Creators are IP. Most don’t know it yet.

From audience to universe

Our reading: licensing and the creator economy are moving closer together. According to Licensing International’s annual study, global sales of licensed products and services reached $389.8 billion in 2025 (+5.45%). For the first time, the study measures the share of online sales made through social media: 16%. Many creators already make their own merchandise without thinking of themselves as intellectual properties. Yet they have every attribute of one: a universe, their own codes, a loyal audience.

Intellectual properties, characters and shared universes are not a backdrop for us: they are our mother tongue.

What it changes for a brand

A successful collaboration turns the codes of a universe into an object its community wants to own, respecting what the creator has built. For a brand, that takes three forms: a product designed with a creator, a licensed collection, an in-person event with the community.

A recent example: the collaboration between MelGeek and Sheshounet, who has been rating video games out of 20 for more than ten years. On the edition of the Centauri 80 keyboard that bears his name, the screen displays his “/20”, and his world shapes the keycap set and the desk mat included free with the first orders. Pre-orders from 18 September to 9 October 2026.

What it changes for an agent

Our thesis: within a few years, commission on advertising deals will no longer make up most of a creator agent’s income. Products, licensing, events and proprietary projects will take over. That is the point of our Culture practice, and the reason we are already working on large-scale projects rooted in creators’ pop culture.