WATCH: 2025’s Creator Economy Winners and Losers
ICYMI’s Lia Haberman and I chew over the year’s highs and lows and give out our very made-up awards for some of the year's standout (and silly) moments on social
When we look back on 2025, we just might remember it as the year that creators fully flowed into the mainstream. Over the last 12 months, MrBeast went Hollywood, Ms. Rachel stormed Netflix, podcasts became video shows and YouTube cemented its status as television.
To unpack this momentous year, I hopped on a Substack Live with ICYMI’s Lia Haberman, who has been writing about brand social and creator marketing trends for the last five years. We approach our coverage of the creator economy from slightly different lenses (but bonded earlier this year over our mutual obsession with Love Island USA), and I knew that we could have an expansive conversation about the impact of this year on the social media and creator industries.
Together we handed out totally fake (but very fun) awards to some of the top people, trends and stories of 2025 — from Best Use of Wedding Vows to Land Brand Deals to Best Hollywood Debut by a creator (yes his name starts with a B, but it’s not the person you’re guessing).
But talking about the past year also meant discussing a few stories and trends we’re happy to leave behind, including the TikTok ban that never was, buzzwords like “community” and “operator” and tone-deaf social media stunts (looking at you, Poppi).
Watch, listen and learn as Lia and I recap the highs and lows of 2025 — and if you want to share your own thoughts about the biggest stories of the year, or predictions for 2026, email me: natalie@theankler.com. Your thoughts might appear in my year-end coverage over the next two weeks.
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