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LinkedIn is significantly expanding its 2026 creator and B2B marketing infrastructure. The new Creator Marketplace sits directly in Campaign Manager and is designed to help brands find suitable subject-matter creators, review their content and initiate partnerships, including Thought Leader Ads. For German creators, however, there is an important catch: according to LinkedIn, content from authors and creators in countries covered by the EU Digital Markets Act is currently not supported in the Creator Marketplace.
As a result, the new monetisation and discovery channel for creators in Germany is currently of limited relevance. At the same time, LinkedIn is rolling out further features that are also interesting here: Collaborative Posts and new analytics for In-Network and Out-of-Network reach.
What the LinkedIn Creator Marketplace can do
LinkedIn officially announced the Creator Marketplace on 10 June 2026. In Campaign Manager, advertisers can find creators by topic and content expertise, review profiles for audience and performance, and discover existing posts with a brand connection. With the creator's consent, suitable posts can then be promoted as Thought Leader Ads.
For creators, the Marketplace is intended as an additional monetisation channel. Invited accounts can make themselves visible through a monetisation area, add contact information and choose which content brands may see. According to LinkedIn, the programme is currently available only to a selected group in the USA and Canada and is to be expanded step by step.
For the German market, the second restriction is the decisive one: in its official advertiser help, LinkedIn states that creator content from countries covered by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is currently not supported for discovery and sponsorship in the Creator Marketplace for data protection reasons. German creators therefore cannot currently simply be found by brands through the new Marketplace and activated for Thought Leader Ads.
For brands in Germany, classic creator outreach therefore remains important for now. If you are looking for B2B creators, you will continue to rely heavily on existing networks, direct outreach and external creator databases. That platforms are bringing discovery and media budgets closer together, however, fits the broader trend in creator marketing 2026.
Collaborative Posts bring shared reach into the feed
In parallel, LinkedIn is expanding organic collaboration. Collaborative Posts allow you to invite up to five additional people or Pages as contributors. Once accepted, all participants are shown on the post. According to LinkedIn, the feature is currently being rolled out gradually and is not yet available for all accounts.
For B2B marketing, this is more relevant than an ordinary tag or repost. Product launches, joint studies, event recaps or posts from companies and experts can be published directly as a shared post. This can bring together the reach of company pages and personal profiles, which has often been separate until now.
Because LinkedIn is at the same time taking a harder line against fake engagement and AI slop, credible content with clearly identifiable people behind a brand is likely to gain importance.
New analytics show reach outside your own network
LinkedIn is also extending its post analytics with the split In network and Out of network. In-Network refers to impressions from people who already follow or are connected to you. Out-of-Network shows the share of impressions from people outside that existing network.
For social media teams, this is a more useful metric than a simple total of impressions. A post with fewer views can be strategically more valuable if a large share of them reaches new audiences. Conversely, a very high In-Network share shows that content mainly deepens the existing community.
This can be combined with LinkedIn's newsletter SEO and evergreen content, for example: teams can measure not only whether content regains reach, but increasingly also where that reach comes from.
Why LinkedIn is focusing more on creators
LinkedIn justifies the expansion with the growing importance of credible expert voices in B2B marketing. In a LinkedIn study conducted by YouGov with 1.299 B2B marketers from the USA, UK, France, Germany and India, 82 percent said that creators increase credibility with decision-makers. LinkedIn also cites 56 percent of B2B buyers who use creator input in the final phase of the purchasing process to validate recommendations.
The figures come from research commissioned by LinkedIn and should therefore be classified as platform data. The product strategy behind it is nonetheless clear: LinkedIn wants to connect discovery, creator collaboration, organic content and paid distribution more closely within its own infrastructure.
For German brands, the Marketplace is therefore at present more a signal of direction than a fully usable tool. Collaborative Posts and the new reach metrics, on the other hand, are already directly relevant as soon as they are available in your account.
Sources: LinkedIn Pressroom on the Creator Marketplace, LinkedIn Help: Creator Marketplace, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: Creator Marketplace in Campaign Manager, LinkedIn Help: Collaborative Posts, LinkedIn Help: Post Analytics, Social Media Examiner.