The short version

Stuart Williams predicted on January 8, 2026: “For marketers, it should have been a call to arms to rethink how their brands show up on social, where total spend on paid, brand-authored content still dwarfs spend on influencers.” Verdict: Partially right. Influencer spend grew significantly, but paid social still dominated overall budgets.

Prediction by

Stuart Williams

On January 8, 2026

“For marketers, it should have been a call to arms to rethink how their brands show up on social, where total spend on paid, brand-authored content still dwarfs spend on influencers.”

Follow-up

Influencer spend grew significantly, but paid social still dominated overall budgets.

From the High Caliber AI network — see the AI for PR module in the course.