#creator-economy

#creator-economy

It may seem like publishers are " pivoting to video " all over again, with news outlets like Time, CNN, The New York Times adding more vertical video to their sites and apps in the last few months. But it's different this time around. The big push into video production 10 years ago was centered on distribution to social media platforms, following Facebook's shift to prioritizing video content.

MrBeast is building out a platform to match creators and marketers, the CEO of the top YouTuber's company said at The New York Times' DealBook Summit on Wednesday. Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries, said the company was "building a two-sided marketplace in a global creator platform, matching creators with Fortune 1,000 marketers who want to be able to access the creator influencer economy in an efficient way to be able to build demand for their products and services."

Radisson Hotels & Resorts launched Creator Hub, a program for creators with 1,00030,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Participants earn hotel stays, VIP Radisson Rewards, and more in exchange for content. Travel and hospitality remain hot for creator programs, with TikTok even launching an initiative to help hotels drive bookings through creators. Want more creator economy news, trends, and insights? Sign up for my newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram.

He will represent digital creators and podcasters, while also helping drive digital strategies for CAA clients across its film, music, television and sports divisions. Goodfried co-created LonelyGirl15, the pioneering Internet sensation, and co-founded EQAL, a digital content studio for consumer brands and artists like Jennifer Lopez, Bethany Frankel and Lauren Conrad. After selling EQAL in 2013, Goodfried joined UTA as an agent in its digital media department, in 2020 joined up with TikTok and social media star Charli D'Amelio, before launching DamGood Management in 2023.

In a post on X on Wednesday, the 27-year-old creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, told his 33.4 million followers that he hasn't been fully satisfied with the quality of his latest videos. "After some reflection, I just want to say I think some of our newer youtube videos haven't been as good as I wanted. I apologize," MrBeast wrote. "Ya boy is going to go into ultra grind mode and make the greatest content of my life in 2026. Promise," he added.

"The popularity of YouTube podcasts among conservatives is driving a boom in small businesses tailoring ads to their millions of listeners, paying hosts like Joe Rogan and Candace Owens to read out promotions in the hope that fans will place orders. The phenomenon has enriched both the hosts and YouTube, supporting further growth of the businesses using ideology to sell."

But what sets "Two Sleepy People" apart is that it was funded and produced entirely by digital creators. The Austin-based creator collective Creator Camp was established in 2021 as a way to disrupt Hollywood by giving creators the funding, tools and distribution they need to expand beyond social media. And Ryan's drifting, cerebral romantic comedy is Camp Studio's first bet out of its three-feature theatrical deal with Attend Theatrical Marketplace.

My first job out of college was at Microsoft, where I worked as a program manager and product manager from 2018 to 2023. In January 2023, I left my Big Tech job to work for a creator commerce platform. There, I developed an AI product, which led to me landing a senior AI role at Microsoft in July 2024. In the current job market, AI feels like the safest domain to be an expert in.

The creator economy has spent the last decade quietly normalizing one assumption: if a platform enables you to earn, the platform deserves a percentage of what you make. Subscription fees, digital product marketplaces and course platforms all typically operate on take rates, turning creator revenue into shared revenue, often heavily shared. Tyler Denk, the CEO and co-founder of Beehiiv, believes that assumption is overdue for a reset. And his company's latest product expansion is designed around challenging it.

After officially recognizing creators as small businesses in 2024, Visa 's newly released "Monetized: 2025 Creator Report" provides new insights, demystifying the creator landscape and informing better financial infrastructure to support creators. Since the advent of Web 2.0 and social media platforms in the early 2000s, a "creator economy" fueled by independent, user-generated content has flourished. Now, a quarter into the 21st century, the creator economy is expected to reach an industry valuation of $500 billion USD according to Visa, further cementing content creators as legitimate business owners.

Key Stat: 32% of US and UK consumers say AI is negatively disrupting the creator economy, up from 18% in 2023, according to July 2025 data from Billion Dollar Boy. Beyond this chart: Gen Z's AI tolerance depends on the use case. Some 54% prefer no AI involvement in creative work, but only 13% feel this way about shopping, according to an August 2025 Goldman Sachs survey.

Trump threatens $1bn lawsuit against BBC Trump has threatened a USD$1bn (£740m) lawsuit against the BBC over a Panorama episode aired before the 2024 US election. Trump's legal team claims the program misrepresented his speech on 6th January 2021 by editing remarks to suggest he encouraged violence at the Capitol. Trump accuses the BBC of making "false, defamatory, disparaging, misleading, and inflammatory statements" about him.

"This is something that was overdue in our country, and we're glad to have the leading position and be able to bring these opportunities to our students," said Mark Lodato, dean of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

iHeartMedia, the leading audio company in America, and TikTok, the world's leading destination for short-form mobile video, today announced a groundbreaking, multiplatform partnership that will bring TikTok creators into iHeart's ecosystem. This collaboration includes the launch of the TikTok Podcast Network, which will feature up to 25 new podcasts hosted by TikTok creators, as well as a national broadcast and digital radio station, and a series of live event integrations.

Open the YouTube app today, and a Short starts playing before you've even tapped anything. Your subscriptions and recommendations are pushed a layer deeper. This is the hostile takeover of your user experience. For most of its life, YouTube was a place you visited with a purpose. You searched for tutorials, watched creators you followed, or looked up something specific.

In the bright, brand-new lobby of a Back Bay advertising agency, a step-and-repeat bearing the city of Boston's seal is set up like a Fashion Week photo wall. Mayor Michelle Wu, cradling her infant daughter, leans in for snapshots with a steady stream of visitors: a woman in a crimson corduroy coat, another in a cardigan dotted with three-dimensional flowers.

The platform simplifies social media engagement by automating conversations through Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. What started as a messenger automation startup has evolved into a global community of over one million users across 170 countries, backed by a team of more than 350 employees. In April 2025, Manychat announced it had raised $140 million in growth capital led by Summit Partners to accelerate AI innovation, global expansion, and product development. This milestone underscores the company's accelerating momentum and growing influence in the creator economy.

It seems like you have to be a little bit more online or up to date with how fast culture moves just to determine, yes, this is a 'safe brand' - a brand that I'm willing to work with versus a brand that's [in] a little bit of hot water right now,

Here's what most people don't understand about this industry: it's still the Wild West. Some brands are sophisticated and know industry rates cold. Others are winging it completely. I've seen deals vary wildly for similar deliverables, and frankly, those "industry standard" rates you find online? They're largely suggestions-and often irrelevant. This reality presents both opportunity and challenge. One popular question becomes: who should make the first offer?

"As the definition of talent continues to evolve, so must the systems that support it," said Andrew Ruf, Managing Partner at Paradigm. "Reign Maker Group has built a scalable process that meets creators where they are, with an eye towards where they're going. By combining our global reach with their innovative infrastructure, we're able to accelerate opportunities for a new generation of talent and the professionals who represent them."

The center, the first of its kind in the U.S., is a joint project between the university's communications and business schools, and aims to attract students planning to participate in the $250 billion creator economy. With rising unemployment rates, and a college degree no longer unlocking the career opportunities it once did, the creator economy could be a beacon of hope for young graduates in a dismal job market.