatically cheaper to produce through generative AI, potentially fragmenting attention across more claimants, it also makes established audience relationships increasingly valuable. According to The Guardian, roughly one in ten of YouTube's fastest-growing channels last year was centred around AI-generated content. This leaves investors underwriting two competing forces: if established relationships remain durable, they become increasingly scarce and valuable, but if an explosion in cheap content fragments attention and weakens loyalty, today's premium valuations could prove difficult to defend. The platform itself remains the uncomfortable part of the thesis, as YouTube has shown willingness to intervene when it believes creators are flooding the platform with low-quality or mass-produced material. In January, it removed sixteen channels with a combined 35 million subscribers and 4.7 billion lifetime views from its partner programme, citing mass-produced content, with further clarification following in July around repetitive and manipulative material.
