February 2026: Building to Last, Contract Chaos & Google's Creator Search
Tue Feb 03 2026
In this infrastructure-focused episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene unpack three stories built from original Net Influencer research and platform updates that reveal where the creator economy's operational foundations need to evolve:
🏗️ What 2026 Needs: Build Things That Last: Net Influencer surveyed 92 industry professionals asking what the creator economy needs more of this year. The overwhelming consensus? Long-term partnerships, performance clarity, creator freedom, and systems that treat creators like businesses—not viral machines. The alignment across voices reveals the industry knows exactly what sustainable growth requires: less guesswork, more intention, and relationships built over time to test, learn, and identify what actually drives ROI.
📄 Contract Infrastructure Breakdown: In another roundtable on managing creator contracts at scale, a clear pattern emerged—contracts have evolved from paperwork to infrastructure, but the tools haven't kept up. Teams are still piecing together PDFs, emails, DocuSign, and manual processes. Contracts work fine with 10 creators but become bottlenecks at 50-100. Nii predicts the future isn't all-in-one platforms but best-of-breed solutions for specific workflow pieces, similar to how Lumeno focuses solely on payments while integrating with other systems.
🔍 Google Centralizes Creator Discovery: Google launched creator search inside Google Ads for YouTube partnerships, adding keyword-based discovery and structured filters directly into their paid media platform. This isn't just a feature—it's a signal that Google understands YouTube is one of their most AI-resistant assets and that the convergence of organic, creator, and paid is accelerating. By making creator discovery live inside ads infrastructure, Google is betting that easier access to creators equals more paid amplification dollars.
From industry-wide alignment on sustainable growth needs to the operational chaos of scaling contracts to platforms centralizing creator workflows—this episode captures the infrastructure gaps and platform responses defining the creator economy's next evolution.
The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.
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In this infrastructure-focused episode, hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene unpack three stories built from original Net Influencer research and platform updates that reveal where the creator economy's operational foundations need to evolve: 🏗️ What 2026 Needs: Build Things That Last: Net Influencer surveyed 92 industry professionals asking what the creator economy needs more of this year. The overwhelming consensus? Long-term partnerships, performance clarity, creator freedom, and systems that treat creators like businesses—not viral machines. The alignment across voices reveals the industry knows exactly what sustainable growth requires: less guesswork, more intention, and relationships built over time to test, learn, and identify what actually drives ROI. 📄 Contract Infrastructure Breakdown: In another roundtable on managing creator contracts at scale, a clear pattern emerged—contracts have evolved from paperwork to infrastructure, but the tools haven't kept up. Teams are still piecing together PDFs, emails, DocuSign, and manual processes. Contracts work fine with 10 creators but become bottlenecks at 50-100. Nii predicts the future isn't all-in-one platforms but best-of-breed solutions for specific workflow pieces, similar to how Lumeno focuses solely on payments while integrating with other systems. 🔍 Google Centralizes Creator Discovery: Google launched creator search inside Google Ads for YouTube partnerships, adding keyword-based discovery and structured filters directly into their paid media platform. This isn't just a feature—it's a signal that Google understands YouTube is one of their most AI-resistant assets and that the convergence of organic, creator, and paid is accelerating. By making creator discovery live inside ads infrastructure, Google is betting that easier access to creators equals more paid amplification dollars. From industry-wide alignment on sustainable growth needs to the operational chaos of scaling contracts to platforms centralizing creator workflows—this episode captures the infrastructure gaps and platform responses defining the creator economy's next evolution. The Big Three by Influence Weekly: 3 Biggest Stories. 1 Essential Conversation.