references/2026/creator-commerce-2026.md

# Creator Commerce, 2026

Creators increasingly operate across discovery, creative production, paid media, affiliate distribution, search visibility, trust, and commerce. A creator program should specify which job each creator asset or partnership is expected to perform.

## Decision implications

- Separate creator-as-creative, creator-as-media, creator-as-affiliate, creator-as-search-result, and creator-as-commerce-endpoint.
- Match measurement to the role instead of collapsing everything into engagement rate.
- Treat platform creator discovery recommendations as candidate generation, not proof of brand fit.

## Sources

- `source:tiktok-world-2026`
- `source:tiktok-symphony-agent-2026`
- `source:iab-creator-measurement-2026`