TL;DR
Holiday campaigns are expanding well beyond Q4, with Easter/spring participation jumping from 33% to 49% of brands and summer holiday participation nearly doubling among creators
Fixed holiday budgets rose from 30% to 49% of brands even as overall spend climbed, meaning less flexibility
Creator-brand alignment dropped from 52% to 41% as a stated brand priority, even as fair payment and clear briefs remain unchanged as creators’ top requirements
Table of Contents
Ask any enterprise marketer what their top holiday priority is this year, and you’ll probably hear “start earlier.” What’s surprising is that when we asked creators the same question, late outreach is still their number one challenge. According to Later’s 2026 Holiday Research, 27% of creators cited it as the biggest obstacle to a good holiday campaign.
The gap between what brands say they’re prioritizing and what creators are actually experiencing is the through-line of this year’s holiday planning data. We surveyed 259 qualified brands and 354 creators from our own database to understand how holiday influencer marketing strategy is shifting heading into the 2026 season, and the picture that emerges is more complicated than “everyone’s investing more in creators.” Budgets are climbing, yes, but the structure behind them is changing in ways that limit flexibility. Brands are finally expanding beyond Q4, but their internal criteria for choosing and briefing creators hasn’t kept pace with what creators say they need to say yes.
As we head into planning season, here’s what the data actually shows, and where the disconnects are worth fixing before you lock in your strategy.
The holiday season has expanded beyond Q4
For years, “holiday campaign” has been shorthand for Black Friday through year-end. That’s still where most of the volume sits. Our research found that 75% of brands and 77% of creators say Christmas and end-of-year remains the dominant moment.
But the data shows brands are no longer treating that window as the whole season:
Easter and spring holidays jumped from 33% of brands running campaigns in 2025 to 49% in 2026
Creator participation around Mother’s Day climbed from 37% to 51%
Father’s Day nearly doubled, from 19% to 31%
Summer holidays saw a similar curve, with creator participation up from 16% to 28%
This data indicates a structural shift in how brands are resourcing the calendar, and it has major implications for creator contracting and content planning across the full year, not just the fourth quarter.
Takeaway: Brands that treat holiday as a single Q4 sprint are competing for the same creators, ad inventory, and consumer attention in the most saturated window of the year.
What this means for brands:
Build a year-round holiday calendar instead of a Q4-only plan, with spring and summer moments scoped as early as year-end
Start creator contracting conversations for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and summer holidays well before those seasons are top of mind internally
Treat each holiday moment as its own campaign with its own creative brief, rather than repurposing year-end messaging across the calendar
Holiday budgets are up, but flexibility isn’t
Influencer marketing holiday planning starts with budget, and in 2026, budgets are up. The number of brands spending over $500K on holidays more than tripled, from 2% of brands in 2025 to 7% in 2026, while the $100K-$250K tier declined from 37% to 28%. On the surface, that reads as brands consolidating spend at the higher end and getting more serious about holiday as a line item.
But the structure of that spend is shifting too, and not necessarily in creators’ favor. Fixed budgets rose from 30% to 49% of brands, while flexible budgets dropped from 61% to 41%. More brands now have a set number to deploy rather than a pool they can adjust as the campaign develops. That changes how much room there is to react to what’s actually working. It also limits the opportunity to bring on a creator mid-campaign who wasn’t part of the original plan.
Timing tells a similar story of good intentions running into rigid execution. Brands say early planning is a top priority, and creator preferences back that up: the share of creators comfortable with just 3 to 4 weeks of outreach lead time declined from 32% to 24%, while those preferring 2 to 4 months of lead time grew from 14% to 22%. Creators want more runway, yet late outreach remains their single biggest complaint about holiday campaigns.
It’s also worth noting that 79% of creators are comfortable with paid amplification of their content. This underscores how brands should be thinking about creator content from the outset. It’s a more valuable media asset when it’s planned and budgeted for from day one.
Takeaway: Bigger budgets and earlier intentions don’t help if the money is locked in a fixed pool and outreach still starts late. Timing and budget flexibility are the real levers.
What this means for brands:
Move outreach timelines to the 2 to 4 month window creators are increasingly asking for
Build some flexibility into holiday budgets even if the overall structure is fixed, so there’s room to react mid-campaign
Plan and budget for paid amplification from the start of the brief rather than treating it as a later add-on
The channels and formats worth prioritizing
Instagram’s grip on holiday content is tightening. The share of creators naming it as their most important holiday channel rose from 62% to 69%. TikTok moved in the opposite direction, falling from 27% to 18% as creators’ top channel, even though it remains one of the clearest points of brand-creator alignment on platform priority.
Content format tells a more fragmented story. Short-form video is still the top choice for both brands at 59% and creators 74%, though both figures declined year over year. Where it gets interesting is in what’s filling the gap:
Livestreams grew significantly as a brand priority, from 25% to 35%
Email and newsletters as a brand content format rose from 14% to 22%
On the creator side, blog posts and articles grew from 14% to 24% as a preferred format
That’s a wider spread of formats than creators are necessarily equipped to deliver on. Brands expanding into livestreams and newsletter content can’t assume the creators they’re working with are set up to produce for those formats at the same level as short-form video. This is something that should be discussed and emphasized during the briefing period.
Content reuse is worth a specific callout here too. Fifty-four percent of brands say creating holiday content that can be used after the promotion ends is important, and creators are largely on board. 71% are comfortable with reuse outright, with another 18% comfortable conditionally. But 61% of creators charge extra for raw files or extended usage rights, split between those who always charge (36%) and those who charge sometimes (25%).
Takeaway: Brands are activating a wider format mix than creators are uniformly equipped for, and reuse rights need to be settled in the brief, not after content is delivered.
What this means for brands:
Confirm a creator’s ability and interest in livestream, newsletter, or long-form formats before building them into a campaign plan
Prioritize Instagram in holiday channel planning while still treating TikTok as an alignment point instead of a declining priority
Include reuse terms and usage fees in the initial brief and contract, rather than a follow-up conversation after content is delivered
What brands measure versus what creators need
The most strategically important finding in this year’s data might be the quietest one. Creator-brand alignment, meaning the health of brand creator partnerships heading into the season, declined as a stated brand priority, from 52% to 41%. At the same time, what creators say they need to say yes hasn’t moved. Fair and timely payment remains their top priority at 62%, and clear, detailed briefs are cited by 57% as a top driver of a successful partnership. Long-term relationship potential is actually rising in importance to creators, up from 40% to 49%.
Measurement is shifting alongside all of this. Engagement rate is now the top KPI for brands at 64%, up from 57%, while sales and revenue attribution declined from 67% to 61%. That could signal a maturing measurement practice that values engagement as a leading indicator. It could also mean brands are gravitating toward the metric that’s easiest to report on quarter over quarter. It’s worth evaluating the existing KPIs before you finalize your own measurement framework for the season.
Takeaway: Alignment is slipping as a brand priority right as creators are asking for more of it, and measurement is shifting toward metrics that are easier to report, not necessarily more impactful.
What this means for brands:
Rebuild creator-brand alignment into the campaign selection process, instead of focusing solely on budget and timeline
Lead briefs with fair, timely payment terms and clear creative expectations, since those remain what creators weigh most
Pair engagement rate with at least one attribution-based KPI so measurement reflects business outcomes, not just what’s simplest to pull into a report
Closing the gap before holiday planning begins
The data tells us that the holiday season needs to be treated as a year-round program rather than a Q4 event. That means planning for spring and summer holidays alongside year-end ones, matching budget structure to the flexibility creators actually need, briefing for the full range of formats you’re activating, and measuring against outcomes that connect back to real business goals rather than whatever’s simplest to pull into a report.
The gap between what brands say they prioritize and what creators say they experience is closable. It starts with treating creator input as part of the planning process instead of a variable to manage after the strategy is already set.
If you’re building out your 2026 holiday strategy and want to see how a creator-led approach could work for your brand, explore our influencer marketing services.
