Creators
State of Play
Revised Sep 18, 2026The moment. Three buyers spent the week acquiring podcast catalogs and the rights around them. Amazon closed its Wondery acquisition, with founder Hernan Lopez out and COO Jen Sargent running the business, bought podcast ad and hosting company Art19, and agreed to pay more than $100 million to Exactly Right Media for distribution and ad sales on a slate led by My Favorite Murder. SiriusXM won Giggly Squad after three suitors pushed offers to $150 million, and took exclusive global ad sales for Crooked Media’s podcasts, video, social and live events. Audacy became exclusive sales and distribution partner for Smosh from October 1, bringing more than 75 million followers and 20 billion YouTube views. Forbes put Charlamagne Tha God tenth among podcasters at about $27 million.
The tension. Nine-figure prices are being paid for creator inventory in the same week the IAB convened its first Creatorfronts specifically because nobody can measure it — president James Douglas unveiled a Trusted Creator Brand Deal Initiative built around a survey mapping where creator deals break down. The valuation problem is being admitted from the other end too: Evan Shapiro’s Affinity 100 ranks creators by an Affinity Quotient rather than follower count, because follower count stopped meaning anything. Buyers are pricing these catalogs off distribution and habit, not off proof, and the platforms underneath them keep moving — Spotify passed Apple as the most-used US podcast app at 24% to 21%, and in Canada YouTube passed Spotify at 35%.
Who’s moving. Amazon, buying Wondery, Art19 and Exactly Right in the same week. SiriusXM, taking Giggly Squad and Crooked Media. Audacy, taking Smosh. Wondery and Amazon Music, taking a one-week exclusive window on Morbid. Steven Bartlett and Authentic Brands, launching OBSN with up to $400 million against more than 50 IP holdings. Kevin Roose and Casey Newton, launching Machine Gods twice weekly with NPR on distribution and ad sales. Meta, merging its Creator Marketplace and Partnership Ads Hub into one hub and opening Instagram live video ads on September 29. Avail, launching creatorAPI so brands can generate ad variations inside limits a creator sets. Old Navy, whose first single-creator campaign with MrBeast lifted kids’ assortment traffic more than 22%.
What the desk is watching. Whether the Trusted Creator Brand Deal Initiative produces a number a buyer can hold a seller to, and what a $150 million podcast is worth once the app share underneath it moves again.
Wellness content tops YouTube Shorts engagement, data shows
Wellness Shorts hit 116% average percentage viewed in Q2 2026, per Dash Social data via EMARKETER, beating beauty, retail, and the overall 84.6% benchmark. It’s the only category staying above 100% for six straight quarters.
YouTube dangles cash to keep top creators off Netflix
YouTube is offering top creators millions to stay exclusive, per Bloomberg, countering Netflix’s push to sign YouTube-originated talent. Creators who work with Netflix risk losing marketing support, event features, and brand campaign inclusion on YouTube.
LiveMode expands from World Cup viral hit to Premier League, Champions League rights
CazéTV parent LiveMode, fresh off record YouTube concurrency during the 2026 World Cup, will stream a free weekly Premier League match on YouTube in Brazil and Portugal via deals with ESPN and DAZN.
YouTube dangles exclusivity money to keep creators from Netflix
YouTube is offering top creators millions for exclusive uploads, funding programming or cutting them into brand deals, as Netflix courts the same talent. Defectors risk losing YouTube marketing support and brand-deal revenue share.
AI brand deals spark backlash risk for influencers
OpenAI flew influencers to a luxury resort to promote ChatGPT Work, drawing hostile comments and mockery. Creators now weigh AI sponsorship paychecks against audience backlash tied to AI’s environmental and labor concerns.
Disney taps YouTube creator Dhar Mann for 20-episode series order
Disney has signed a deal with Dhar Mann Studios, the Burbank creator known for viral morality-tale videos, for a 20-episode youth and family series. Dhar Mann Studios claims 170 million followers and nearly 300 million weekly views across platforms.
Ad Age tracker flags Reddit, ByteDance, OpenAI moves for brands
I see you AI. Ad Age’s emerging tech roundup covers Reddit’s new AI feature turning comments into videos, plus ByteDance and OpenAI developments. The item is a curated digest rather than a single news event, aimed at brands and agencies tracking platform shifts.
Amazon builds out creator services to sell brands the full customer journey
We’ll take it from here. Amazon’s Matt Sandler and Angie More detail how Creator Services treats digital stars as entrepreneurs, not just content makers, building e-commerce storefronts like Kelce Clubhouse around shows.
YouTube dangles exclusivity payments to fend off Netflix creator raids
YouTube is offering top channels millions to upload exclusively for a period, reviving upfront payments it abandoned years ago as Netflix, Disney and Paramount court its biggest stars.
Amazon builds creator services arm to package influencers for brand deals
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.