Today's Creator Economy Pulse
AI‑Generated Instagram Avatar Aitana Lopez Nets $6K‑$8K Per Brand Post
Aitana Lopez, a fully AI‑generated Instagram avatar with nearly 400,000 followers, is securing major brand partnerships and commands $6,000‑$8,000 per sponsored post. Her creators at The Clueless agency in Barcelona report monthly revenues of $50,000‑$80,000 from brand deals, a subscription platform, and a proprietary skincare software. Influencer marketing as a whole is a $32.55 billion industry.
If We Lost Everything, Here's the Media Company We'd Build (527)
In this episode of This Old Marketing, hosts Joe Polizzi and Robert Rose imagine building a media company from scratch in 2026 with no audience, brand, or team. They explore which formats—newsletters, podcasts, or other digital content—offer the best path to growth, debating market saturation and the unique challenges of each medium. The conversation also touches on the relevance of starting new ventures later in life, emphasizing that age isn’t a barrier to launching a successful media business. Throughout, they blend humor, personal anecdotes, and industry insights to outline a strategic, differentiated approach to launching a modern media company.
Audible Taps BookTok Star Luke Bateman To Engage Gen Z & Young Men
Audible has appointed Australian former NRL player and podcast host Luke Bateman as its new ambassador to drive audiobook adoption among Gen Z, especially young men. Bateman will front launches, events and social‑first content that showcase titles like Andy Weir’s *Project Hail Mary*. The initiative...
Kuaishou Amplifies Deaf Voices with “Streaming Out Loud” Campaign via TOPic & Loong China
Kuaishou teamed with TOPic & Loong China to launch the “Streaming Out Loud” campaign, using AI‑driven sign‑language recognition and a voice avatar to make deaf live‑commerce streams audible to hearing viewers. A pilot with deaf streamer @Jingjing attracted over 700,000 viewers and...
Khaby Lame's $975 Million Merger Stalls as Brokers Block Rich Sparkle Shares
TikTok sensation Khaby Lame’s $975 million merger with Hong‑Kong‑based Rich Sparkle Holdings has hit a roadblock as major brokerages barred trading in the target’s stock. The share price has tumbled more than 90% since the January announcement, leaving the deal’s completion...
Quiet Achiever Acast Says ‘Authentic Integration Is on the Rise’
Acast, the Swedish‑founded podcast network, has secured the return of Abbie Chatfield’s “It’s A Lot” podcast and highlighted a surge in “authentic integration” where ads extend beyond audio to social and video platforms. The company leverages its global footprint in...
Earn
How to earn a full-time living as a writer in 2026: 1. Start writing online 2. Start ghostwriting on the side 3. Sell a digital product in your niche 4. Upsell clients to get to $10k+ per month 5. Quit your 9-5 job so you...
AI Generates Full Video Ads From Text Alone
This is crazy… Now you can make a full video ad with sound just by typing a few words. No camera. No team. No editing. Everything is changing right in front of us. And most people don’t even know how powerful AI has become.
Podnews Weekly Review
In this brief weekly roundup, James Cridland and Sam Sethi host a rapid-fire panel of podcast industry leaders—including the CEOs of Pod People, Captivate, Buzzsprout, and Blueberry, as well as representatives from Spotify for Podcasters, Descript, and Edison Research—to highlight...
Make Your Spotify Pitch Cut Through Thousands
Spotify gets hundreds of thousands of pitches a week. Here's how to make yours stand out. https://t.co/x4oWfIVR3s
Considering Premiere Pro Mobile Over CapCut? Users Share Experiences
Has anyone switched from CapCut or Edits to Premiere Pro Mobile? If so, how's it going? I used to be all CapCut, now I'm 80% edits, 10% CapCut, 10% TikTok (because reasons). Premiere pro looks good but intimidating
You Can Now Clone Yourself on YouTube With an AI Avatar Tool
YouTube has introduced an AI avatar‑clone tool that lets creators generate Shorts using a digital twin of their own likeness and voice, removing the need to appear on camera. The avatar reproduces the creator’s appearance and speech, and every video...
Re‑bundling Long‑form Video to Combat Cheap Short‑form Rise
Re-bundling is picking up speed (although there's a long way to go) as connecting high cost low margin long form video to low cost high margin services is part of the solution...Strategic question is will re-bundling & consolidation be enough...
I Used Notes Templates Every Single Day for 90 Days. Here’s What the Data Actually Shows.
After struggling with inconsistent subscriber gains, the author analyzed his top‑performing Substack Notes and used Claude AI to extract common structures, creating a personal Notes Writing Playbook of 30+ templates. By writing daily from these templates for 90 days, he...
Instagram Adds Comment Editing
Instagram announced a new comment‑editing feature that lets users revise their replies within a 15‑minute window. The edit option appears beneath each comment and can be used unlimited times during that period, with an "edited" label shown but no version...
Issa Rae’s Production Company Jumps Into Micro-Dramas. Here’s What to Expect From the Hoorae-TikTok Deal
Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media has teamed with TikTok to launch the micro‑drama series *Screen Time* on the platform’s PineDrama app, marking Rae’s return to short‑form digital storytelling. The partnership includes a slate of additional vertical dramas, positioning TikTok as a...
RAIN Notes: April 9
AdsWizz is hosting a webinar on April 23 titled “Scaling Podcast Advertising: Unlocking Growth with Context and Confidence,” aimed at helping advertisers break through scale ceilings caused by over‑filtering and brand‑safety constraints. The session will cover where scale is lost, episode‑level...
DigitalGlue Challenges AI Fatigue at NAB Show 2026 with Creative.Space Platform
DigitalGlue unveiled its creative.space platform at NAB Show 2026, debuting the AI‑driven creative.space Intelligence (CSI) in beta while making the creative.space Storage solution generally available. The unified operating system merges storage, collaboration and AI insight to replace fragmented video‑production tool...
Evergreen Content Revives Old Posts When Trends Shift
I posted a video about Claude almost a year ago. Forgot about it, moved on, created other content. Last month, a wave of people switched from ChatGPT to Claude, and that old video started picking up views again. This is what I mean...
Patreon Podcast Revenue Up, New Spotify Video Controls, & More
Patreon reported a 33% year‑over‑year revenue increase to $629 million, driven by 7.6 million paid podcast memberships across 47,000 creators. American Public Media and Streamguys launched the Inform Media Network, a private marketplace delivering 55 million+ monthly impressions for public‑media podcasts and livestreams....
Before Imagine Dragons, Brothers Dan and Mac Reynolds Always Wanted to Make Videogames—Now Their First, Last Flag, Is About to...
Brothers Dan and Mac Reynolds, known for fronting Imagine Dragons, are debuting their first video game, *Last Flag*, a capture‑the‑flag hero shooter. The title, developed under Night Street Games, introduces a unique flag‑hiding mechanic that adds strategic depth to classic CTF gameplay....
Replit Taps RevenueCat to Help Vibe-Coders Make Money
Replit has integrated RevenueCat’s subscription infrastructure directly into its AI‑driven coding platform, allowing users to add monetization features with simple natural‑language prompts. The partnership brings RevenueCat’s billing, pricing analytics, and compliance tools—used by over 80,000 apps handling roughly $1 billion in...
Win Online with Tiny, Consistent Content Effort
It has literally never been easier to win: • 94% of blogs have fewer than 5 posts • 99% of podcasts have fewer than 21 episodes • 85% of YouTube channels have less than 10 videos • Americans spend 2.5 hours per day doom-scrolling You...
AI Replaces Human Clip Teams in Influencer Growth
Top Influencers’ Secret Weapon for Engagement Might Be Replaced by AI Influencers rely on armies of clippers to flood feeds with viral short videos Creators spend big: with up to $50K monthly campaign spend, and millions paid via platforms like Whop But now,...
Salt N Pepa Termination Rights Ruling Makes Creator Protections in US “Illusory”, Say Artist Advocacy Groups
Salt N Pepa’s lawsuit against Universal Music over 1980s recordings has become a pivotal test of the U.S. copyright termination right. The Second Circuit Appeals Court received amicus briefs from the National Society of Entertainment & Arts Lawyers and a coalition of...
YouTube Denies Existence of 90‑second Unskippable Ads
YouTube says it does not have 90-second unskippable ads despite user reports YouTube denies its running 90-second unskippable ads despite widespread user reports Users have shared screenshots showing “skip in 90+ seconds” prompts on TV YouTube says the feature isn’t live or in...
Frank Oz Returns to Puppetry with Judge Boing Boing Shorts
Frank Oz, the legendary puppeteer behind Bert, Grover and Fozzie Bear, has returned to hands‑on puppetry after more than a decade by co‑creating the YouTube short series "Judge Boing Boing." The parody courtroom sketches feature a clueless puppet judge and...
Black Tabby Games Slinks Into Game Publishing with 1000xResist Creator's Next Game
Black Tabby Games announced the launch of its publishing label, Black Tabby Publishing, with Sunset Visitor’s FMV title Prove You’re Human as its first fully funded project. The publisher will provide development capital, release‑management, and a straightforward 70/30 revenue‑share deal...
YouTube Says It Does Not Have 90-Second Unskippable Ads Despite User Reports
YouTube users streaming to televisions reported seeing 90‑second unskippable ad breaks, a possible extension of the platform’s 30‑second non‑skippable ads introduced last year. In response, Team YouTube confirmed that the service does not currently offer a 90‑second non‑skippable format and...
EIZO Introduces ColorEdge CS3200X 31.5-inch 4K Creator Monitor
Japanese display maker EIZO launched the ColorEdge CS3200X, a 31.5‑inch 4K UHD monitor targeting professional photographers, video editors, and digital creators. The panel offers 99% Adobe RGB and 96% DCI‑P3 coverage, HDR support through HLG and PQ, and a 10‑bit/16‑bit...
Patreon’s Podcast Revenue Jumps 33% to $629 Million in 2025
Patreon announced that podcast creators earned $629 million on the platform in 2025, a 33% increase from the prior year. The surge makes podcasts the largest revenue‑generating category, highlighting the effectiveness of Patreon’s creator‑focused monetization tools.
GameSquare Q4 2024 Earnings Show 7.6% Revenue Rise as Agency Segment Accelerates
GameSquare Holdings reported Q4 2024 revenue of $102.0 million, up 7.6% year‑over‑year, as its agency segment posted 115% growth. The company highlighted a $39 million divestiture of FaZe Media, a narrowed adjusted EBITDA loss and 2025 guidance that targets $100‑$105 million in revenue...
Scheduling Posts Won’t Damage Instagram Reach, Says Mosseri
Adam Mosseri confirmed what I have been telling you for YEARS... scheduling your content does not hurt your reach on Instagram. 👏
Earn $1M on YouTube with Just 1K Subscribers
How do you actually make significant money on YouTube? @TintinSmith is the ex-manager of Ali Abdaal. In this YouTube business masterclass we cover: - How you can hit $1M with just 1,000 subscribers - The exact system you should use - Who to hire and...
Top Influencers’ Secret Weapon for Engagement Might Be Replaced by AI
Influencer marketing has leaned heavily on freelance video clippers who turn long‑form content into bite‑sized TikTok, Reels and Shorts clips. Last year, AI‑powered services such as Overlap and OpusClip began offering end‑to‑end clipping, editing and posting without human involvement. Major...
Link Every Post to a Launch, End Randomness
The fastest way to stop “random posting” as a solopreneur is to tie every piece of content to a specific launch. My simple Launch Content OS: - Pick 1 offer + 1 date - Map 3 buyer questions - Turn each into: a story,...
All Things Creator Marketing with Tiffany Rivers
Tiffany Rivers, VP of emerging media and influencer marketing at Media Cause, will speak at Marketing Brew’s "The Next Phase of Social and Creator Marketing" on May 12. She advises nonprofit clients such as the University of Florida, Parkinson’s Foundation,...
French Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Protect Artists From AI Data Scraping
The French Senate voted unanimously to adopt a landmark bill that flips the burden of proof onto AI developers, obligating them to demonstrate that copyrighted artistic works were not used to train their models. The legislation also requires transparency about...
TF1 Info Teams Up with YouTuber Gaspard G for 2027 Presidential Election Coverage
TF1 Info announced a partnership with French YouTube star Gaspard G, who commands 1.6 million subscribers, to co‑produce coverage of the 2027 French presidential election. The collaboration will blend TF1's traditional newsroom resources with Gaspard’s digital‑first storytelling style, delivering short‑form video,...
CNC Indefinitely Suspends Social Media Creator Fund Amid Targeted Threats
On April 8, France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) announced the indefinite suspension of its newly created Social Media Creator Fund. The program, launched earlier this year with a €10 million (≈$10.8 million) budget, was designed to support 150‑plus...
From TikTok to Television: How 'Les Groos' Made the Jump to Arte
TikTok duo "Les Groos" leveraged a decade‑long social media following to land a prime‑time slot on European public broadcaster Arte. The creators, David Mirailles and his partner, turned their short‑form sketches into a six‑episode series that debuted in spring, reaching...
TikTok Live Viewership Plummets 12% as Twitch Gains
TikTok lost nearly 12% of its live viewership in Q1 of 2026! Twitch +4.46% Kick +1.79% YouTube -0.24% TikTok -11.92% Stats via StreamsCharts
Buy, Remix, Sell Vibe‑Coded Apps on Anything
wait… you can now buy, remix, and sell vibe-coded apps directly on @Anything 👀 pretty sure these devs never f*cking sleep.
TuneCore Partners with RoyFi to Offer Royalty Advances to Indie Artists
TuneCore, the Believe‑owned digital distributor, has launched TuneCore Direct Advance in partnership with fintech firm RoyFi, allowing independent artists to obtain cash advances against future streaming royalties. The program offers a flat‑fee financing model with repayment drawn automatically from royalty...
Thai Randolph Launches NILE & Co., Acquires BuzzFeed
Thai Randolph Launches NILE & Co., Creator-Driven Media Company That Has Acquired BuzzFeed’s As/Is and Goodful Brands https://t.co/XyY5sffSyU via @variety
Sports Betting Now Dominates Hip‑hop Podcast Ads
The goal is to target young men everywhere. Its deeper than sports. Nearly every hip-hop podcast is now sponsored by sports betting or some gambling app. I miss the days of Mail Chimp and Casper
SAMY & L’Oréal Launched TikTok Shop in Spain Together: Here’s What the First Year Taught Them
When TikTok Shop launched in Spain in late 2024, L’Oréal partnered with influencer agency SAMY to test social commerce. Over the first year, SAMY produced 18 live shopping events—42 hours of content—expanding from L’Oréal Paris to Maybelline, NYX and Garnier....
Higgs X Seedance 2.0 Cuts 90% of Production Work
Thanks to Higgs x Seedance 2.0, we can skip about 90% of the production work. - No equipment - No reshoots - No endless edits It’s basically: references → cues → a full, cinematic result. Honestly, this is pretty amazing. https://t.co/B1Zd3uXVaw
Boost LinkedIn Engagement with AI-Powered Post Optimization
Trying to get more involved with the @LinkedIn community, but are finding that your posts don't get engagement? Use AI to make 'em more engaging. Here's how to give it a try: https://t.co/y53idal1Jb #linkedin #chatgpt #ai #socialmedia https://t.co/ZOLyMg2fJg
MovieFlow Releases Seedance 2.0, Kling
🚨 MovieFlow just launched Seedance 2.0 and Kling 3.0. And you can generate your first 15 seconds completely free right now. No card. No catch. Here's everything you need to know 🧵
Dreamina Seedance 2.0 Gives Real Creative Control
Dreamina Seedance 2.0 isn't just multimodal #DreaminaSeedance2 it's the first time I've felt actual control over what I'm making. Text, image, and video inputs. Consistent results across scenes. Expressive and precise. Go try it yourself on Dreamina AI. @dreamina_ai