The haul video, that pile of shopping bags and a creator pulling out item after item, is losing its grip on the feed. According to Business Insider‘s Lucia Moses and Sydney Bradley, brands and creators are cutting back on sponsored hauls and unboxings as audiences tune out, and they’re moving toward content that works a product into a story.

“We’re doing fewer hauls, fewer unboxings,” Grace Murray Vazquez, an EVP at the influencer marketing platform Fohr, told the outlet.

The numbers behind the shift

Data that the influencer marketing platform Traackr pulled for Business Insider shows hauls made up 2.4% of sponsored posts from January through September 2025, and only 1.2% over the same stretch of 2026. Sponsored unboxings fell from 1.3% to 0.7%.

That’s a share, not a raw count. Traackr’s data shows sponsored posts overall are growing fast, and more hauls and unboxings are actually being made this year than last. They just make up a smaller slice of paid content.

Engagement tells a similar story. CreatorIQ data run for Business Insider found that likes, comments and shares on haul and unboxing posts have flattened over the past year after a period of growth. Sponsored hauls averaged 1,780 monthly engagements per post from January through October 2026, down from 2,633 in 2025 and 5,900 in 2022. As Business24.ro put it in its write-up of the same figures, viewers are getting pickier and respond better to promotion built on stories, usefulness and trust.

Alex Rawitz, director of research and insights at CreatorIQ, said the holiday season, when hauls usually peak, will be the real test. If the format underperforms in its strongest time of year, he said, that will be a key signal.

What brands are asking for now

Amanda Acevedo, director of talent at G&B Digital Management, told Business Insider she used to get about 10 requests a month for haul-style fashion and makeup videos. Now she can’t remember the last one. Brands want creators to focus on a single product, like a pair of boots or an eyeliner, and explain why it’s worth it. “That whole ‘styling 10 dresses in one Reel’ is really outdated,” she said.

Lucy Kruszynski, global head of brand at Buttermilk, said that for years “the volume of what someone had bought was the story,” and the bigger the bag in the thumbnail, the bigger the views. Today she sees more cost-per-wear breakdowns, re-styling, product demos and creators explaining why something earned a permanent spot in their routine.

Luxury creator Julia Comil said brands now ask her for “more creative ones, with storytelling.” Those videos cost her more to make because she hires a videographer, but she said they get more views and drive more sales.

Why viewers are skipping

The people Business Insider talked to offered several reasons:

  • Pitch fatigue: audiences are tired of being sold to as the format spread everywhere.
  • Anti-shopping trends: “underconsumption core” and “deinfluencing” pushed back against online shopping culture.
  • Tighter wallets: a Harris Poll found 59% of holiday shoppers surveyed in October expect to make financial trade-offs this season. “It’s a simple thing for people to skip away from,” Murray Vazquez said, especially when people aren’t in a place “to purchase 10 things.”
  • Savvier viewers: “They don’t want to feel like they’re constantly being sold to,” said Superbloom CEO Lily Comba.

Short-form video may also have pulled attention away from long haul-style videos, and brands are getting more comfortable handing creators looser briefs that feel more natural.

Not dead yet

Hauls aren’t disappearing. Kruszynski pointed to TikTok Shop, where product-led and unboxing content can still sell well because buying is so easy. Natasha Valerie, cofounder of The Viralist Group, said product videos still work when there’s a surprise or the item is out of reach for most people, because viewers are “getting a glimpse into a lifestyle they wouldn’t have access to.”

The takeaway

For creators selling anything, from fashion to subscriptions, the message is the same: showing more stuff isn’t enough anymore. A single product with a real reason to care, told as a story, is what brands are paying for and what audiences are actually watching.