Christmas creator budgets are being split as early as summer, and a brand that looks for creators only in autumn gets, according to agencies, whoever is left. Creator Kara Harms received “sorry, no budget” in more than half of her replies from brands between August and November.
Offers for Christmas gift guides, meanwhile, reach her from August, and the earliest PR pitches have been moving earlier every year since 2020. The data comes only from her own inbox. She went through it with her team, message by message. A creator's pitch in November arrives at a budget that the brand split in summer. “Most creators pitch holiday campaigns in November, but by then the brands in my inbox had already cast them back in August,” Harms wrote.
A late brand pays more
A budget fixed during August planning limits the shifting of money towards whatever works during the campaign. More brands have such a budget this year. In the holiday survey by the influencer marketing platform Later from July 2026, 49% of 259 brands have one. Last year it was 30%. A brand that does not build its plan in August is, in November, looking for whoever is still free.
In Czechia, a quarter of all annual influencer collaborations were concentrated in the record November of 2025, writes MediaGuru. Many creators had their November campaigns planned well in advance and gave priority to regular partners. According to Jakub Michalovský of the agency TK media, they commonly asked double the price from a company that approached them only for November or December.
Some deals are made at the last minute
Late outreach is this year the main obstacle to a holiday campaign for 27% of 354 creators in Later's survey. Brands, meanwhile, name early planning as a priority. Christmas deals in last year's fourth quarter were mostly closed less than 30 days before the campaign launched, said two creators Digiday spoke to. Brands were probably holding on to leftover budgets until the last moment, said Haley Schluter, who leads the North American arm of the influencer agency Buttermilk.
Travel brands and wine, beer and spirits brands start getting in touch with Harms about the holidays only in the second week of October. For her, the last quarter is the busiest period for brand work, and she chooses what she will promote. By her own account, she brought one brand $15,000 in sales this year. It had offered her a collaboration for $450, and Harms is asking it for $1,000.
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