How CTV is cashing in on creator content
Christian Ray Blaza / Shutterstock / The Current
When Netflix released its engagement report for the first half of 2025, one title stood out among the top 10 most-watched TV shows.
Ms. Rachel, the kids hit that originated on YouTube, was the only program in the top 10 that wasn’t a Netflix original. A new report by Emily Horgan, a kids media consultant and author of the newsletter The Kids StreamerSphere, also found that it was Netflix’s biggest debut for a children’s program.
The show highlights an emerging trend — and vast opportunity — for premium streaming services. Some creators are migrating beyond user-generated content (UGC) platforms, such as YouTube, as they seek to diversify their revenue streams.
Further, experts say that creator content is starting to factor more into media plans, as some brands look for ways to repackage social content for connected TV (CTV) campaigns.
“Increasingly, top-performing creator content is being elevated into full-blown programmatic media assets,” says Reid Litman, a global consulting director at Ogilvy.
Creators move into premium streaming
YouTube regularly tops Nielsen’s monthly Gauge report of TV viewing time in the U.S., followed by Netflix. And according to EMarketer, social users are more likely to watch creator content during “peak TV time” between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
So, it’s not surprising that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is vocal about the company’s push to win over content creators.
“The question that’s out there is, is it premium? Well, some of it is, and we believe we have the best monetization model on the planet for premium storytelling,” Sarandos said during a recent Netflix earnings call.
Horgan tells The Current that Ms. Rachel’s infrequent posting on YouTube and the fact that she doesn’t post to YouTube Shorts generate demand that makes her more premium for other platforms.
“Everyone else is juicing shorts for discoverability and view count,” she says.
The ambitions go beyond kids content — and it’s not just Netflix eyeing creators either. MrBeast, the most popular YouTuber, launched a Prime Video competition series last year; the free, ad-supported streaming TV service Tubi recently struck deals with top creators to bring their content to the platform; and so on.
Even select video episodes of Travis and Jason Kelce’s hit podcast, New Heights, will start streaming on Prime Video.
“There’s obviously a clear evolution in how creators and influencers are showing up,” says Cristina Lawrence, executive vice president of consumer and content experience at Razorfish.
Social content for TV ads
To that end, brands are experimenting with repurposing social video content for CTV ads, aiming to lower costs, improve measurement and expand reach.
“New age commercials can mimic short-form aesthetics and tone,” Litman says.
Last year, TelevisaUnivision introduced a tool that lets advertisers integrate social videos into TV programming. In December, Roku announced a tool that would enable brands to convert social media marketing materials to CTV.
EMarketer noted this strategy could help brands measure ad effectiveness more reliably than on social media, making it less likely that they’d divert their spending away from CTV.
Timothy LaLonde, CMO of the agency Filmkraft and co-founder of Screenbridge, which edits social video ads into premium video assets, says that the strategy can “democratize” TV ads.
“Smaller brands can unlock television, and what’s great about that is that it’s less about money and more about being smart and savvy,” he adds. “How good is the social content, and how smart are you at converting that for TV and distributing it the right way?”
But LaLonde warns that it’s not as easy as simply dropping social content into a TV slot.
“They’re different animals,” LaLonde says.
“To me, premium is about a more polished production value. … And when your ad is playing during [premium TV content], you want it to fit that experience. When you’re on your phone scrolling on the couch, that’s not a premium experience. It’s like eating junk food.”