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.
Amazon builds creator services arm to package influencers for brand deals
Variety’s Cynthia Littleton reports that Amazon executives Matt Sandler and Angie More detail a push to treat creators as entrepreneurs, building e-commerce storefronts and ad packages around shows like “New Heights” and Keke Palmer’s podcast.
Odyssey Entertainment launches originals arm letting creators keep IP
Variety’s William Earl reports that Nashville management firm Odyssey Entertainment is expanding into production with Odyssey Originals, working alongside its King Jester and SickBird banners to develop creator-led shows and podcasts where talent retains full IP ownership.
CreatorIQ data: brands rank fit over follower count, but pay says otherwise
Marketing Dive’s Sara Karlovitch reports that CreatorIQ’s new survey of over 5,000 creators finds suitability tops brands’ partnership criteria, with follower count ranked last. Yet follower count remains the strongest predictor of creator pay on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Brands are handing creators real C-suite titles, not just badges
Digiday’s Alyssa Mercante reports that brands like Katjes, Cool Sips, Cherub and Blenders are naming creators to genuine executive roles — chief creative, content or creator officer — with real input into strategy, not honorary titles.
YouTube redefines “view” as one frame, splits it from engagement
TVREV’s Alan Wolk reports that YouTube now counts a single frame as a “view,” aligning with TikTok and Instagram, while the old longer-watch metric becomes “engagement.” New monetization thresholds arrive in February, tightening bars for creators.
Alex Cooper exits UTA amid Unwell turmoil and $500M valuation
TheWrap’s Kayla Cobb reports that Alex Cooper left UTA in July, just before her Unwell Network hit a $500 million valuation via WTSL. The exit coincides with toxic workplace allegations at Unwell and a public feud with former talent Alix Earle.
Odyssey Entertainment launches creator-owned originals division
Nashville management firm Odyssey Entertainment is expanding into production with Odyssey Originals, letting creators retain 100% ownership of the IP they develop. The unit works alongside existing banners King Jester (comedy) and SickBird Productions (podcasts, docs, digital series).
Kick’s founders launch Club, a paid fan-community app for creators
Business Insider’s Lucia Moses reports that the team behind livestreaming platform Kick is launching Club, an app letting creators earn direct payments and build fan communities, positioned as an antidote to bot- and AI-slop-filled social feeds.
YouTube dangles exclusivity payments to keep top creators off Netflix
Business Insider’s Lucia Moses reports that YouTube is negotiating multimillion-dollar deals with select creators to keep videos exclusive to its platform for a set period, sources tell Business Insider. The move directly counters Netflix’s push to license creator content.
Brands trade broad reach for ‘fan-first’ social strategies
Poppi and McDonald’s are building social strategies around superfans rather than mass audiences, using comments and viral moments to drive product launches. Marketers like McDonald’s Guillaume Huin now use personal accounts, not brand handles, to leak news directly to fans.
Creators trust brand deals less than they need them, CreatorIQ finds
Tubefilter’s James Hale reports that CreatorIQ’s State of Creators survey of 5,095 creators finds 46% rely on brand deals for most income, yet only 15% fully trust sponsored content from other creators.
Creators start optimizing their own content for AI search discovery
Digiday’s Kimeko McCoy reports that creators are building generative engine optimization (GEO) strategies, tailoring bios, captions and content structure so AI search tools surface them when brands and agencies search for talent. It mirrors how brands already chase AI-search visibility.
USA Fencing bets on creators to build fandom ahead of 2028 Olympics
USA Fencing is deploying athlete-creators and cross-sport collabs years ahead of the LA Games, citing data that 49% of Gen Z fans discover sports through fan-made content. Since December 2025, its creator push has driven monthly impressions up 36.9% to 4.75 million.
Evan Shapiro retires his Media Universe Map for an interactive rebuild
Evan Shapiro is sunsetting the static Media Universe Map he’s published since 2020, replacing it with an automated, interactive version launching at MIPCOM on October 14, complete with a historical time machine.
AI narration is quietly becoming a real publisher engagement channel
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that The New Yorker says roughly 20% of subscribers regularly listen to AI-narrated articles, and the Wall Street Journal’s narration feature has been used 5 million times in the past year, per CJR.
Geneva Thomas launches The Knowing, a media startup for Black millennials and Gen Z
Axios’s Kerry Flynn reports that veteran media exec Geneva S. Thomas, formerly of People, Essence and Condé Nast, is launching The Knowing, aiming to blend legacy-magazine authority with the direct audience relationships that power creator media.
MrBeast’s WatchTime Studios hires Studio71 veteran Boorstin as GM
Variety’s Cynthia Littleton reports that Adam Boorstin, a 10-year Studio71 co-CEO, has joined Beast Industries’ WatchTime Studios as general manager. He’ll oversee original content production across genres and platforms as MrBeast builds out businesses beyond creator content.
YouTube Shorts ad spend grows but still trails Reels, TikTok
Digiday’s Tim Peterson reports that advertisers are boosting YouTube Shorts spend, agency execs say, even though Shorts CPMs run $4-6 versus $7-8 for Reels and TikTok. Bundled buys with in-stream inventory often crowd out Shorts budgets.
Kick founders launch Club, a fan-subscription platform, out of beta
Tubefilter’s Sam Gutelle reports that Kick founders Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven officially launched Club, a superfan platform bundling subscriptions, tipping, paywalled content and an in-app currency. It exits beta with 100,000 members and paid $10 million for the Club.com domain.
Alex Cooper leaves UTA for CAA amid Unwell’s $500M valuation
TheWrap’s Umberto Gonzalez and Tess Patton report that Alex Cooper is exiting UTA after six years, reportedly for CAA, days after her Unwell media company hit a $500 million valuation via WME co-founder Patrick Whitesell’s firm.
Daily Mail hires Dispatch exec to build direct video ad business
Semafor’s Max Tani reports that Daily Mail hired Mike Rothman, ex-president of The Dispatch, as North American GM to grow subscriptions and direct ad deals. He plans social video franchises, aiming for social video to top a third of direct ad revenue.
Alex Cooper exits UTA amid Unwell’s talent-representation rethink
Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports that Alex Cooper has left UTA, frustrated in part by the agency’s ties to feuding influencers Alix Earle and Dave Portnoy, as her company Unwell expands into podcasts, TV, film and brand services and reportedly reconsiders traditional talent representation.
Alex Cooper’s Unwell Beverage shuts down, joining a pattern of creator CPG flops
eMarketer reports that Cooper’s functional beverage brand is closing after less than two years despite heavy podcast promotion and a Target exclusive. It joins Prime, Feastables and Something Navy in showing that creator fame drives trial but not durable retail sales.
Creator brand trips lose their spark as playbook goes stale
Digiday examines why the once-novel creator brand trip is losing impact, as oversaturation and formulaic execution dull audience response. Brands now compete for the same influencer rosters and content beats, making differentiation harder and ROI murkier.
LatiNation turns a legacy LA station into a $31M bilingual media business
TheWrap’s Jose Alejandro Bastidas reports that LatiNation rebuilt LATV into a multiplatform digital company reaching 46 million U.S. Hispanic households, now valued near $31 million. It’s a case study in profitably serving an underserved niche as linear TV declines.