It’s no secret that YouTube, a major platform for creators, has a kids problem. Even though viewers aged two to 11 years old make up about 17% of YouTube’s audience, the platform has been called “impossible to monitor” by some parents, and for good reason. YouTube estimates that a staggering 20 million videos are uploaded to the platform every day.

But starting Wednesday, YouTube has taken its children’s safety precautions a step further, implementing an AI age verification tool in the U.S.

The new tool uses YouTube activity and how long the account has been active to determine the potential age of the user. If they’re deemed under 18 years old, YouTube will notify the user and put in safeguards to make the account more age appropriate. That means implementing non-personalized ads, limiting posting and implementing the platform’s digital well-being tools. Users who are incorrectly identified as under 18 will have to prove their age using a government ID, selfie or credit card.

YouTube is far from the first company to use AI to ramp up its age restrictions in the wake of the Online Safety Act being passed in the U.K., a law that requires websites and apps to verify users are over 18. Roblox has them for its unfiltered chat option. Both Bluesky and Discord are using facial recognition technology to confirm their users’ ages (That’s led to some tricksters using video game characters, like Norman Reedus in “Death Stranding 2,” to bypass the system).

For all their good intentions, these more invasive measures have left a sour taste for some. Albert Fox Cahn, an anti-surveillance advocate and lawyer, called facial surveillance and ID checks a “flawed” idea in The Atlantic. 

“A website with sensitive content arguably becomes less safe to use, because the stakes of a breach become much higher,” Cahn wrote.

Yet, specifically when it comes to YouTube, it’s difficult to think of better ways to protect kids from this virtual wild west. The company does offer the safeguarded YouTube Kids, one of the company’s youth products that roughly 100 million users interact with each month. But before this new age verification policy, there was very little preventing a kid from potentially seeing something they shouldn’t.

“Our first responsibility, always, is to create a safe experience for our youngest, most vulnerable users,” Katie Kurtz, global head of youth and learning for YouTube, told me last year. Here’s hoping this new measure works.

Now onto what you may have missed the rest of the week.

Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com

P.S. You don’t want to miss a livestream roundtable I’ll be moderating, “Creator Power: The Business of Influence presented by Adobe,” at noon PT on Aug. 26. Sign up today here. 

What’s New

Alan Chikin Chow launches a new scripted show with Laneige

“Beauty and the Beat” is more than just a new shortform series. This partnership between Chow and the Korean beauty company Laneige marks a step towards the future as brands are trying to figure out how to monetize scripted content. Once the industry figures that out, Hollywood really needs to start watching its back.

Travel videos just got easier thanks to TikTok Go

Creators can now get hotel vouchers through the platform. It’s all part of TikTok Go, a new creator monetization program that lets local merchants, such as hotel and restaurant owners, either pay creators a commission or offer them vouchers for promoting their business. Creators have to be over 18 years old and have at least 1,000 followers to qualify. But it’s a big step in letting creators monetize services rather than just relying on products. For now, only hotel bookings are available in the U.S., but the program in Indonesia and Japan includes vouchers for restaurants and local experiences.

Tubi taps former TikTok head Kudzi Chikumbu as its VP of Creator Partnerships 

Do you know who in Hollywood really gets the creator space? Tubi. And the Fox-owned ad-supported streamer is betting even more on this industry by hiring TikTok’s former global head of creator marketing, Kudzi Chikumbu. The company also announced its adding several titles from MrBeast, CelinaSpookyBoo and more to its Tubi for Creators program. It’s a win-win. Tubi gets new desirable content for its 100 million monthly users, over half of which are millennials or Gen Z, and in turn these creators get to stand out from the YouTube pack.

By the Numbers

StubHub says creators, podcasters and authors sold nearly 500% more tickets this year

This is compared to sales in 2024 and continues the trend of creators turning their digital followings into real-life events. The most in-demand creator tours were a slew of podcasting favorites — Alex Cooper’s “Unwell” tour, the Crime Junkie’s podcast tour and Mel Robbins’ “Let Them” tour. Additionally, creator tour prices were about 40% less than traditional live events. That lower cost and the fact that creator tours are more likely to travel to areas often ignored by bigger artists are major reasons for the uptick.

YouTube has removed over 179 million videos from its platform in the past six years

That’s not all that a new report from Video Advertising Bureau found. YouTube also removed 139 million channels and 25 billion comments from its platform, all of which violate the company’s community guidelines. YouTube noted that some of the top reasons for removal are child safety issues, harassment and hateful or dangerous speech. Really puts into perspective just how massive YouTube is.

2025 may set a new record for mergers and acquisitions in the creator economy

In the first half of the year, 52 M&A deals were completed, a 73% increase compared to the first half of 2024 according to the advisory firm Quartermast Advisors. Publicis’ $150 million acquisition of Captiv8 was one of those big deals. As brutal as this landscape may seem, it’s another sign that the creator economy is maturing to become a media powerhouse rather than just a big number. But speaking of big numbers, an eMarketer report found that if all U.S. creators moved their brand deals to a single imaginary app, that app would be worth $10.5 billion and would be the fourth-largest social platform in the country based on brand investments.

Who to Watch

Areq

Little is known about the TikTok creator Areq other than they are a hell of a great editor. So far the creator’s “Creed” edit has amassed over 114 million views and nearly 15 million likes, and it’s easy to see why. It slaps.

Areq’s other edits are equally as impressive as the “Creed” one, and the creator has even sparked a TikTok trend of other creators editing shows and movies to LoVibe’s remix of Kendrick Lamar’s “untitled 05” (The “Snowfall” edit from farquaad.films is also remarkable). I’m not in the business of hiring editors, but if I was I would be sliding into some DMs, pronto. 

Bonus Content

• A Right-Wing Influencer Tried to Be a Tradwife. It Almost Broke Her (via The New York Times)
• Why Creators Are Building Hollywood-Style Studios to Make TV-Ready Content (via TheWrap)
• Nobody Wins on “Surrounded” (via The New Yorker)

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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Creatorverse: YouTube Hopes AI Will Solve Its NSF-Kids Problem appeared first on TheWrap.

A lot of digital ink has been spilled about the money you can make in the creator space. But while social media monetization and brand deals get a lot of love, less is written about highly profitable subscription-based universe of the creator ecosystem. 

“[Social media platforms] are constantly going to tweak the algorithm to make sure that the way they make money is optimized. But if you’re a creator and you’re used to certain rules of the game and that changes, your business can go upside down overnight,” Ahad Khan, CEO of Kajabi, told me.

For a monthly fee, Kajabi allows creators to build assets like digital shops, email newsletters, courses and podcasts. Instead of floating around in YouTube or TikTok’s algorithm hoping the right person clicks on the right link, platforms like Kajabi give creators a way to build a more direct connection to their fans. 

And the company has emerged as a sustainable option for many creators. Since the company’s launch in 2010, creators have collectively earned $10 billion through Kajabi, according to the company. Overall, 1,800 Kajabi creators have reached millionaire status, more than 70 have crossed the $10 million threshold and at least one has surpassed $100 million. 

According to Khan, creators only need to make about $8,300 a month in order to build a six-figure business. “It’s a very sustainable way to make a living, if you do it right,” he said.

And Kajabi is far from alone when it comes to profitable platforms that directly connect creators to their fans. Here’s what companies are saying about how much creators are making on their platforms:

• Since Patreon’s founding in 2013, the company has paid creators more than $10 billion
• The newsletter platform Ghost has paid creators $100 million since its launch in 2013
• More than 50 Substack creators make more than $1 million a year through the platform

Creators who use platforms like these don’t have to post as often since offering pay-walled content gives them a way to make passive income. Not only does that help eliminate burnout, but it also gives creators more control over their businesses. Entrepreneurs who use these platforms are also much more likely to use social media to promote their paid offerings than rely largely on social monetization. 

Of course, this isn’t a strategy that works for everyone. The biggest categories under Kajabi’s umbrella are health, fitness, business and finance — topics that have an evergreen quality to them and that people are always anxious to learn more about. But it just shows there is at least some sort of tried-and-true strategy for the 15% of creators who are making over $100,000 a year.

Now onto what you may have missed the rest of the week.

Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com

P.S. You don’t want to miss a livestream roundtable I’ll be moderating, “Creator Power: The Business of Influence,” at noon PT on Aug. 14. Sign up today here. 

Clarification: A previous version of this story mistakenly classified Raptive as a subscription based company. It is actually a creator media company with open web creators and has been removed from the list.

What’s New

Regal is hoping Dude Perfect will do for it what Taylor Swift did for AMC

The theater chain struck a deal with the five-person duo known for trick shots. Starting in September, the “Dude Perfect: The Hero Tour” documentary will play on more than 800 screens across the U.S., U.K., Western Europe and Australia. The original deal will run for two weeks with an option for extension. Though more creators have been heading to theaters lately (“House of Eden” anyone?), this move is more about Regal trying to fill the 25%-drop-in-ticket-sales hole in its heart. But even for a group that has over 61 million subscribers on YouTube, Dude Perfect probably won’t bring in the crowds Taylor Swift brought to AMC.

Amazon’s betting more on creator podcasts, and Nielsen is getting into the podcast tracking game

Wondery CEO Jen Sargent is leaving the Amazon-owned podcasting company in the midst of a restructuring move that will impact roughly 110 jobs. Basically, Amazon is folding Wondery’s narrative podcasts into Audible and focusing more on creator-led talk shows like Jason and Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” and Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert.” Also this week, Nielsen announced it will be collaborating with Edison Research to launch a podcast dataset as part of the company’s media planning tool. Two big news stories, one big bet on podcasts.

WGA is starting to seriously talk about creators ahead of 2026 negotiations

As the elections for the WGA West board heat up, YouTube creators are becoming a source of discussion. Board candidate Dahéli Hall said that the guild needs to find a “nuanced way” to protect creators, and incumbent board member Adam Conover agreed that creators were the “future.” It’s still early days,and it’s very possible this idea will be dropped. But the tides, they are a-turnin’.

Earnings Updates

Meta, YouTube and Reddit are up

All three companies were winners this quarter, owed in large part to the rise of AI. YouTube’s ad revenue hit almost $10 billion for the quarter, a 13% year-over-year increase. As for Reddit, the influx of AI chatbots worked in the company’s favor, increasing its revenue by 78% to hit just under $500 million in its second quarter — the best growth the company has seen since 2022. But the big winner was Instagram and Facebook’s parent company Meta. The company’s $48 billion revenue caused its shares to jump 11%.

Roblox surpasses 100 million daily active users

You know who else did well? Roblox. The online game platform averages 111 million daily active users during the quarter — a 41% increase — and secured $1.44 billion in net bookings. Roblox continues to be a massive deal, especially among Gen Z and Gen Alpha gamers. In fact, videos related to Roblox have surpassed 1 trillion views on YouTube, an achievement the company celebrated with the YouTube’s Roblox Museum. 

Snap and Spotify are down

You know who didn’t have a great quarter? Snap. After its reported $1.34 billion in revenue missed Wall Street’s expectations, shares for the company dropped 15%. CEO Evan Spiegel blamed a bungled update and Trump’s trading policies for the weak quarter. Spotify also had a hard August with its shares dropping 11% after earnings — the biggest decline the company has ever seen. But fear not. The music streamer’s stock has already bounced back 7% after the announcement of its price hike.

Who to Watch

Katie Feeney

Introducing the newest commentator for ESPN’s College Gameday, Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown. Feeney, a recent Penn State University graduate who has 14 million subscribers across platforms, will be creating daily content for ESPN’s social and digital channels. And considering the NFL’s 10% stake in ESPN, chances are high that coverage is really going to go behind the scenes.

A former social media correspondent for the White House and the Washington Commanders, Feeney is used to creating content on the corporate dime. But her hiring continues the trend of sports leaders like NBCUniversal and Fox Sports looking to the creator space for their next generation of talent.

Bonus Content

• This Is the News From TikTok (via The Atlantic)
• YouTube Channels Are Being Sold and Repurposed to Spread Scams and Disinformation, Says New Research (via Fast Company)
• Online Creators, Led By MrBeast and Mark Rober, Want to Raise $40 Million for Clean Water Access (via AP News)

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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Creatorverse: The Billion-Dollar Appeal of Creator-First Subscriptions appeared first on TheWrap.

How do you launch a podcast in 2025’s wildly oversaturated market? 

That question has haunted many as this area has exploded. This week, a Renub Research report predicted that the U.S. podcasting business will skyrocket to $205 billion by 2033. If that prediction becomes reality, it would mark a 634% increase compared to the $27.8 billion the space was worth in 2024. 

“There’s millions of podcasts. We have to make a show that stands out, is really high quality and is hosted by someone who is a trusted authority in that space,” Ray Chao, SVP and general manager of Audio and Digital Video at Vox Media, told me. “If we can get the right host and the right show, the ecosystem of platforms and all that stuff will follow.”

Vox Media and The Cut are hoping that “right host” is Tefi Pessoa, a creator with 1.9 million followers on TikTok who will be leading their upcoming pop culture talk show “Tefi Talks.” “The podcast, I’m a receptionist, and you’re my work bestie,” Pessoa told me of her vision for the show.

“Tefi Talks” is the latest creator-driven podcast Vox Media has invested in, following in the footsteps of Marques Brownlee’s “The MKBHD Podcast.” Ray assured me that Vox Media isn’t scaling back its investments in podcasts from its editorial team, which is how the company first entered the space. But as this branch of the company has been expanding beyond news, politics, business and tech to focus more on culture and entertainment, they’ve started to look more into the creator space.

“A lot of really notable voices aren’t going to work as journalists for publication,” he said. “Sometimes that expertise comes from practical experience.”

The benefits of a partnership like this are twofold. Vox Media and The Cut get a host with a built-in audience with a clear voice and vision. Also, between working with Pessoa for years and The Cut’s Ask Tefi column, they know that Pessoa’s voice fits with their brands. As for Pessoa, she gets infrastructure. “Tefi Talks” will launch on Aug. 6 with a Vox team of podcasting experts, a set the company spent months designing and a strategy that accounts for the podcast itself and the visual presence as more people watch podcasts on YouTube and a shortform strategy. The team is actually counting on that latter element to dictate the direction of the show.

“There is a flywheel of looking at what people are saying and consuming in the short form and then using that as cues to feed back into the show as we develop it out,” Nishat Kurwa, SVP and executive producer for Vox Media Podcast Network, told me. 

It’s an incredibly engineered approach that feels antithetical to the “all you need is a mic” ethos that’s fueled podcasting to its current boom. But maybe that’s what you need in 2025. Only the weekly podcasting charts will tell.

Now onto what you may have missed the rest of the week.

Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com

P.S. You don’t want to miss a livestream roundtable I’ll be moderating, “Creator Power: The Business of Influence,” at noon PT on Aug. 14. Sign up today here. 

What’s New

Samsung TV Plus bets on Dhar Mann for its TV future

If you’re a Dhar Mann diehard, you may have to start watching Samsung TV Plus. The FAST streamer has partnered with Dhar Mann Studios to produce 13 original episodes, which will premiere on the platform’s channel dedicated to the creator. Not only that, but several other creators including Mark Rober, Creators Smosh, The Try Guys, Epic Gardening and more, will be getting their own dedicated channels. It’s always interesting to see more traditional TV brands invest in the creator space. But will people actually watch a streamer on Samsung when YouTube is right there? 

You can now f*%!king curse on YouTube

Videos that use strong profanity in their first seven seconds will now no longer be penalized and are eligible to receive full revenue. This is part of a revised profanity monetization policy YouTube released this week. It’s also going to get harder for YouTube’s younger users to lie about their age. The company started testing a tool that uses AI to determine whether viewers should be on a teen account, similar to what Meta uses. If YouTube incorrectly determines you’re under the age of 18, you’ll have to prove your age with a credit card or a government ID. Oh, the pains of looking young.

OpenWav wants to fix the broken music industry and get artists paid

88rising co-founder Jaeson Ma unveiled his latest venture — a new music platform designed to give artists more control. The OpenWav platform combines music streaming with ticketing, fan engagement and ecommerce, allowing independent artists to have more financial control over their work. They can even drop merch with no upfront costs. The goal is to get artists more money, which is a major concern in the music industry during the streaming era. So far it seems promising. Early testing from the company found some artists generated five figures per week on OpenWav.

The AI Revolution

Adobe launches the The Unfinished Film, an AI creative experiment with director Sam Finn

Adobe is showing off its Firefly generative AI tool in a pretty cool way. Together with director Sam Finn, the company has unveiled The Unfinished Film. Basically, Finn started this AI movie, and it’s up to the Adobe creative community to finish it. “It used to take years of learning — and a lot of money — to make a film. Now anyone with a vision can start,” Finn said of the project. “I’m excited to see what creators from non-traditional backgrounds will make when those barriers fall away.”

Nearly half of Substack users say they’re using AI

That’s what the blogging platform found during its AI report released last week. Specifically, 45.4% of the platform’s surveyed users admitted to using the technology. Out of the 2,000 publishers the report consulted, men were more likely to use AI than women, with women expressing more skepticism about the technology. Also, people who use AI on Substack are more likely to be 45 years or older and publish in categories like tech and business.

Amazon backs an AI platform that lets users generate animated TV shows

Showrunner, which launched in alpha this week, will let users generate animated scenes. The platform comes from Fable, the experimental studio from Edward Saatchi that’s toyed with everything from a Neil Gaiman VR adaptation to exploring the simulated reality of AI characters. At first, Showrunner will be free to use before it starts charging users between $10 to $20 a month. It’s unknown how much Amazon has invested in the company. But Showrunner is launching with two shows: “Exit Valley” and “Everything Is Fine.”

Who to Watch

KallMeKris and Celina Spooky Boo

These two are the latest creators to creep into theaters. A found footage horror flick, “House of Eden” marks Kris Collins’ (50.8 million followers on TikTok) feature directorial debut. Celina Myers (28.7 million followers on TikTok) also stars in the movie alongside Jason-Christopher Mayer. 

“House of Eden” has so far received unfavorable reviews — something that isn’t necessarily a killer when it comes to the tricky world of horror. But it comes with an impressive deal. RLJE Films and the AMC Networks-owned streamer Shudder secured the rights to the movie earlier this year complete with a theatrical run. Aside from her horror foray, Collins is known for her topical skits. As for Myers, she’s better known for posting silly jokes and commentary, which often touch on the paranormal.

Bonus Content

• YouTube’s Cofounder Said He’s Wary of His Kids Spending Too Much Time on Short Videos (via Business Insider)
• First Came Tea. Then Came the Male Rage (via The Atlantic)
• Anime Girl VTubers Are Selling Out Concerts, but Are They ‘Real’? Depends on Who You Ask (via Wired)

Want more? Explore WrapPRO now.

This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Creatorverse: Podcasting Now Valued at $28 Billion — Saturation or More Opportunity? appeared first on TheWrap.

If you want to make it in podcasting, you need two things: curiosity and passion. 

“You can’t fake those two,” Eric Nuzum, co-founder of the podcasting company Magnificent Noise, told me. I spoke to Eric earlier this week about what Stephen Colbert’s next steps may be after his late night show comes to an end next year. That’s especially sage advice considering the fact that the podcasters of today seem to share a lot of DNA with the late night hosts of yesterday.

At times, that’s a literal statement. Conan O’Brien launched “Conan Needs a Friend” while he was still hosting his TBS show. Three years ago, he signed a deal with SiriusXM over the podcast reportedly worth $150 million. But some of the biggest names getting the biggest paydays in the talk show space are podcasters. Last year, saw several major podcasting deals including:

• Joe Rogan signing with Spotify for $250 million
• Alex Cooper signing with SiriusXM for $125 million
• The Kelce brothers signing with Amazon’s Wondery for $100 million

And there’s evidence that this popular space is only getting bigger.

A study released this week by Edison Research found that time spent listening to podcasts has jumped 355% since 2015 and that podcast consumption in the U.S. now averages 773 million hours per week. Edison also reported record numbers when it comes to overall, monthly and weekly podcast consumption. A lot of that has to do with the popularity of video podcasts.

It’s also not a coincidence that smaller celebrities like Marc Maron, Theo Von and Dax Shepard became household names thanks to their podcasts. In Eric’s experience, a buzzy name will ensure that the first two episodes get big numbers. But after that, if the host isn’t invested in the show, the listening base tends to plummet. It’s a symptom of an entertainment medium that prioritizes authenticity and is far more intimate than others. People don’t sit down to listen to a podcast; they often listen to them to make the dull minutia of life more interesting.

Despite the podcasting boom, Eric feels less certain about the industry itself. “The podcasting industry doesn’t really know what it wants to do or what it wants to be. It is kind of flailing around, trying everything and seeing what works and doesn’t work, which is fine,” he said. “There’s no universal answer for everyone.”

Late night may be dying, but people still want their parasocial relationships and celebrity interviews. While podcasting hasn’t fully taken over that space, it’s getting closer than ever.

Now onto what you may have missed the rest of the week.

Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com

P.S. You don’t want to miss a livestream roundtable I’ll be moderating, “Creator Power: The Business of Influence,” at noon PT on Aug. 14. Sign up today here.

What’s New

Ms. Rachel was the 7th most-watched show on Netflix in the first half of 2025

Pretty impressive considering the children’s creator only has four episodes on the streamer. During Netflix’s second quarter earnings call, Ted Sarandos noted that the company is excited about “a wide variety of creators and video podcasters” who are coming to the streamer. That growing list now includes “Bachelor” star-turned-podcaster Nick Viall, who will host the upcoming reality series “Age of Attraction,” and reality star and YouTuber Harry Jowsey, the subject of “Let’s Marry Harry.”

“Call Her Daddy” is the No. 1 podcast on YouTube

Alex Cooper has usurped Joe Rogan, at least on one platform. During the week of July 14 to 20, “Call Her Daddy” ranked as the most-watched podcast on YouTube, beating “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Only two other podcasts have taken the top spot from Rogan — “Kill Tony” last week and “Rotten Mango” in May.

Roblox and Instagram add new children protection features

Video game creation platform Roblox is testing out age-screening tech from ID company Persona that allows users to chat with “trusted connections.” The platform will use facial analysis to determine whether a user is 13 years old or older. Meanwhile, Instagram has beefed up its Teen Accounts feature, now giving younger users more information about and control over who they’re chatting with. That’s big news considering that kids’ safety continues to be a hot button topic across social media.

Media’s Next Act

Dave Jorgenson leaves the Washington Post

The funniest reporter in town is striking out on his own. Dave Jorgenson, the man whose snappy yet informative videos are largely responsible for the Washington Post’s 1.9 million TikTok subscribers, will be launching his own thing called Local News International. Jorgenson describes it as “The Daily Show” meets Ron Burgundy from “Anchorman.” Watch out Jon Stewart. Speaking of …

Josh Johnson makes his “Daily Show” hosting debut

One of the youngest members of the Comedy Central team sat behind the “Daily Show” desk for the first time Tuesday. Though he’s on a major cable network, chances are high you know Josh Johnson better for his TikTok, where he has 2.2 million subscribers. Few comedians hustle on social media harder than Johnson, who’s constantly workshopping new material with his followers.

Bari Weiss seeks more than $200 million for Substack media company, The Free Press

Weiss, former The New York Times op-ed editor and writer known for her controversial takes, reportedly met with Skydance owner David Ellison about selling her latest venture. According to Financial Times, valuation for The Free Press is anywhere from $200 million to $250 million. Just goes to show that even your wildest Substack dreams may one day come true.

Who to Watch

Ryan Trahan

Only five more days to go in Ryan Trahan’s ambitious 50 states in 50 days series, and the YouTuber has already raised over $9.4 million for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. There have been countless TV specials designed to raise money for charity. But there’s an intimacy and sense of community to Trahan’s project that goes beyond the typical charity play.

Bonus Content

• Inside Zuckerberg’s AI Playbook: Billions in Compute, a Talent Arms Race, and a New Vision for Meta (via Wired)
• AI-generated songs are showing up under deceased artists on Spotify (via Mashable)
• YouTube Shorts is adding an image-to-video AI tool, new AI effects (via TechCrunch)

Want more? Explore WrapPRO now.

This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Creatorverse: As Late Night Is Dying, Podcasting Is Thriving appeared first on TheWrap.

Another year, another Emmys snub for “Hot Ones.” But this time around, it wasn’t just Sean Evans who felt this distinct burn. Just like “Hot Ones,” both Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal’s “Good Mythical Morning” and Michelle Khare’s “Challenge Accepted” were Emmys eligible, and all three ended Tuesday without a nomination. 

It’s not entirely surprising. Out of all the old-school institutions in Hollywood, awards voters are among some of the most hesitant around new media. “Asking Emmy voters to nominate a YouTube show is kind of like asking a Boston Red Sox fan to cheer for the Yankees,” Reza Izad, the CEO of Underscore Talent, told me.

But while these snubs may be a loss in the present, they represent a victory for the future. For the first time ever, creators were seriously part of the awards conversation. All three of the aforementioned shows were all bestowed big flashy For Your Consideration billboards around Los Angeles, and YouTube hosted a FYC event that was well-attended and positively covered by the press. That alone indicates that the doors of Hollywood are creaking open. And the Emmys themselves have proven in the past that they’re open to change.

“There was more of a conversation and opportunity for it this year than there has ever been. That’s something for the community as a whole to celebrate,” Neil Waller, co-CEO and co-founder of Whalar Group, told me.

A little over 10 years ago Netflix made awards history, becoming the first streamer to score an Emmy nomination. In 2013, Netflix scored 14 noms for “House of Cards,” “Arrested Development” and “Hemlock Grove,” including a directing win for David Fincher. Those nominations broke an unseen barrier. Two years later, Uzo Abuba won Outstanding Supporting Actress for “Orange Is the New Black,” and Jeffrey Tambor won Outstanding Lead Actor for Prime Video’s “Transparent.” By 2020 — seven years after its first nomination — Netflix had more than cemented itself as a major awards player, setting a record for the most nominations produced by a single network in a single year.

When Netflix scored its first nomination, streaming was in a similar — albeit less developed — place that the creator ecosystem is in now. Back then, everyone in the industry understood that audiences were streaming more as cable subscriptions declined. TV is on that precipice once again. In June, YouTube broke yet another Nielsen record, accounting for 12.8% of overall TV viewership and continuing its two-year lead over the rest of its competitors. Advertising dollars have also been moving away from traditional linear formats, like broadcast and cable, and moving to creators. This year, creators, not film and TV stars, were the must-see celebrities at Cannes Lions, the annual advertising festival. Once again, every indicator is pointing that the future of entertainment is changing. All that’s missing is a show in this space that’s undeniable, like what “House of Cards” was for Netflix all those years ago.

Everyone I’ve spoken to both in Hollywood and in the creator industry is confident that a creator nomination will happen eventually. But the problem right now is about voter education and creator opportunities. Many Emmys voters still don’t see YouTube content as a serious awards contender, a problem that shifting viewer habits or the right project can fix. There’s also the matter of how expensive these campaigns are. These awards pushes often involve months of advertising, press events and magazine photoshoots. Typically, networks and streamers cover the campaigning costs, which can range from $150,000 to $500,00, but that steep bill is more difficult for an independent creator to foot. 

That’s why YouTube’s buy-in has made all the difference this past year, but even that comes with a caveat. The nature of awards season requires networks to literally bet their money on a select few nominees that can go the distance. That’s a difficult approach for YouTube to swallow, an industry insider told me. Guessing what will resonate with Emmys voters can’t be measured by an algorithm, and picking favorites goes against how YouTube — a platform that prides itself on being available to everyone — typically operates.

In spite of that, YouTube has made it clear that it’s gunning for an Emmy, and it’s not giving up on this goal. “Creators are the new Hollywood. They’re taking over television screens and finding big audiences,” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan wrote last year in his THR op-ed. “If creators are not acknowledged by the Emmys, then we should ask ourselves if the awards represent the future of TV or just its past.”

“There’s always a lag to these things,” Waller said. Just how long that lag will be remains to be seen.

Creatorverse is exclusive to WrapPRO subscribers. If you want to keep receiving it each week, sign up here to stay in the loop. So without further ado, here’s what you need to know.

Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com

P.S. You don’t want to miss a livestream roundtable I’ll be moderating, “Creator Power: The Business of Influence,” at noon PT on Aug. 14. Sign up today here. 

What’s New

CAA snags Rhett and Link and funds an AI research firm

Rhett and Link may not have an Emmy nomination, but they have big news. The comedy duo as well as their 100-person media and production company Mythical moved from WME to CAA. McLaughlin and Neal are best known for hosting “Good Mythical Morning,” which has secured over 34 million subscribers and 14 billion lifetime views. Big news, considering CAA has been ramping up its creator roster. In other CAA news, the agency was one of several companies to back Moonvalley, a research firm that specializes in building AI video models and tools trained on licensed content. Alongside CAA, General Catalyst, CoreWeave and Comcast Ventures raised $84 million in funding for the company.

Influencers may be a recession indicator

It’s no secret that the U.S. economy feels a bit shaky right now. Back in May, JP Morgan put the probability of a 2025 recession at 40%, a drop from its previously scarier 60% prediction. NPR’s Kristian Monroe broke down how that financial insecurity may be cropping up in the creator space from influencers facing backlash for posting luxury goods to certain brands pulling back on their advertising spends. The advice from creators who weathered similar economic waves in 2008? Diversify. 

A lawsuit accusing TikTok of manipulating children looks like it’s going to court

A New Hampshire judge tossed out TikTok’s request to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses the viral app of implementing features designed to manipulate children and teenagers. The suit alleges that the platform includes “addictive design features” designed to keep the app’s younger audience on it for longer and pointing them towards more ads and the TikTok Shop. A spokesperson for the app countered that the lawsuit “presents outdated and cherry-picked claims.” TikTok is far from the only app that’s been at the center of a legal battle over children’s viewership and child safety measures. Meta, SnapChat and Discord have all faced similar suits.

Platform Updates

Roblox creators can now make money off “Squid Game” and “Stranger Things” games

The online game creation platform Roblox launched a new licensing platform that allows IP rights holders to partner with video game creators. That means if you create a “Stranger Things” game on the platform — or one based on “Twilight,” “Saw,” “Now You See Me” or “Squid Game” — you’ll be able to earn a portion of the revenue that game makes. The Roblox License Manager and Licenses catalog is launching with partnerships with Lionsgate, Netflix, Sega and the manga hub Kodansha. Licensing these major titles is part of Roblox’s overall goal of having 10% of global gaming content revenue flow through the company’s ecosystem. Roblox creators are on track to earn over $1 billion from their games this year.

Facebook is cracking down on post stealing

Facebook is following in the footsteps of YouTube and cutting down on “unoriginal content,” aka accounts that steal content from other creators. Last week, YouTube announced that accounts that post unoriginal content risk being kicked out of the platform’s monetization program. Facebook then said on Monday that accounts improperly reusing videos, photos or text posts will lose access to monetization on Facebook and will receive reduced sharing distribution. This is all part of an ongoing effort from Facebook to decrease inauthentic content on the platform. In the first half of 2025, the platform responded to roughly 500,000 accounts that engaged in either “spammy behavior or fake engagement” and took down nearly 10 million profiles that were impersonating larger content producers.

Google’s Veo 3 AI model can now turn photos into eight-second videos with sound

Last week, Google rolled out its most sophisticated Veo 3 model to Google AI Pro subscribers in over 150 countries. But this week, the company launched a photo-to-video capability in Gemini, allowing static photos to be transformed into video clips with sound. The feature is only available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in select countries, but it continues Google’s commitment to bringing AI to its users. Between its AI overlays in Google Search and the AI tools offered to YouTube creators, the tech giant continues to be all-in on artificial intelligence.

Who to Watch

Jay Renshaw

Peacock may be working on a followup to “The Office,” but the best corporate cringe is currently on TikTok. Jay Renshaw, known to his fans for playing the bowl-headed, over-eager office weirdo Chit, has been going viral lately for his sketches. His likeness and “Do it, lady” catchphrase have become so popular they’ve even appeared on the TikTok shop.

At first glance, a Groundling alum making great comedy isn’t anything notable. That’s kind of what they do. But what sets Renshaw apart is his meteoric rise on TikTok. Though he’s only posted 22 videos on the platform since late May, he has 1.5 million followers and over 16 million likes. It’s also not unusual for his video viewership to hit eight-digit figures. Any executives looking for a buzzy comedy should be looking up Renshaw’s agents.

Bonus Content

• Inside Zuckerberg’s AI Playbook: Billions in Compute, a Talent Arms Race, and a New Vision for Meta (via The Information)
• Judges Don’t Know What AI’s Book Piracy Means (via The Atlantic)
• How Social Media Is Fueling Gen Z’s Sex Recession (via Wired)

Want more? Explore WrapPRO now.

This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Creatorverse: An Emmy for Creators Is Coming — Just a Matter of When appeared first on TheWrap.

When you talk to Hollywood insiders about creators you often encounter the same reactions: confusion and condescension.

They’re the same responses I saw 10 years ago when I started covering the streaming ecosystem. Part of the reason I’ve covered the TV industry for so long, first at Decider and now as a Senior Reporter at TheWrap, is because I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection between entertainment and technology. And there are few more interesting stories in this space than the meteoric rise of creators. 

That’s why Creatorverse exists. During a time when the creator economy is predicted to hit $480 billion by 2027, this newsletter is here to break down the nuts and bolts of this rising ecosystem while applying the same intensive journalism for which TheWrap is known.  And it’s been an especially busy time in the creator space.

Every week, this newsletter will dive into some of the biggest stories related to the creator economy ranging from tech innovations to who you should be watching. The sections may change weekly, but the purpose remains the same: keeping you up-to-date on the biggest trends in the creator economy. So without further ado, here’s what you need to know.

Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com

P.S. You don’t want to miss a livestream roundtable I’ll be moderating, “Creator Power: The Business of Influence,” at noon PT on Aug. 14. Sign up today here. 

What’s New

A podcasting scam targeting creators is on the loose

When Magic Singh, a magician with 2.1 million followers on TikTok, received a request to be be interviewed by “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” he was excited. Instead what followed were 24 hours of terror as scammers tried to take control of his monetized Facebook page. Magic walked TheWrap through the details of this increasingly common scheme that threatens the livelihoods of creators and podcasters alike.

TikTok is preparing for a new buyer

According to President Trump, the U.S. “pretty much has a deal” for an American company to acquire the U.S. branch of TikTok. These comments came last Friday (July 4) after he previously told Fox News the social media platform’s potential buyer is “a group of very wealthy people.” If you need a refresher, TikTok has technically been banned in America since January, though the ban hasn’t been enforced. The deal is that if the Chinese company behind the app — ByteDance — can find a U.S. buyer, it can continue operating stateside. The ban was supposed to be enforced on June 19 until Trump signed an executive order, pushing the date back to Sept. 17. Trump has said his “main goal” is to keep the app available while protecting the privacy of Americans. As for TikTok, the app is reportedly building a new version of the platform to prepare for the sale, according to The Information.

Kai Cenat leads Time’s inaugural list of 100 most influential creators  

Time’s list of the most influential digital voices may not be numbered, but you can bet everyone is paying attention to who’s first on the list. That honor belongs to streamer and YouTuber Kai Cenat, who has over 18.4 million followers on Twitch. The list was full of other big names like Sean Evans, Alix Earle, Charli D’Amelio and Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast. But creators with more niche followings like Brittany Broski, Keith Lee and “Diary of a CEO” host Steven Bartlett also made the cut. 

By the Numbers

Employment in the digital sector increased over 60% from 2020 to 2024

This is based on a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Harvard Business School. The number of people employed in the digital sector in 2020 was 17.7 million, which jumped to 28.4 million in 2024. Of course, this jump doesn’t only reflect the rise of creators. But when it comes to the digital sector, the creator economy is seeing the fastest growth, accounting for more than one in 10 full-time internet-dependent jobs in the U.S. Read more about the rapid rise of creators in TheWrap’s breakdown of this multi-billion dollar industry.

TikTok is still king, but its reign is faltering

When it comes to daily user watchtime, a new study from eMarketer found that TikTok is still leading the pack. TikTok averages 52 minutes a day compared to Instagram’s 35 minutes a day and YouTube’s 30 minutes. Though TikTok’s average daily view time is still nearly 50% higher than its nearest competitor, that’s a 6.9% drop compared to 2024, while Instagram has seen a slight lift during the same time period. ByteDance alarms shouldn’t be going off yet, but that drop is something to watch.

Meta’s Threads is catching up to X with mobile users

If you’re looking at daily active mobile users, X is still ahead of the Meta-owned Threads. A Similarweb report found that in June of 2025, mobile daily active users for X averaged 132 million while daily actives for Threads clocked in at 115.1 million. But if you zoom in on year-over-year growth, Threads races ahead. Compared to 2024, Threads saw a 127.8% increase in its mobile userbase compared to the 15.2% decline X experienced during that same time frame.

Who to Watch

Michelle Khare

This daredevil may make Emmys history as the first creator to score a Primetime Emmy nomination for their YouTube work. Khare is one of three YouTube-backed creators who self-submitted their Emmy nominations this year. While Khare is going for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special for “Challenge Accepted,” Sean Evans’ “Hot Ones” is gunning for the Outstanding Talk Series category and Rhett and Link’s “Good Mythical Morning” is hoping for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series. 

As consistently excellent as “Hot Ones” is, Outstanding Talk Series is always a late night race. And though Short Form may seem like a more achievable category, other parody shows like “The Eric Andre Show” have proven that alternative humor is sometimes a difficult pill for Emmy voters to swallow. Between the recent buzz around Khare, her less competitive category and her genuinely impressive yet straightforward challenges, this may be the year a YouTube creator finally gets a nom. 

Bonus Content

• “The Colin and Samir Show” interview with the Banksy of Gen Z, Anthpo (via YouTube)
• U.S. Funding for Creator Startups Falls in the Second Quarter (via The Information)
• The Grammys Chief on How AI Will Change Music (via The Wall Street Journal)

Want more? Explore WrapPRO now.

This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Introducing Creatorverse, TheWrap’s Weekly Newsletter on the Creator Economy appeared first on TheWrap.

“They wanted to interview me and talk about magic, my career, what I’m up to with my socials and the shows I’ve been doing,” Magic, as he requested to be called, told TheWrap. “They were getting me all hyped up.”

But what started as a fun PR opportunity quickly spiraled into 24 hours of anxiety as Magic found himself the victim of a scammer who’s been posing as a booking agent for famous American podcasts. Thanks to two-factor authentication and his team, Magic was lucky. He was able to disconnect before any real harm was caused. 

But cybercrime hitting online media creators is on the rise. In 2024, the FBI reported that cybercriminals and online scammers stole a record $16.6 billion, nearly 33% more than in 2023. In the podcasting world, it’s becoming a well-known headache, with an insider at a major podcasting brand telling TheWrap that there has been a sharp increase in these kinds of scams in the past 12 to 18 months.

A scam that successfully takes over a creator’s social media account can be devastating. Years of content, follower growth and audience trust — all of which are vital to securing brand sponsorships — can be demolished within seconds. And when you’re talking about a social account that’s monetized, as is the case with Magic’s Facebook profile, the loss is even more immediate.  

In an industry full of entrepreneurs, many of whom are solely responsible for their creator empires, Magic’s story is a cautionary tale.  

“You spent X amount of years building up so many followers, and you’re monetizing off of it or you’re getting brand deals or you use it as a platform to advertise for your work,” he said. “Could you imagine if that was gone in seconds?” 

This harrowing realization is why Magic and Entertainment Lab were so eager to share his story with the media. “If this is happening constantly, we need to protect everyone. That’s people’s livelihoods,” he added.

It started with an email

The email to Magic was as innocuous as it was complimentary. 

“William Dave” started by politely introducing himself as a manager for “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and recapping some key details from Magic’s career, such as his acceptance into the prestigious magic society known as The Magic Circle. It also included a thorough email signature complete with a headshot of “William,” a Los Angeles zip code and a link to The Ringer’s website. 

The email was passed to Magic through his management company Entertainment Lab, making it seem more legitimate. “They were very cheeky because what they did is they went through the management to get to me,” Magic said. 

At first glance, the email seemed like a well-researched and polite press request, nearly identical to thousands of others sent to celebrities and creators every day. But with the benefit of hindsight, certain elements stand out. For one, the message is eerily similar to what’s produced when ChatGPT is asked “Who is Magic Singh?” This is in line with data reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center, which found that using AI in digital scams has been on the rise. The email also describes “The Bill Simmons Podcast” as “a virtual series streamed exclusively on Facebook” though the real podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms. That’s a detail only fans or industry insiders would likely catch. Another suspicious element is the email address itself, which is guestrequests.simmons@gmail.com instead of using @theringer.com format that the news organization typically uses.

The Ringer did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

After Magic agreed to be on the podcast, he was asked to hop on a test call a day before the interview to test out the audio and video — a request that is, again, not out of the ordinary. When that test call took place on Facebook rather than Zoom or Microsoft Teams, Magic started to become a bit suspicious, but he shook it off. After all, he was a creator with a substantial following. Maybe The Ringer wanted to take advantage of his audience through a Facebook Live stream. “It looked legit,” Magic said.

Magic logged onto the meeting using his phone, a choice that was made out of convenience but that may have helped protect him. His hackles were raised again when the tech guy he was talking to didn’t have his camera switched on and his name was simply listed as “podcast.” Magic again brushed it off as an oddity. As a reporter who’s appeared on podcasts and participated in interviews myself, not seeing a member of the tech team on camera isn’t unusual nor are odd naming conventions. But when the member of the tech team tried to make sure the interview was part of Magic’s Facebook Events, the red flags started waving in earnest. 

“He goes, ‘Do you see The Ringer podcast?’ And I go, ‘No, there’s nothing there,’” he recalled. 

Then the tech team member asked Magic to go through his Meta Business Suite manager, which is where he runs his Facebook account and business. His page, which has 151,000 followers, is monetized. 

“They wanted to have access to the accounts,” he said.

The tech guy then asked Magic to share his screen, which Magic made sure was devoid of any sensitive information like passwords. When the event still wouldn’t appear for Magic, the tech guy asked him to generate a link — likely an ownership link — through his account then copy and paste that link into a browser. 

“I did that, boom, and then an error popped up,” Magic said.

His phone then started buzzing repeatedly. Later, Magic learned that his friend, who’s also a business associate with access to Magic’s social channels, was calling and texting him repeatedly after he noticed a rush of suspicious activity to Magic’s accounts. When Magic hung up on the scammer to figure out what his friend wanted, he still believed he was being interviewed by The Ringer. He told the scammer he would call him back. 

In the minutes between Magic hanging up and talking to his business associate, the scammer tried to change control of Magic’s Facebook account. Fortunately, his business associate was able to restore everything back to normal. Magic then had to anxiously wait 24 hours until the link he sent to the scammers expired. He checked his account “every half hour” during that time save for between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. GMT when the scammer tried to change ownership of his page again. 

“I was tense for 24 hours,” Magic said.

One scam of many

Looking back on the experience, Magic credits his team, two-factor authentication and luck as the reasons why his account was spared. If he would have used his laptop to call the scammers, there was a chance that he would’ve quickly approved the pop-up asking to hand control of his Facebook profiles over to a criminal. That extra complication from the phone saved him from disaster. 

He also praised Entertainment Lab for quickly contacting the local police department about the scam. 

One of Magic’s U.K.-based friends wasn’t so lucky. The friend was contacted by a scammer who posed as a booking agent offering roughly $4,000 to appear on “The Tony Robbins Podcast.” “The Tony Robbins Podcast” did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

“His account got fully hacked,” Magic said. “He’s got a massive following as well. They got hold of his Facebook, his Instagram, his WhatsApp — everything was gone.” 

Thankfully, the friend was able to recover his accounts after talking to Meta.

The exact type of scam Magic almost fell for has been increasing. A report from the Identity Theft Resource Center found that impersonation scams grew 148% this year compared to last. More than half the time, those schemes involve scammers impersonating a business. 

For this article, TheWrap reviewed several emails from other scammers claiming to be employed by influential podcasters. Host of “Let’s Be Honest” Kristin Cavallari came up repeatedly, but Jillian Michaels’ “Keeping It Real,” Mel Robbins’ “The Mel Robbins Podcast” and Chelsea Handler’s “Dear Chelsea” also appeared. Many of these emails followed the same format that Magic described, asking their victim to appear on a Facebook or Instagram-exclusive episode. Others were more transparent, promising thousands of dollars in compensation to presumably gain access to their target’s bank account. Like Magic’s, these emails seem flattering and well-researched at first glance, only giving away their nefarious intentions through odd email domains and physical addresses that only contain cities and zip codes.  

Prior to this experience, Magic didn’t think of himself as the type of person who would fall for an online scam, crediting the prestige around The Ringer and Bill Simmons as a major reason why the ploy worked. “It literally has to do with the gravitas of these people. I’m sure there are some decent podcasts here in the U.K., but then the minute you throw an American name like that, it’s just, ‘Oh, yeah, of course. I’ll do whatever,” Magic said. “You’ll jump at the opportunity.”

He also doesn’t fully understand what the end goal is for these scammers but he thinks it has to do with selling accounts with substantial followers. “It’s mad. It’s a business for these people to take people’s accounts, because what they’re going to do, they’re going to take your account, wipe everything clean, yet they’ve got X number of people that’s on the account,” he explained. “They can just make a new channel and then sell it to someone for whatever amount of money they want. So I guess that’s what their intention was.”

Magic does recall some specific details about the man he spoke to. He remembers hearing background noise that in retrospect makes him think the person was talking to him from a call center. He also believes the man had an accent. “I don’t know if it was a European accent,” he said. “There was an American twang to his accent at the same time.”

More than anything else, the experience has left Magic confused and wary. “We always say that our details are encrypted to a certain degree. But how much access do we have? How much access do other people have to such sensitive information?” Magic asked. “But it’s nice to know that we can share this story with other people so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

The post Creators Beware: Inside the Podcasting Scam Trying to Take Over Social Accounts appeared first on TheWrap.

But in terms of pure follow the money, it was creators who won the week. At marketing firm Influential’s space at the Mandala Beach, rising influencer Amanda Dimoldenberg (3.1 million subscribers on YouTube) held court alongside Dhar Mann (25.4 million subscribers on YouTube), while huge stars like will.i.am and Jason Derulo performed. A few hundred feet down the beach, you found Kai Cenat (19.3 million TikTok followers) and Alix Earle (7.5 million followers) in the center of activity. 

The Creators economy is now a $185 billion industry — and is about to become a half-a-trillion-dollar rising behemoth. 

“We are sitting in the heart of what used to be, or still is, an epicenter of the film industry, and the conversation around creativity is centered on the entire creator track,” Kenny Gold, the managing director and head of social for Deloitte Digital, told TheWrap. “So in the biggest gathering of marketers in a given year, this is a sign that the creator economy continues to grow.” 

Gold’s assessment isn’t unusual. The shift was apparent during this year’s upfronts, television’s annual gathering for advertisers in New York City. Despite flashy performances from entertainment mainstays like NBC and Disney, the most energy and excitement came from YouTube’s stage.

That excitement is an outgrowth of a creator industry that’s benefiting from a more robust support infrastructure, with bigger, more far-reaching agencies, new monetized creator programs and AI tools that are bringing down production costs. All of this has enabled more creators to think of themselves as entrepreneurs rather than just social media personalities, and advertisers are starting to notice. 

“The landscape has evolved in such a vast way over the last 12 to 24 months where creators really are now media and entertainment companies at the tip of the spear,” Neil Waller, the co-CEO and co-founder of the social media and influencer agency the Whalar Group, told TheWrap.

The numbers back it up. Creators are estimated to generate $184.9 billion in revenue globally in 2025, up 20% from 2024, according to a report from WPP Media, formerly GroupM, while Goldman Sachs says it will hit $480 billion by 2027.

Waller noted that “most” of the conversations his team had with brands at Cannes Lions this year included plans to increase spend with creators “about 20 to 30%.” He also noted that many brands plan to invest in the space even more in 2026: “I think there will be another big leap.”

The evolution of the modern-day creator

For years, the creator economy was viewed by outsiders as a digital Wild West. Someone would post something online that would generate attention, and their friends would wonder how their silly videos paid the rent. Those days are long over.

“A lot of creators would use the words, ‘I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a business owner.’ That’s not something they would have said a few years ago,” Waller said. When Waller co-founded Whalar nine and a half years ago, he estimated that 95% of the creators he worked with had jobs and posted in their spare time. “Now, 95% of the creators we work with are full-time and start having employees and companies.”

A big reason for this shift has to do with creators like MrBeast, who set an example for how to transform a social following into a larger, diversified business. Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, isn’t just someone who has over 400 million YouTube subscribers and 188 million TikTok followers. He leveraged his fame to create the Feastables chocolate brand, the Lunchly snack brand and the virtual restaurant chain MrBeast Burger. In 2023, Forbes estimated he earned $82 million and that was before Prime Video’s “Beast Games.”

While MrBeast gets all the attention, a legion of other creators are following in his footsteps with particular attention to the business element. Many are much smaller in reach — a 2023 NeoReach study found that 48% of creator-earners made $15,000 or less a year — but others are rolling the dice on investing in themselves and the resources they need.

“We saw [growth in the creator economy] a few years ago when creators were starting their own consumer brands, but now it’s not just that. They’re starting full-blown media companies,” Gohar Khan, a content creator who has 6.74 million YouTube subscribers, told TheWrap during YouTube’s Upfronts presentation. “That’s the path I want to take, and I foresee myself being there for the next 20 years.”

Khan has already taken steps toward his goal, purchasing a two-bedroom apartment that he transformed into a content studio for his channel Gohar’s Guide. Khan noted that the investment has already helped him bring his more ambitious ideas to life. But that increased studio space and his desire to bring on more hires also comes with “a bit of pressure.” 

“I do want to bring in more people in-house. But with that comes the responsibility of sustaining the creator business well enough to also sustain their salaries,” Khan said. “That’s a pressure I think I’m ready for, but I know it’s going to come very soon.” 

Mann has taken his YouTube content to the next level by building a 125,000-square-foot production campus in Los Angeles. The content creator, with a global social media following of over 136 million across 83 active channels, now employs nearly 200 people to bring his uplifting, family-friendly content to the “Dhar Mann Fam.” 

“We’re seeing investments happening for growth where large private equity funds are taking interest in creators and studios and putting hundreds of millions of dollars investing in this space,” Mann told TheWrap. “I think the next stage of this is the mergers and acquisitions that are going to start to take place.” 

Instead of simply responding to the latest viral trend, many creators now plan several episodes out ahead of time, developing a consistent content schedule that also gives them room for flexibility while depending on monetization from their existing library of content. 

One of the reasons Goldman Sachs has such an ambitious target are the brand partnerships and potential merchandising opportunities that have emerged, with some creators taking brand interest a step further. For example, influencer Alix Earle took equity in prebiotic soda Poppi in exchange for becoming a brand ambassador ahead of its $1.95 billion acquisition and joined the team behind SipMargs as an investor, operator and “brand builder,” according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Creators really are now media and entertainment companies at the tip of the spear.” – Neil Waller, co-CEO, the Whalar Group

“There’s just an infinite number of ways that [creators] have been able to monetize their social part of social media,” said USC Annenberg professor and former television executive David Craig told TheWrap. “That’s a very different economy and feature from what Hollywood does. Hollywood creates intellectual property.”

A more robust support system for creators

Harvard Business School professor John Deighton told TheWrap it was not until the last two to three years that enough infrastructure had been built to make the business model around the creator economy “feasible for someone to decide to give up their day job or supplement their day job with the creation of content.”

On the platform side, there’s been a reduction in flash-in-the-pan Creator Funds designed to draw in new creators. In place of these limited offerings, several platforms have launched more stable Creator Programs. They often include revenue sharing and bonus options for creators who meet a specific criteria. For example, YouTube unlocks ad revenue for creators once they surpass 1,000 subscribers, while TikTok and Snapchat reward creators once they hit 10,000 followers and 50,000 followers, respectively. 

Several platforms also now allow creators to make subscription-based content, which serves as an additional revenue stream. YouTube and TikTok currently have subscription offerings for creators, and Instagram lets creators place some content behind a paywall. There’s also the rise of AI tools, many of which are specifically designed to help creators brainstorm and bring down production costs. 

“Social media ends up becoming much more of a kind of marketing strategy for them to build their online community,” Craig said of the new subscriber models.

At the same time, consolidation on the agency side could provide resources to supercharge the creator economy. Omnicom’s recent acquisition of Interpublic Group is expected to give Omnicom clients improved influencer selection and more tools when it comes to campaign targeting and measurement, which means more creators may have the opportunity to work with even bigger brands. 

Why is it blowing up now?

While creators have benefited from marketing dollars in the past, this year marks a pivotal change. 

“Ad spend is shifting from the traditional linear formats and over to the creator economy,” Dennis Ortiz, principal in technology, media and telecommunications for Deloitte, told TheWrap. 

The social media budgets for brands increased an average of 9% from 2023 to 2024, according to Deloitte Digital’s 2025 State of Social Research. That same report found that creators topped the list when it came to the priorities of social media marketing budgets, taking up 24% of the total yearly spend on average. 

Part of that has to do with planned ad spends from previous years finally coming to fruition in the market. Since brands typically plan their ad spends months, if not years ahead of time, it takes a while for these investments to appear. But part of this also has to do with creators themselves. As monetization from platforms has become more consistent, business plans and strict content schedules from creators have become more of the norm in the industry. That has emboldened advertisers to invest more in creators. 

“That’s a much easier thing to go and talk to brands about rather than not necessarily knowing the schedule,” Waller said. “Those two things running in parallel have ultimately meant that being a creator is a business.”

This space has also taken off due to the rise in microinfluencers, social media personalities that often specialize in a niche topic and average around 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Though their follower count is comparatively low, their audience engagement is high, which is appealing to advertisers. Its investment in these creators rather than the traditional influencers are largely contributing to the boost in the creator economy. 

There’s also evidence that this segment still has room for growth. With the digital sector accounting for 18% of the nation’s GDP in 2024, according to an April study from Harvard Business School and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the creator economy has a significant stronghold on the American economy. Digital creators and social media influencers — who generate content and build audiences for a living — now account for more than one in 10 full-time internet-dependent jobs in the U.S. That same IAB study found that the number of digital creator jobs have increased 7.5 times since 2020. 

“Creators don’t think of the people that they spend time with as their audience. They feel like they have some form of relationship,” Craig said. “There’s a very big difference between MrBeast’s community and Brad Pitt’s fans.”

Challenges remain

But there are still hurdles when it comes to this industry, the biggest being the lack of consistent measurement tools. Whereas television has Nielsen ratings to tell advertisers how many people their ad reached, the creator economy doesn’t have a set audience measurement standard. It’s that lack of solid numbers that keeps brands that are already wary of the creator ecosystem away. Waller noted that creators are still viewed as “lesser” both in Hollywood and “honestly, still with advertisers.” 

“It can’t just be fluffy stuff that you then can’t prove,” Waller said. To try and remedy this, Waller has partnered with data measurement companies like Nielsen, Alter Analytics and Kantar Media. 

There is also a ceiling, albeit a high one, to being a creator. Even MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio have tried their hand at traditional film and television projects. Expanding into traditional media allows creators to broaden their audience and potentially partner with more traditional celebrities, which can mean more money. “Hollywood is best at building IP and making value from that. That’s what creators are trying to do. What creators understand is the modern-day speed and cost of making and distributing to audiences,” Waller explained. 

There’s also interest on the other side. “People in Hollywood are interested in the creator economy, specifically the ambition, adaptability and close connection creators have to their audiences,” a production head for film and TV told TheWrap. 

If the buzz at Cannes Lions is any indication, those conversations are just beginning.

The post Why a Half-a-Trillion-Dollar Creator Economy Is Just the Beginning appeared first on TheWrap.