Social media has stopped churning out megastars, and it's remaking the creator economy

• It's getting harder for social media creators to become global superstars.
• Apps like TikTok and Instagram are pushing niche, personalized content over general fare.
• Creators, talent managers, and investors are tweaking their strategies to meet the new reality.

Sorry, but you're not going to be the next MrBeast. In fact, YouTube's top creator might be part of a dying breed of megastars.

As algorithms on TikTok and Instagram become more personalized, everyone's For You page is tailored to them. That means creators aren't appearing to new audiences as often, which is hurting their chances of becoming universally recognized celebrities.

It's the "hardest it's ever been to break through the noise and become a big macro creator," Reed Duchscher, MrBeast's former manager, told Business Insider.

We're entering the era of the "niche creator," and it's changing how talent agents, managers, investors, and other industry executives think about the influencer business. Few are betting on the idea of incubating influencers into A-list stars. The new strategy is all about finding creators who make specialized content, have a small but fiercely loyal fan base, and are hungry to build businesses outside the social feed.

There are vastly more creators than ever before. The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimated last year that there are about 1.5 million full-time content creators. Millions of amateurs are posting videos for fun or as a side hustle, and AI video generators are making it easier than ever to spit out content.

Without appealing to a specific community, it's harder than ever to get seen at all.

"I would not want to try to break into the creator sphere right now if I didn't have a niche," said Kelsey Reese, a TikTok creator who makes DIY and fashion content.

For those who missed the window for global TikTok fame — which saw the emergence of Charli D'Amelio, Addison Rae, and Khaby Lame — the path to a creator career requires a clear strategy.

"At this point, to grow, you have to contribute something new and something different," Reese said. It's "a lot more difficult than posting a little TikTok dance."

Scouting talent in the new social-media age

TikTok's early years were defined by a monoculture — or as close as social media could get — featuring creators like the Hype House crew.

You could hack your way to the top of everyone's TikTok feeds by collabing with the right creators or jumping incessantly on trends — does anyone remember Jason Derulo's 2020 campaign? New faces broke into the mainstream each year.

That phenomenon has faded.

The 10 most popular creators on TikTok this quarter are roughly the same from a year ago, with just one new entrant, Indonesian influencer Willie Salim, according to follower data from analytics firm Social Blade. That's different from early 2021, a moment of rapid user growth at TikTok, when five new faces entered the app's top 10 compared to the previous year.

YouTube stars are similarly static in 2026. Its top 10 creators this quarter are identical to a year ago, according to Social Blade's global subscriber tallies. MrBeast has been the platform's most followed individual creator since 2022.

The top talent lock-in is changing how talent agents and managers think about who to sign next.

Finding someone who can break through at a global scale "feels really, really difficult in today's day and age," said Kai Gayoso, a managing partner at Range Media Partners. Gayoso said he cares less about follower counts and views prospective talent through the lens of "what can we as representation do to go and build a really compelling business that can exist on its own and actually scale, potentially outside of the creator."

For Nick Jacklin, a partner at Underscore Talent, growing talent is all about drilling down to what's made their content appealing.

"We're helping them just narrow their focus," he said. "This is what seems to be working. Let's double down on this for six or nine or 12 months."

Trying to find the next MrBeast is not a practical business plan. Instead, it's about tracking down a talented content creator with an entrepreneurial drive.

"These creators are not going to be generalists," Duchscher said. "They're going to be very specific to their niche, and then we're going to be able to build production companies and businesses with them in that specific vertical."

How to make money without being broadly famous

Being popular in a narrow category can lead to big revenue, even if you don't reach Kardashian-level fame.

A main area of focus for creators' teams is influencer marketing, where US spend is expected to cross $12 billion this year, according to a forecast from EMARKETER, Business Insider's sister company.

For talent with a clearly defined vertical, the sponsorship pitch to brands can be straightforward, Jacklin said. A creator who mostly cooks pasta in videos can easily sell their audience to Barilla or De Cecco, for example.

It's also more obvious which products an influencer should consider launching themselves, Duchscher said. That pasta creator could roll out a line of tomato sauces with their face on the jar.

Slow Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in creators' businesses, is looking for influencers with authority in particular communities. Being limited in what you post about can be a key part of the appeal.

It's not just about making dog grooming videos, it's about being the "go-to pet groomer for Australian Huskies with this length hair," Slow Ventures' partner Megan Lightcap said.

"For us, taking a bet on these super niche and vertical creators was just way more defensible than backing broad-name, bigger kinds of celebrities," she said. "At the end of the day, you're betting on their ability to retain attention, which is just so hard."

Some creators are turning to alternative platforms to make money, like Discord and Substack, where niche content thrives. Nick Norwitz, a health YouTuber and Underscore client, used Substack to launch his science newsletter, for instance.

Estella Struck, founder of talent management firm Viviene, said that in-person events are another avenue for creators.

With AI content overload and the generalized experience of being "chronically online" for nearly a decade, "people want human connection," Struck said.

Influencers are hosting their own events or working with brand partners to bring that online community into the real world.

Reese — one of Struck's clients who has over 200,000 Instagram followers and 428,000 on TikTok — said she isn't looking to get "super famous."

"I just want to be successful and have an abundant platform to show off my work," she said, "and make a comfortable income from it."