Creators are standing up IRL events to soak up more of brands’ marketing dollars

“We’re focused on creating more interactive experiences, just like our videos, for fans to go anywhere in the world and experience getting off their couch,” Brock said.

Golbach and Brock are far from the only content creators to step up their investment in IRL events in 2025. Creator collective Dude Perfect has also grown its event business this year; after not touring in 2024, Dude Perfect is hosting a 21-event national tour this summer that has “nearly sold out” all of the venues on its 20-city route and drawn its “biggest [live] audience to date,” according to CEO Andrew Yaffe. Yaffe described sponsorships as a “meaningful contributor” to the collective’s overall revenue. He declined to share specific deal values, but said that Dude Perfect’s event sponsorships contribute more than merchandise and are the creators’ second-biggest revenue stream for the tour after ticket sales, with the tour bringing in new sponsors such as IHG Hotels and Resorts.

“With [sponsors] Samsung and Google, we were in conversation with them about a number of things, and when we showed them some of the data around the tour and the audience they’d be in front of, it was a perfect fit for what they were hoping to achieve,” Yaffe said. “Content is an amazing asset to advertise against, but in many ways, it is a broad tool. The repeated exposure and the depth of emotion you get at a live event is an asset that we’re lucky to have at our disposal.”

In addition to bringing in new sponsors, Dude Perfect’s expanded presence at live events this year has created more potential sponsorship inventory for the creator collective’s pre-existing partners, such as Samsung, whose Galaxy phones will be featured in an interactive onstage trivia segment during the tour.

“We’re proud to partner with them to bring the Galaxy innovation to life on stage in fun and creative ways,” said Samsung Electronics America vp of mobile experience marketing Olga Suvorova.

For brands such as Hot Topic, which sponsored one of Golbach and Brock’s film premiere events last year, the ability to measure performance is a key motivator to lean into creators’ IRL events. Across the board, brands are more closely scrutinizing the performance of their creator marketing spend, pushing to experiment with channels that have more easily measurable performance metrics in the form of conversions or foot traffic.

“One thing that a lot of brands don’t really get to see is how you can put butts in seats, or how you can get people off the couch or actually into a store or an experience,” Golbach said. “So, not only will we be able to provide an experience to the fan, we also get to showcase the Sam and Colby fandom.”

Creator activations are a “growing focus” for Hot Topic, according to the brand’s director of social media Katherine Miller, who said that Hot Topic plans to do more of them during the second half of 2025. 

“We track views and impressions, of course, but it goes deeper,” Miller said. “These events let us connect with new creators we might not otherwise reach and the ripple effect of fan-generated content tells us we’ve made an impact.”

Another reason why IRL creator events are attractive to brands is because they often come pre-loaded with digital content opportunities, with both the hosting creators and their guests often streaming or creating videos about the experience, often without the sponsors paying extra.

“You have creators coming and filming teasers and ‘get ready with me’ videos beforehand, so you get this event content that feels really authentic to each creator,” said Gem Garcin, associate director of strategy and creative at the creator marketing company Open Influence. “And then there’s everything that comes after: recaps, highlights, et cetera. It’s just so fruitful.”

IRL events are particularly popular among younger fans, according to Sarah Gerrish, the senior director of influencer marketing for the agency Movers+Shakers, who said that Gen Z consumers who were raised on digital platforms often view in-person events as a different and particularly desirable experience. 

“Gen Z craves these actual IRL meetups across the board, and brands doing it on their own are not as interesting as an influencer who you feel like you’re real-life friends with,” she said. “It’s just a really interesting way to build that audience and build your fandom as an influencer.”