Dhar Mann's Creator Deal Push at Advertising Week: What Small Creators Can Copy

Advertising Week New York expected around 2,500 creators this year, up from 1,000 creator tickets last time, Digiday reported on Oct. 5, 2026. The event's first chief creator officer, YouTube creator Dhar Mann, and organizers set a target of $100 million in creator-brand deals coming out of the week over the next 12 months.

By Oct. 6, Mann was telling Digiday that unnamed CMOs had already pledged more than that. On Oct. 7, Tubefilter reported that he had used his keynote to unveil Creator City, a production campus in Los Angeles. Most of this is aimed at the top tier of creators. But the way the week was set up says a lot about what brands now expect from creators of any size, and what a small creator or small brand can copy.

What happened at Advertising Week?

Advertising Week built a separate creator track this year. Its Creator Pass page lists Creator Upfronts, where creators and creator-led businesses present upcoming schedules and projects to brands and agencies, plus live brand pitch contests and a Creator Lounge with one-to-one meetings. The page says each brand in the pitch contest "has committed to signing at least one deal on site." Digiday reported that Meta ran a Creator's Lounge for creator pass holders.

Mann's role was to broker introductions. Digiday said the $100 million target is measured against creator budgets that hand-picked brands confirmed before the doors opened. Mann said the combined pledges already exceed that figure, but he wouldn't name the CMOs and doesn't expect contracts to be signed this week. "I understand brands allocate Q4 budgets in Q1 or Q2, they're not suddenly going to unlock dollars that did not exist," he told Digiday.

Tubefilter reported that Creator City is a four-acre campus with five soundstages for videos, podcasts, live events and creator collaborations. It is set to open during Super Bowl weekend in February 2027.

Is the 100 million dollar target real?

Treat it as a pledge figure, not signed business. Mann didn't name the brands behind the pledges, Tubefilter noted that none of them are inked as official deals, and the stated goal is deals over the next 12 months, not deals signed at the event. Adam Wescott, CEO of Home Game Studios, put the creator side's view plainly in an email to Digiday: "They want real deals to come from it."

What is clearly real is the shift in tone. Trevant GM Kristina Coughlin told Digiday that creators have become "a core part, often a leading part" of advertisers' marketing mix, where in past years they were an extra.

What does it mean for smaller creators?

The most useful comments for small creators came from the people around Mann. Lauren Lyster of Go Fish Digital told Digiday that public deals like these could help set a standard for pricing, but that it will be "a very high level standard that is not going to be applicable, I think, to 90% of creators," with a possible trickle-down effect over time.

Jamie Gutfreund of Creator Vision said: "Advertisers like process. They like consistency." Her point was that Mann's team talks like operators, about pipeline, revenue and deal flow, which is the language brand budgets run on.

And Mann admitted the skills gap goes both ways. When he asked creators to pitch brands on stage, he said, "Some of the biggest creators in the world were like, 'Wait, are you serious? I don't know how to do that.'"

Put together, the message for a creator with 5,000 or 50,000 subscribers is simple. Brands want creators who can show a schedule, explain their audience, report results and deliver on time. You don't need an Advertising Week badge to work that way.

What does it mean for small brands?

If you sell a product and are thinking about working with creators, the Upfronts format is a good model even at a small scale. Ask creators what they plan to publish over the next quarter, where your product could fit naturally, and how they'll report results. Brands in the Advertising Week pitch contests committed to signing at least one deal on site, which only works when the brief, budget and approval rules are ready in advance.

Video is also getting cheaper to produce on the brand side. Meta used the same week to announce tools that turn static images into video ads, which we covered in our post on Meta's AI video ads for small businesses. Creator content and brand-made video tend to work best together, not as substitutes.

What should you do this week?

1. Write a one-page media kit. Include your niche, audience size, typical views per video, audience location and age if you have it, and two or three past results.
2. Publish your own mini upfront. List what you plan to publish over the next 8 to 12 weeks so a brand can see where a sponsorship would fit.
3. Track the numbers brands ask about. Click-through rate, average view duration and link clicks matter more in a pitch than subscriber count alone.
4. Practice a two-minute pitch. Mann's point about big creators freezing on stage applies to everyone. Say who your audience is, what you would make and what result you expect.
5. Tidy your packaging. Titles, thumbnails and short clips are what a brand sees first when it scans your channel.
6. If you're a brand, write the brief first. Define the product facts, must-say claims, banned claims, budget, usage rights and approval timeline before you contact creators.
7. Disclose every paid deal. Whatever the size of the deal, sponsored content needs a clear disclosure.

Disclosure: some links are affiliate links; ShopperCove may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

For creators who want to tighten titles, thumbnails and clips without juggling several apps, VidRankr's page describes one workflow for keyword and title research, AI thumbnails, video and vertical clip creation, and scheduling to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. It also says plainly that nothing can force YouTube to put you in browse or suggested. ShopperCove did not test VidRankr for this article. VidRankr link: Open linkShow address (affiliate link)

For small brands that want a simple product explainer to hand creators as reference, or creators who want an animated segment for a sponsor read, VidToon's sales page describes a 2D animated explainer video maker with ready-made characters, Google and Microsoft text-to-speech voices and a commercial license. ShopperCove did not test VidToon for this article. VidToon link: Open linkShow address (affiliate link)

Tools that help

• VidRankr, YouTube and short-form creator suite. Its page offers a free 14-day pass with 100 credits and no card, then $67 once for lifetime access, with credit top-ups from $19.99 and a 30-day money-back guarantee. VidRankr link: Open linkShow address
• VidToon, 2D animated explainer videos. Its lifetime page lists $49 as a one-time payment, says the price will move to $67 a month after the launch special, lists videos up to 25 minutes long and promises a fix or a full refund if you have problems. VidToon link: Open linkShow address

How this was made: facts were gathered on 8 Oct 2026 (IST) from the Digiday and Tubefilter reports and the Advertising Week Creator Pass page listed below, then written up with AI help and checked line by line against those sources. ShopperCove did not attend Advertising Week New York.

Sources

• Open digiday.comShow address
• Open digiday.comShow address
• Open tubefilter.comShow address
• Open advertisingweek.comShow address
• Open vidrankr.appShow address
• Open vidtoon.comShow address

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