Creators
State of Play
Revised Nov 1, 2026The moment. Every platform with a TV screen wants long-form creator video. Tubi and TikTok launched the Creatorverse Incubator, with Tubi investing in 12 creators to develop 10 original series; Instagram is testing videos up to 90 minutes and landing on Apple TV, still with no ad-revenue share; Netflix hired Steve Wilson, a 15-year Apple veteran, to run podcast acquisition on top of more than 60 video podcasts; Banijay struck a partnership with Don’t Tell Comedy and its 14 million followers. Creators are meanwhile organizing like the companies buying from them: Ad Age has top creators restructuring under holding companies with their own CEOs, the SBA gave creator businesses an official classification code, and XR Extreme Reach, which handles over 80% of US commercial talent payments, launched XR Pay for Creators.
The tension. The distribution is being bid up and the business underneath is thinning. Simon Owens flags Business Insider’s report that Netflix may be cooling on video podcasts even as it hired someone to buy them. Digiday has nearly 60% of Americans getting news from social media while news creators call it the hardest category for brand deals. The Ankler’s Natalie Jarvey reports newsletter growth slowing industry-wide, with Taylor Lorenz saying she lost a third of her paid subscribers, and a recipe business with 130,000 email subscribers still lives on unpredictable Google and Facebook traffic. The Verge has Google’s AI Overviews dismantling the bargain where publishers fed the index in exchange for clicks, and Adweek has media buyers warning that Meta blocking links to TikTok cuts into creator campaigns that run across both.
Who’s moving. Tubi and TikTok, incubating 10 creator series. Instagram, at 90 minutes and on Apple TV. Netflix and Steve Wilson, on podcast acquisition. Banijay America, with Don’t Tell Comedy. The SBA, filing creators under NAICS code 5121. XR Extreme Reach, paying creators through Hollywood’s pipes. Beast Industries and Mastercard, on creator finance. Bill Owens, leaving 60 Minutes for Newpress. Meta, blocking links to TikTok. The Ankler’s Natalie Jarvey, on subscriber fatigue. The Daily Mail, running 12 to 15 generative engine optimization tests. Airwave, taking ad sales in-house.
What the desk is watching. Whether Instagram pays creators a share for the 90 minutes it is asking for, and whether Netflix’s podcast hire settles which way its podcast strategy is going.
Alex Heath leaves independent media to join VC firm as partner
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that veteran tech reporter Alex Heath, who built an independent Substack after leaving traditional media, has joined Sound Ventures as a partner. He says he will keep running his media business alongside the new investing role.
Brands enlist creators to shape what AI chatbots say about them
Ad Age reports brands are working with creator marketing leaders at agencies to build strategies aimed at improving visibility in AI search results.
Burger King turns an organic GMM taste test into an official Google-backed campaign
Tubefilter’s Sam Gutelle reports that Burger King spotted Rhett and Link’s unpaid Whopper taste-test segment on Good Mythical Morning and built a formal deal around it.
Advertising Week names Dhar Mann chief creator officer, targets $100m in deals
The Drum reports that Advertising Week New York appointed Dhar Mann as its first chief creator officer to curate a four-day program built around a “$100 Million Creator Challenge.”
Creators move from talent to strategy in brand and agency deals
Ad Age’s Gillian Follett details how creators now take equity stakes, join agency creative teams, and sit on advisory boards shaping campaign strategy.
Molson Coors overhauls creator workflow, says engagement quadrupled
Digiday’s Alyssa Mercante reports that Molson Coors is replacing its TV-style approval process with faster, looser creator briefs, working with agency Movers+Shakers since March. The company says engagement with creator content has quadrupled but won’t share commercial results.
Former Hard Fork hosts in talks for seven-figure podcast deal
Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman reports that Casey Newton and Kevin Roose, who exited the New York Times’ Hard Fork, are negotiating a new podcast deal worth seven figures, according to Bloomberg’s Soundbite newsletter.
New creator agency Everywhere bets on cross-platform, not single-channel, deals
uk.themedialeader.com’s Charli West reports that Everywhere, founded by Andy Goldsmith, Craig Eastwood and Mike Wooller, launched last week as a commercial partner representing creators across YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, newsletters and live events rather than one platform.
YouTube adds guesstimated TV co-viewing metric for creator brand pitches
Tubefilter’s James Hale reports that YouTube launched Views (Co-Viewed), a creator-private metric estimating how many people watch together on one TV screen, so a family of three counts as three viewers.
Pocket FM’s AI content engine drives revenue run rate to $500 million
TechCrunch’s Jagmeet Singh reports that Pocket FM has doubled its annualized revenue run rate to $500 million over the past year, with AI now producing 93% of its overall audio catalog and 99% of new content.
Meta’s Muse AI agent hits No. 2 despite a slow download start
TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports that Muse topped 83,000 U.S. iOS downloads and climbed to No. 2 on the App Store, per Sensor Tower, but trails Meta’s own Threads and Meta AI launches and ChatGPT’s debut pace.
Fox Creator Studios backs TikToker Josh Richards’ sketch show for season two
The Ankler’s Natalie Jarvey reports that Fox Creator Studios has co-produced season two of Read the Room, a sketch series creator Josh Richards financed himself in 2024.
Suno scraps old AI models, rebuilds on licensed music amid lawsuits
Suno launched Suno v6, a new AI music model family trained on licensed data from Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe, replacing models trained on data now at issue in copyright suits from Sony, Universal and artists like Jason Isbell.
CatGPT creator Cat Goetze takes equity stake in Smooth Media
Axios’s Kerry Flynn reports that Creator Cat Goetze becomes the first outside shareholder in Smooth Media, a five-year-old talent management firm, joining as strategic adviser while keeping her existing revenue-share deal with the bootstrapped company unchanged.
What brands need to know about the creator economy’s ‘Napster moment’
EMARKETER frames the creator economy as facing a piracy-era-style disruption, where content, distribution and monetization norms are being rewritten faster than brands can adapt. The piece walks through what that shift means for marketer strategy.
John Lewis builds a YouTube chatshow to get noticed by AI search
ExchangeWire’s Sheila Obeng-King reports that John Lewis is launching a YouTube “vodcast” hosted by Angela Scanlon, with clips spread across social platforms, to boost its visibility in AI chatbots and AI-generated search results.
iHeartMedia gives Netflix exclusive video rights to 15 top podcasts
Inside Radio reports that iHeartMedia struck an exclusive video podcast deal with Netflix covering more than 15 shows, including The Breakfast Club and My Favorite Murder, starting early 2026. iHeart keeps all audio rights and distribution; only Netflix will carry the video versions.
Digiday’s Q4 ins and outs for the creator economy
Digiday’s quarterly ins-and-outs list flags diversification over platform dependency, employee creators over firing them, and creator marketplaces folding into major platforms rather than standing apart.
YouTube terminates 20 ‘ghost creator’ channels after Semafor exposé
Semafor’s Max Tani and Graph Massara report that YouTube removed 20 channels tied to a network of AI-scripted “ghost creators,” days after Semafor exposed the operation.
Crooked Media’s nonprofit launches political creator drive for 2028
Crooked Ideas is launching video programming and brands to reach young, politically skeptical voters ahead of 2028, hiring digital strategist Kyle Tharp to lead it.
Gemini Spark gains control over Google Photos libraries
TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports that Google is rolling out Gemini Spark capabilities that let the AI agent edit images, curate and share albums, and turn photos like concert flyers into calendar events.
Don Lemon launches 24/7 channel with FAST operator Swerve TV
C21Media reports that Don Lemon is launching a 24/7 television network, the Don Lemon Channel, through his Lemon Media Network in partnership with FAST operator Swerve TV.
Brands start briefing creators to win over AI chatbots, not just audiences
Digiday’s Seb Joseph and Alyssa Mercante report that marketers now weigh two things when spending on creators: whether they move human audiences and whether they move algorithms inside AI platforms. That second factor hasn’t hit pricing yet, but it is already shaping creator briefs.
Google locks in MrBeast for multiyear Gemini, Fitbit push
Tubefilter’s James Hale reports that Google signed Jimmy Donaldson to a multiyear deal promoting Gemini, Google Health, and Fitbit, starting with a survival-themed video Sept. 5.
Texans top NFL teams in offseason Instagram video views
The Measure’s John Cassillo reports that Tubular Labs data shows the Houston Texans led all NFL teams in offseason Instagram video views, powered by mascot Toro’s prank clip topping 77 million views in a single day. Half the league cleared 100 million views this offseason.