Influencer production increasingly outsources labor to producers who themselves become public figures.

Evidence

Maples is a rarity: while many YouTubers include their family and friends in their content, few take part in the actual process of production. More often than not, influencers hire a producer to help out. Increasingly, we hear the voices of these producers as the influencer speaks to them instead of, or in addition to, an assumed online audience. These producers often become stars in their own right, inspiring the adoration of fans. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 521

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the labor theory of value question for the reader’s case study: the producer is auxiliary labor whose surplus is realized by the influencer-brand, and the producer’s rise as a star complicates who appropriates surplus.
• QUESTION: Who realizes the surplus when the producer becomes a star in their own right? Does the influencer-as-firm reliably extract the producer’s labor-value?