By Alyssa Mercante  •  February 13, 2026  •

Ivy Liu

That’s where Intersection’s LinkNYC comes in. As part of a new partnership, Kalil has agreed to let the media company share content she’s already published across Instagram and TikTok on more than 4,000 LinkNYC screens across New York City, where Kalil, 33, is based. The deal is focused on exposure rather than compensation, so it carries no fee. The structures, which replaced payphones over a decade ago with kiosks that have free Wi-Fi and built-in LED screens, will host Kalil’s content, much of which will be filmed on the streets of the city, through summer 2026. 

“When you’re a creator, you just want more eyeballs. You just want to keep growing your community. When they reached out and said, ‘Hey, we can give you a platform that you could never reach on your own,’ it was an immediate yes,” Kalil told Digiday.

In an era of algorithmic unpredictability, betting on a single platform is no longer a viable business model for creators, said Amy Choi, CEO and founder of creator marketing consultancy ACE NYC. “We’ve seen algorithm changes, potential TikTok bans and Meta’s constant algorithm shifts erode creators’ ability to reach their own audiences. Creators who’ve built entire businesses on a single platform are incredibly vulnerable,” she said. 

The move by creators to diversify beyond single platforms echoes a strategy long used by publishers who learned the hard way that algorithm changes on Google and Facebook could instantly reshape traffic and revenue. Publishers’ ongoing struggles with declining referral traffic from search, worsened by Google’s AI Overviews, serve as a cautionary tale that creators are increasingly heeding. 

“With this LinkNYC partnership, we’re watching creators evolve across the full spectrum of screens: first from mobile/social where they built their audience, to CTV/streaming with shows and brand integrations and even Super Bowl commercials, and now with out-of-home placements like this,” said Choi. “Each screen serves a different function, and it’s not about engagement or clicks, but ubiquity and cultural presence. This is actually old school reach and frequency strategy,” she added. 

This strategy is likely a good fit for a creator like Kalil, who is hesitant to become too corporatized. It doesn’t require her to make anything that feels at-odds with her brand, as LinkNYC is hosting content she’s already made and published on her social channels.

Emily Brown, associate director of strategy at Billion Dollar Boys, says there’s an efficiency layer at play here, as well. 

“Because Haley isn’t creating net-new content, LinkNYC is effectively amplifying creative that is already proven to resonate with audiences. That means repeated exposure across multiple touchpoints,” Brown said. “A consumer might see Haley on TikTok in the morning and then encounter the same content on a LinkNYC screen later that day. That kind of cross-media repetition drives recall, recognition and familiarity.”

Kalil believes that the rawness of social media and the authenticness of her content doesn’t fit in a corporate world, and she doesn’t want to be “captured in a cage by corporate America.”

“I understand being a business and the importance of it, and doing all those things in the background,” she said. “But I don’t ever like to overthink it, because at the end of the day, I’m a girl with a phone, and that’s what got me to where I am. I never want to lose that. I’ve watched creators lose that, and they don’t lose it on purpose, they just over-corporate themselves.”

That said, she’s hyper-aware of how important it is to diversify her revenue sources. Choi says more creators should consider broadening their media and channel presence. “Especially back to ‘traditional channels,’ as it may unlock and inspire paid out-of-home partnerships,” she said. “Creators who think like actual media companies, not just content machines, are the ones who’ll have staying power beyond viral moments.”

“I think the most important thing for creators is to have different pockets in which to make money,” Kalil said. “You never know how the economy is going to go, where you might not get any offers that align with your values. I would hate to be in a place where I financially need an offer from somebody and I have to take it, and I have to compromise my morals. That’s something that I don’t want to do.”

Kalil’s partnership comes barely a month after one of her main sources of revenue, TikTok, went, as she put it, “wonky” for a few days after its ownership transition. She says that, though she’ll continue posting on TikTok and recognizes that algorithm shifts can sometimes open doors for other creators, being able to be seen outside of an algorithm is huge for a creator who is often dependent on social media. 

“Whenever you can get visibility from something that isn’t algorithmic, it’s a success, because you don’t have to depend on all these factors,” Kalil said. “Somebody could be walking to work and will see my content because it’s playing on Link. That’s a great investment.”