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Creators are evolving into entrepreneurs and disrupting the normal Hollywood mannequin. At CES 2026, executives from Lionsgate, Good day Sunshine, Amazon, Microsoft and T-Cellular made clear that the creator economic system is reshaping how leisure is made, distributed and monetized. For studios, that shift is forcing a rethink of the place content material lives and the way success is measured. For tech firms, creators have change into important companions.
At Lionsgate, executives more and more weigh whether or not a mission belongs in theaters or platforms like YouTube. “On the finish of the day, individuals at all times need to see their stuff on the large display screen, or on Amazon Prime or on Netflix, or wherever it makes probably the most sense for them—for his or her ego,” stated Brad Haugen, EVP of digital technique and development at Lionsgate and 3Arts, throughout a Monday (Jan. 5) panel on how creators are redefining Hollywood’s expertise pipeline. “However that’s not at all times the perfect dwelling for the content material.”
Good day Sunshine has taken a barely totally different method by constructing its enterprise round viewers possession and neighborhood. The ladies-focused media firm co-founded by Reese Witherspoon has leaned closely into digital-first initiatives resembling Reese’s E-book Membership, which has change into a strong engine for turning novels into cultural hits and display screen diversifications.
One in all its most notable successes was Daisy Jones & the Six, tailored from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel right into a Prime Video miniseries starring Riley Keough. When it debuted in 2023, it turned one in all Amazon’s most-watched collection.
Extra not too long ago, Good day Sunshine launched a program geared toward amplifying female-led creators throughout social platforms. The initiative presently contains about 40 creators, amongst them authors Laura Dave and Danielle Robey.
“The web-net of it’s to vary the narrative for girls,” stated Jennifer Wiener, EVP of name partnerships and experimental at Good day Sunshine, on the identical panel. “You need to be doing it throughout each platform. We’re storytellers, and we need to be telling these tales in every single place.”
That multi-platform mindset performs instantly into Amazon’s benefit as an organization rooted in expertise and media. Reasonably than forcing creators right into a single format, Amazon has constructed an ecosystem that enables them to scale throughout audio, video, social and commerce.
On the identical panel, Matt Sandler, basic supervisor of creator companies at Amazon, pointed to manufacturers like Wondery, Studio126 and Prime Video as engines for creator development, citing partnerships with LeBron James, Keke Palmer and MrBeast.
“Amazon can serve these prospects in a extremely materials means,” Sandler stated. “What we’ve accomplished is create this new creator companies enterprise to super-serve the content material on the heart—which is essentially digital or social content material.”
Whereas media firms are adapting to creator-led fashions, tech giants are more and more baking creators instantly into their core enterprise methods. Over the previous yr, Microsoft has employed extra producers, editors and scriptwriters with backgrounds within the creator economic system, based on Marcus Frieske, the tech large’s basic supervisor of social and inventive advertising and marketing.
“They arrive from YouTube and Snapchat,” Frieske stated throughout a separate panel Monday on why creators have change into manufacturers’ most respected media channel. “They’re used to, ‘Hey, we’ve obtained to make a video, and it must go reside within the subsequent couple of days.’ Having fast-paced people who perceive that rhythm has been actually essential to our success.”
T-Cellular, in the meantime, is leaning into creators as collaborators moderately than spokespeople. Kimberley Hand, senior creator supervisor on the telecom firm, stated T-Cellular is growing an advisory board made up of creators to form campaigns and guarantee authenticity.
She additionally highlighted Membership Magenta, the model’s experiential activation that has appeared at music festivals and occasions resembling Lollapalooza. The pop-up options charging stations, lounges, and social areas—designed not only for followers, but additionally for creators to doc and share their experiences in real-time.
Creator Jazmyn Smith, for instance, helped convey the activation to life for her viewers. “[Smith] is ready to convey it alive in a means that we will’t by means of our personal storytelling,” Hand stated. “It suits very naturally into her content material and her expertise at Lolla.”
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