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.
MrBeast’s WatchTime Studios hires Studio71 veteran Boorstin as GM
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
YouTube and Variety to premiere Ziwe, Brave Wilderness projects at TIFF
YouTube and Variety will debut new Ziwe and Brave Wilderness projects at TIFF’s Market, with both becoming YouTube exclusives. It’s YouTube’s latest push to plant creators inside Hollywood’s traditional gatekeeping institutions.
Digital Brand Architects buys creator management firm V1sion Ventures
DBA acquired V1sion Ventures, adding founder Alina Benun’s roster including Keith Lee to its creator management stable. The deal continues consolidation among talent management firms racing to build scale as creators push beyond social platforms into standalone businesses.
Athletes are ditching press hits to become their own media brands
Athletes like Jaylen Brown and WNBA stars are streaming unscripted on Twitch, drawing tens of thousands of viewers and out-engaging typical influencers. Brands must now approve, not script, content and engage live rather than buy authenticity after the fact.
Filmhub teams with UnderCurrent to push YouTube creators onto FAST and AVOD
Filmhub will help UnderCurrent creators like Kelsi Davies license YouTube libraries to Roku FAST channels and Tubi. It signals distributors chasing creator IP as ad-supported streamers hunt for cheap, loyal-audience content beyond legacy libraries.
Indian media now doubles US YouTube views per Tubular Labs data
Indian media & entertainment creators now pull 2.1x the YouTube views of their US counterparts, per Tubular Labs, while uploading 32% more videos running 20 minutes or longer.
Jameis Winston builds athlete media brand with Playmaker
Winston and Playmaker launch two shows, an off-season travel series and an in-season studio program, already backed by Tommy John and Morgan & Morgan. It shows athlete-led content studios can land sponsors before a single episode airs at scale.
NYT’s Opinion desk builds a shadow newsroom, straining ties with reporters
CJR reports rising friction as NYT Opinion expands original reporting on beats news staff already cover. The tension raises a real question: what happens if Opinion’s influence eventually eclipses the newsroom’s own.
World Cup livestreaming shows creators are eating live sports TV
World Cup Group Stage livestreams hit 1.1 billion hours, with YouTube taking 94.3% and Brazil’s CazéTV leading engagement. Sponsor chat mentions for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Hyundai show brands can now buy premium live sports reach outside traditional broadcast deals.
YouTube’s Shorts squeeze is a bet on TV, not vertical video
YouTube doubled Partner Program thresholds for Shorts, pushing creators toward long-form video where TV viewing and blue-chip ad dollars live. The move signals Shorts is meant as a marketing funnel, not a standalone payout, unlike rivals TikTok and Instagram.
YouTube doubles watch-hour bar for creator monetization
YouTube is raising Partner Program thresholds to 8,000 watch hours or 20M Shorts views, up from 4,000 and 10M. The move aims to choke off spammy, MFA-style channels before they can monetize and drag down ad quality platform-wide.
Variety and YouTube launch creator festival at TIFF
Variety and YouTube will debut a creator showcase at TIFF on Sept. 10, premiering new shows from Mark Vins and Ziwe. It signals film festivals now treat top YouTube creators as legitimate premiere talent, not just digital sideshow acts.
A four-person friend-group account books 30 brand deals in four months
The 4 in the 5 grew to 430,000 followers since April and has already worked with Walmart, DoorDash, Poppi and Coach.
Alex Cooper’s Unwell lands $500M valuation in first outside investment
WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm run by Patrick Whitesell, has taken a stake in Cooper’s Unwell, valuing the profitable creator company at $500 million.
Agency execs pitch creators as always-on marketing infrastructure, not viral bets
Dentsu and Creo leaders argue creator content should be treated as durable, full-funnel infrastructure, not one-off viral hits, measured against sales lift and ROAS.
FAST channels emerge as a new distribution layer for creators
Simon Owens argues free ad-supported streaming channels give creators a TV-like distribution outlet beyond YouTube and social platforms. The bigger point: FAST is becoming infrastructure for the creator economy, not just a home for old cable reruns.
OnlyFans’ new investor talks financials, IPO plans in rare interview
A new OnlyFans investor gave a rare interview disclosing financial details and IPO ambitions for the creator platform. Any move toward going public would force new transparency on a business that has stayed deliberately opaque despite its scale.