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License creator content for omnichannel use, then place the same asset across retail media, CTV, and display to lower cost per conversion.
30-second
testimonial recorded for TikTok can run as a pre-roll…
6- to 12-minute
format on YouTube but can be trimmed to
15 or 30 seconds
for CTV without losing the narrative thread
60- to 90-second
video for Instagram or TikTok
Duolingo and Ulta Beauty are moving creator partnerships off social feeds and into retail media networks, connected television, and display inventory, according to Digiday's 2026 marketer guide published this week. While Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube still command the majority of influencer spend, the brands documented in the report are testing creator content in channels where audience attention has migrated but influencer playbooks have lagged.
The shift addresses a mechanical problem: social platform reach is no longer growing at the rate it did between 2018 and 2022, and cost-per-impression on Instagram and TikTok has risen as more brands compete for the same creator inventory. Retail media networks—the ad platforms run by Target, Walmart, Amazon, and others—now represent a distribution channel where a brand can place creator-shot video without paying the creator again for usage rights, provided the original contract covered omnichannel deployment. Ulta, which operates both physical stores and a retail media network, has placed influencer testimonial clips inside its own display ads and on endcaps in-store, per the Digiday report.
The mechanism works because the creator's credibility transfers across formats. A 30-second testimonial recorded for TikTok can run as a pre-roll unit on Hulu or Roku, or as a display banner on a retailer's site, without losing the informal, first-person tone that made the creator effective in the first place. The brand pays once for the content and once for the media placement, rather than paying the creator's rate every time the asset runs. For physical products, this is especially useful: a skincare brand can place a creator's review directly above the buy button on Amazon or Ulta's site, closing the gap between endorsement and purchase.
Duolingo's approach, also cited in the guide, involves recruiting smaller creators to produce long-form content for YouTube, then clipping those videos into shorter units for connected TV and display. The language-learning app has leaned into creators who explain study techniques or document their progress, content that performs well in a 6- to 12-minute format on YouTube but can be trimmed to 15 or 30 seconds for CTV without losing the narrative thread. The brand does not disclose specific performance figures, but Digiday notes the strategy allows Duolingo to own the content outright and place it wherever attention moves next, rather than renegotiating rights each time a new channel opens.
For a small physical-product brand, the steal is straightforward. Commission a creator to produce one 60- to 90-second video for Instagram or TikTok, but negotiate the contract to include unlimited omnichannel usage for 12 months. Pay a flat fee—typically 1.5 to 2 times the creator's standard social rate—rather than paying per placement. Once you have the asset, upload it to Amazon's sponsored brands video, to your own website as a homepage hero, and to any retail media network where your product is listed. If you run Meta or Google display ads, use the creator clip as the creative. The content cost is fixed; the media spend scales with your budget. Start with one creator per quarter, test three placements, and measure which channel drives the lowest cost per conversion. The goal is to make the creator's endorsement work harder without paying for it twice.
Pay one creator a flat fee with omnichannel rights, then run that clip across Amazon ads, your site, and Meta display for twelve months.
For the operator
Negotiate perpetual usage in your creator contracts now, before platform CPMs rise further, and test CTV and retail media as distribution adds.
For the house
Brief your agency to license creator testimonials with unlimited placement rights, then seed that content across every retail partner's media network you access.
The branded-identity layer Chiefs of Staff and heritage CMOs route through — your name imprinted on real authorized stock, your pick of 200+ brands and 70,000 products, shipped from one accountable house. Nine editorial desks publish the intelligence those operators read before they sign.
200+authorized brands
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9 deskspublishing daily
1997one house, since
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