Some micro influencers find promising security in brand ownership over sponsorships

Rocker is a full time content creator focused on career development and personal finance. He estimates that 85% to 90% of his income stems from brand partnerships (though he didn’t provide exact figures), including Microsoft, Adobe, Apple and Ally Bank. Lately, he’s been thinking more about career longevity and what happens when brand partnerships dry up.

“The anxiety is there in terms of, ‘I am a creator, I have this big audience, I’m making great money, but Meta, LinkedIn or TikTok could flip a switch tomorrow and my audience is gone,’” Rocker said.

So when Favikon approached the creator with an investment opportunity after raising its first seed round, Rocker didn’t hesitate. 

The content creator had been a customer of Favikon before striking a deal with the platform last year — a few videos and a LinkedIn post in exchange for a trip to Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the ad industry’s premiere event in the south of France.

Financial details of Rocker’s investment in Favikon were not disclosed. The investment was a separate, traditional seed investment rather than a content-for-equity deal. While there’s no contractual obligation for Rocker to post about Favikon, the content creator said he’ll “probably end up posting for him [Favikon co-founder and CEO Jeremy Boissinot] for free a few times.” 

The expectation, Rocker said, is that payoff comes from Favikon going public, the platform being acquired by a large company or he’s able to sell his shares privately. 

Income after virality

Influencer marketing has become a core advertising channel with big budgets. In the U.S. alone, spending is expected to reach $13.7 billion by 2027, according to eMarketer forecasts. Typically, brands compensate influencers through flat fees, performance-based payments, product gifting or other hybrid models.

Some companies are starting to push equity deals, or ownership-driven partnerships. Instead of receiving a flat fee or performance-based payment, creators receive ownership in the business. Think Alix Earle’s partnership with Poppi drink brand last year. 

Simultaneously, more creators are starting to think about life after virality. According to data from Sprout Social’s 2025 Influencer Marketing Report, 65% of influencers would rather be involved in creative or product development conversations. 

Jeff Frommer is founder and CEO of OWM, a platform that helps creators strike equity deals with brands. Frommer’s team receives around five inbound requests daily from founders looking to partner with creators for equity deals, he said. It’s unclear what progression has looked at over time.

The deals are structured with cash compensation, earned equity, revenue share and performance-based incentives, per the company’s website. Equity is earned over time based on things like contribution and vesting schedules. 

Mirroring Hollywood deals

Influencer marketing is growing up and influencers are cutting investor deals in the same way celebrities do. For example, Ryan Reynold’s investment in Mint Mobile. The telecom company was acquired by T-Mobile in 2024, according to Yahoo Finance. Per the report, Reynolds could have netted $300 million from the sale given the actor owned about 25% of the company.  

Sweat equity is gaining traction, but it’s a long-term, high-risk play. These deals work for macro-level creators, like Alix Earle and Poppi or Michael Jordan and Nike, said Jennifer Quigley-Jones, founder and CEO of Digital Voices influencer shop. 

“That being said, it is a strategy that does not scale easily,” she said. “But we are not seeing this demand for mid-tier or micro creator partnerships.”

Michael Heller, CEO and founder of Talent Resources digital marketing agency, sees talent deals becoming “smarter and more [venturistic].” Creators who win join the creative process rather than stand alone deals, he said. 

High risk, high reward

For full-time creator Rocker, the equity deal with Favikon was the “biggest, probably single investment” he’s ever made. To prepare, Rocker reviewed the platform’s financial deck, consulted with a financial advisor and focused on evaluating the business health and growth potential before signing on as a seed investor.

The experience, he said, was “really cool, but also very stressful.” “Giving that brand marketing assets that they can use today and run ads, spend on today and make money off of today versus them exchanging you an IOU for 10 years in the future,” Rocker said. “It may be gone in a year or two.”

In his own peer circles, anxiety is mounting around the lifespan of a content creator. However, it hasn’t led to a boom in equity deals for smaller creators, agency execs say. 

“Companies are also not en masse moving away from sponsorships in favor of equity partnerships,” David Huntzinger, svp and talent manager at Night, a talent management company and marketing agency, told Digiday in an emailed statement. He added, “It’s usually specific use cases of early stage companies or those with low market penetration looking for scale.” 

‘That feels like a risk’

Brands and talent instead seem more open to co-branded products and revenue share deals, said one expert who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The expert manages a creator-led platform and firm, and said while they’re pitching equity deals, brands haven’t bitten yet. 

Equity deals, per the expert, are “big fish” reserved for cash positive startups and mega creators who can afford to shell out for a chance at a big payday in the future. 

“That feels like a risk that most, certainly in this economy, most people are not able to take,” said Danielle Wiley, CEO of influencer marketing shop Sway Group.

To Wiley’s point, nearly 80% of influencer collabs cost under $300, according to Collabstr’s 2026 Influencer Marketing Report. Meaning, micro-engagements make up the majority of the market rather than big-name influencers. 

As the creator economy continues to mature, talent management firms expect brands and influencers to continue to move beyond cash payment deals, mirroring Hollywood’s investment opportunities, revenue sharing and creative director roles. 

Given the instability of social media, more creators are looking beyond the four walls of the platforms to maintain their careers, said the expert who asked to remain anonymous. Many creators may not be relevant in 10 years, they added.

“If you want to get ahead of that, you’ve got to build the infrastructure that allows your brilliance to live beyond you. That’s the bottom line,” they said.