Creator Economy Veterans Behind TalentX, YMU Form Independent Talent Firm Glossary Artists
Former TalentX and YMU executives launched Glossary Artists, an independent talent management firm focused on creator‑owned IP and long‑term brand development. Based in Los Angeles and Miami, the women‑led agency gives managers freedom to innovate across beauty, fashion, gaming, food and sports. Its initial roster includes makeup director Sir John Barnett, boxer Alycia Baumgardner, guitarist Michael Clifford, author Jenn Lueke and TV host Keltie Knight, alongside existing creators Mariale Marrero and Carli Bybel. The firm has already spun off creator‑founded ventures such as LEDDA Fragrance, NYKZ Home Fragrances and the LadyWorld retreat.
UnderCurrent Talent: A Platform Model for Scaling Niche Creators in a Consolidating Market
UnderCurrent Talent, founded in 2020, has built a platform that pairs entrepreneurial managers with niche creators across dozens of verticals, representing over 300 creators and 30 managers. The bootstrapped firm offers full‑service support—including content strategy, business development, PR, and product...
Kale’s Isha Patel: Why Fan-Powered Marketing Works Better Than Average Influencer Campaigns
Isha Patel and Luis Molina founded Kale in 2021 to turn everyday customers into a scalable, trackable marketing channel. Leveraging insights from LinkedIn’s creator ecosystem, Kale offers a fan‑advocacy platform that rewards low‑friction content and provides real‑time analytics. The company’s...
Streaming Platform Playback Lands at Disney and ESPN After December Shutdown
Playback, a creator‑driven sports watch‑party platform launched in 2020, announced on March 17 that its team has joined Disney Entertainment and ESPN after a December shutdown. The founders had previously sought a buyer for the technology amid broadcast‑rights complexities that...
#paid Partners With Pinterest to Connect Brands With Consumers Through Creator-Led Campaigns
#paid has become an official execution partner for Pinterest’s Idea Ads, linking its creator‑brand matching technology and Handraise workflow with Pinterest’s creator ecosystem. The integration enables creators to self‑select campaigns and produce Idea Ads that blend organic inspiration with paid...
Short-Form Video Is Driving Viewers to Watch Full TV Shows, Research Finds
Research by YouGov shows short‑form video on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts is now a primary discovery tool for full‑length TV shows and films. In a survey of 2,035 British adults, more than 75% of those who saw a...
JAM Media’s John Rice: Why Children’s Brands That Don’t Own Their Audience Will Be Left Behind
John Rice, CEO of JAM Media, warned that the traditional broadcaster‑centric model for preschool animation is becoming obsolete as platforms cut budgets and demand more audience ownership. He highlighted the need for studios to build direct relationships with children and...
YouTube Launches Podcast Vertical Lineups for Advertisers
YouTube has launched a U.S. Top Podcasts Lineup, letting advertisers buy ad inventory across curated podcast collections organized by five content verticals—Sports, News, Comedy, True Crime, and Society & Culture. The platform reports over 100 million daily podcast viewing hours and...
Oracle Discloses $2B Stake in TikTok U.S. Joint Venture
Oracle disclosed a 15% equity stake in the TikTok US Data Security Joint Venture, part of a $2.2 billion non‑marketable investment portfolio. The joint venture, valued at roughly $14 billion, includes equal stakes from Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX, while ByteDance...
Propagate Content Acquires Creator-First Affiliate Agency Sway Social
Propagate Content, the independent studio founded by Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens, announced the acquisition of creator‑first affiliate agency Sway Social for a mid‑to‑high seven‑figure price. Sway, launched in 2021, runs end‑to‑end affiliate and social commerce programs for over...
Vue Creator Management: An Agency Treating Affiliate Strategy as a Full-Time Job
Vue Creator Management, a Toledo‑based agency founded in 2025 by Cailyn Medley, offers a hybrid service that combines affiliate strategy consulting with full‑time execution. The firm helps creators optimize revenue on platforms such as ShopMy, LTK and Amazon, handling link...
Singapore Podcast Ads Draw Higher Engagement, Lower Saturation Than Other Digital Media, Report Finds
Acast’s Podcast Pulse Singapore Edition, based on a survey of 250 consumers, shows podcast ads enjoy the lightest ad load and highest engagement compared with video, social and TV formats. Only 20% of listeners need more than five exposures before...
Narcity Media Launches Self-Serve Instagram Story Distribution Tool for Brands
Narcity Media introduced Boost, a self‑serve tool on its Locals.tv platform that lets brands pay local creators to share Instagram Stories. The service taps a network of over 2,000 creators across Canadian cities, allowing campaigns to be launched in minutes...
Shake Content’s Dani Markovits: Founders Who Ignore LinkedIn Are Ceding Their Best Acquisition Channel
Shake Content’s new chief commercial officer, former LinkedIn creator‑team leader Dani Markovits, warns that B2B founders who ignore LinkedIn are forfeiting their most effective acquisition channel. He argues that founder‑led posts generate higher trust and reach than corporate pages, especially...
From ‘Plant Daddy’ to Plant Retailer: How Kossi Tchenawou Turned Social Media Influence Into a Community-Driven Business
Kossi Tchenawou, a former RE/MAX franchise consultant, turned his TikTok hobby of houseplants into a 400,000‑plus follower creator brand known as “Plant Daddy.” Leveraging a three‑E framework—education, engagement, entertainment—he launched OnlyPlants, a Denver storefront that opened in just 14 days...
Gold Studios: Founder Eddie Gold on Blending Entertainment, Creators, and Brands
Gold Studios, founded by former ad‑agency exec Eddie Gold in 2020, now supports over 400 comedy and sports creators across London and New York. The company operates five divisions—Talent, Live, Originals, a creative agency, and the newly added Arena—blending talent...
Influencer Kay Dudley Launches Plant-Based Protein Bar Brand HEYNU
Influencer Kay Dudley, half of the Kay & Tay duo, has launched HEYNU, a plant‑based nutrition brand debuting with the HEYBAR protein bar. The bar delivers 14 g protein, 6 g fiber, 5 g sugar, and is gluten‑free and free of nine major...
Loti AI, Underscore Talent Partner to Defend Creator Likeness in the Age of Deepfakes
Loti AI, a Seattle‑based likeness‑protection startup, announced a partnership with Underscore Talent to shield the agency’s creator roster from deepfake impersonation. Loti’s Watchtower platform scans the internet, uses face and voice recognition, and reports a 95 % takedown success rate within...
Residence CFO Wade Milne on Building a Creative Network and Why Social Is the Industry’s Fastest-Growing Sector
Residence, a global network of independent creative firms, has acquired social‑first agency OK COOL to deepen its social capabilities. CFO Wade Milne says the social sector is the only growth area in marketing services, reflecting the broader shift toward a creator‑driven,...
Streamers Valkyrae, Squeex Announce NYU Game Center Scholarship During Surprise Guest Lecture
Popular streamers Valkyrae and Squeex announced the Squeex Scholarship at NYU’s Game Center during a guest lecture filmed for Valkyrae’s “Touching Grass” series. The scholarship provides professional‑development funding for travel, conferences, internships, and mentorship, linking students with industry professionals. Squeex’s...
Vanity Fair Bets on Newsletter Boom With New Subscriber-Only Roster
Vanity Fair has introduced four subscriber‑only newsletters covering technology, politics, fashion and art, each led by a dedicated writer. The titles—“A Billion to One,” “Party Animals,” “Fit Check,” and “True Colors”—are hosted on Vanity Fair’s own platform, bypassing third‑party services....
Courtney Michelle on Turning Relatable Chaos Into a Comedy Career Online
Actress Courtney Michelle pivoted from drama to online comedy, building a thriving creator business on TikTok and Instagram. Guided by a manager’s suggestion, she leveraged character‑driven sketches that mirror everyday awkward moments, attracting a loyal, empathetic audience. Her revenue now...
The 10 Fastest-Growing Australian Instagram Accounts of February 2026
In February 2026 Korean‑Australian actress Yerin Ha topped the growth chart, adding 692.6 K followers to reach just over 1 million. Creative director Christian Watson, physiotherapist Heidi Barlow, radio host Liam Stapleton and UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski also posted sizable gains, each surpassing...
X Launches Creator Subscriptions 2.0 With Exclusive Threads, Paid Partnership Labels
X has introduced Creator Subscriptions 2.0, adding Exclusive Threads that let creators lock parts of a conversation behind a paywall. The update streamlines the subscription setup to two steps and places subscriber‑only content directly in the creator’s main feed. A new...
Gaming Marketing Consultancy Open World Acquires Influencer Platform Drope.me to Scale Creator Campaigns
Open World, the marketing consultancy division of Loaded Holdings, has acquired influencer platform Drope.me to add automation and performance‑tracking tools to its gaming creator campaigns. The acquisition enables Open World to scale activations from dozens to thousands of creators simultaneously....
Zink Talent: Samantha Zink’s Strategy for Developing Long-Term Creator-Brand Partnerships
Zink Talent, founded in 2018 by former fashion PR executive Samantha Zink, now manages about 70 creators across beauty, skincare, fashion and lifestyle. The agency has shifted its roster criteria from raw follower counts to engagement, consistency and business discipline,...
Creator Agency NewGen Signs Streamer xQc for Social Publishing Deal
London‑based creator agency NewGen has signed Twitch star xQc to a social publishing services agreement, brokered with Evolved Agency. The partnership will repurpose xQc’s live streams and YouTube videos for distribution on additional platforms, aiming to broaden his audience and...
TikTok Shop Scales Workforce Amid Push to Cement Discovery Commerce Model in Global Markets
TikTok Shop is aggressively expanding its creator commerce workforce across North America, Europe, and Asia‑Pacific, posting dozens of full‑time and internship roles in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, London, Düsseldorf, Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo and Jakarta. The hiring push...
Fixated Acquires Creator Monetization Platform Elevate to Expand Subscription, Community Infrastructure
Fixated, a creator management firm, has acquired Elevate, a subscription‑focused monetization platform, to broaden its community and revenue infrastructure. The deal follows a $50 million Eldridge Industries investment earmarked for M&A, marking Fixated’s second acquisition this year after buying gaming‑centric Ellify....
Jade Fiona on Why Self-Belief Is the Secret to Winning in Fashion and Creator Economy
Los Angeles‑based creator Jade Fiona leveraged authentic mid‑size outfit‑of‑the‑day videos to amass over 1.4 million followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Her 2022 viral "mid‑size OOTDs" sparked rapid growth, leading to runway appearances, brand gifting, and a sold‑out capsule collection with...
Creator Payment Platform Blitz Wants to Eliminate Net-90 From the Creator Economy
Blitz, founded in April 2024 by Alex Roa, offers a creator‑payment platform that eliminates traditional net‑90 cycles by delivering payouts in three hours or less. The New York‑based startup integrates with enterprise ERP systems to automate invoice formatting, approval routing, and...
QYOU Media Launches Performance Media Unit to Scale Creator Campaigns Across Paid Channels
QYOU Media has launched QYOU Amplify, a performance‑media unit that combines creator strategy, paid media buying, advanced targeting and real‑time analytics to scale influencer campaigns. The new unit aims to identify high‑performing content early and reallocate spend instantly, treating creator...
Inside the DM Economy: Cam McMaster on Providing AI Infrastructure for Creator Inboxes
Australian entrepreneurs Cam McMaster and Chris McLoghlin launched InboxAgents.ai and Guardii.ai in 2025 to give creators a unified AI‑powered inbox and abuse‑filtering layer. The tools aggregate direct messages and emails, surface high‑value brand inquiries, and quarantine harassment, helping creators recover...
Jetpak Media Founder Kai Battaglene on Why Content Substance Matters More Than Delivery in the Creator Economy
Kai Battaglene, founder of Jetpak Media, argues that creator campaigns underperform because brands prioritize convenience over contextual relevance. Drawing on a decade in Australian media and senior roles at Spotify and ARN, he launched Jetpak in October 2025 to craft...
Twitch’s Mary Kish on Why Community (Not the Algorithm) Drives Creator Success on the Service
Mary Kish, Twitch’s Head of Community, argues that the platform’s competitive edge lies in deep, real‑time community interaction rather than algorithmic distribution. In 2025 Twitch welcomed 9 million new streamers, prompting the community team to embed engagement tools—badges, raids, and moderation...
LOST iN’s Subway Food TourSignals a New Model for Creator-Led Travel IP
LOST iN has launched *Subway Food Tour*, a creator‑led travel series that follows food influencer Jeremy Jacobowitz as he explores off‑beat eateries along a single subway line. The show is co‑produced with Andrew Zimmern’s Intuitive Content, giving the venture production...
India’s Ad Watchdog Deploys Influencers to Combat Greenwashing, Dark Patterns
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has rolled out its first influencer‑led consumer awareness campaign targeting greenwashing and dark‑pattern advertising. Eight prominent Indian creators, including Shraddha Jain and Aisha Ahmed, will disseminate educational content on evaluating sustainability claims and...
Creator-Led Agency The Now Agency Launches, Secures BJ’s Restaurants, MLSE Among Early Clients
The Now Agency, a creator‑led social‑native firm founded by Gabe Feldman and Jonathan Chanti, officially launched in June 2025 under the Reign Maker Group. Within its first year it landed marquee clients including BJ’s Restaurants, Les Mills, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment,...
From Dubai to Miami Beach, Creator Economy Conferences Fill April 2026 Calendar
April 2026 will host a packed lineup of creator‑economy conferences across Dubai, New York, London, Lisbon, Los Angeles and more. Events such as the Dubai Creator Summit, Social Media Week, NAB Show and Canva Create bring together nano‑to‑macro influencers, brands, marketers and...
AiMCO Recognizes Top Creators, Brands, And Agencies At Inaugural Sydney Summit And Awards
Australia’s Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) held its first summit and the 2025 AiMCO Awards in Sydney, celebrating creators, brands, agencies and technology partners. The event highlighted the “Creator Era” theme and featured keynotes from major players such as MECCA, Tourism...
The Lawyer at the Negotiating Table: Frank Poe on Professionalizing the Creator Economy
Frank Poe, former general counsel at Creators Entertainment, launched Poe Law PLLC in December 2023 to provide dedicated legal services for the rapidly expanding creator economy. His firm represents agencies, managers, creators, and brands, focusing on influencer contracts, payment structures,...
Later CEO Scott Sutton Breaks Down How Later 360 Unifies Creator Marketing Measurement
Later introduced Later 360, a unified analytics platform that merges organic content, paid amplification, and verified commerce data into a single reporting environment. The tool delivers granular visibility down to the SKU level, allowing marketers to trace every dollar, click,...
Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren Top New York Fashion Week Social Media Rankings as Total Media Value Reaches $275M
New York Fashion Week FW26 generated $275 million in total media value, a 73 % increase year‑over‑year. Calvin Klein led with $81.3 million, followed by Ralph Lauren ($58.4 million) and Michael Kors ($56.7 million). Their success stemmed from distinct tactics: APAC‑focused celebrity partnerships for Calvin Klein,...
Study of $1.3B in Meta Ad Spend Suggests Creative Output, Not Creative Intuition, Drives Results
Motion’s analysis of $1.29 billion in Meta ad spend across 600,000 ads shows that only 4‑8 % of creatives become “winners,” yet they capture roughly 55 % of total budget. Advertisers that produce the most winners do so by scaling creative output, launching...
Podcast Agency Oxford Road Launches Awards to Honor Indie Podcast Creators Outside Major Platforms
Oxford Road, a podcast advertising agency, has launched the Independent Podcast and Creator Awards to spotlight independent shows that operate outside major audio platforms. The inaugural ceremony, hosted by rapper Killer Mike, will take place at SXSW in Austin on...
Carson Roney: Discipline Of An Athlete, Instinct Of A Content Creator
Carson Roney leveraged her athlete’s discipline to build a multi‑platform creator business after college, turning TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat into revenue streams that now outpace her previous wait‑staff job. A surge in posting frequency during the COVID‑19 lockdown sparked rapid...
Olympic Snowboarder Maddie Mastro Generated The Biggest Engagement Surge On Team USA’s Instagram – All On Organic Content
U.S. halfpipe snowboarder Maddie Mastro, reigning World Cup champion, generated the largest organic engagement surge among Team USA accounts during the lead‑up to the Milan‑Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. In the 30 days surrounding the Games her Instagram engagement rose nearly...
DUPAY: The Income Protection Platform Turning Unpaid Creator Invoices Into Recoverable Revenue
DUPAY, launched in May 2023, offers a subscription‑based income‑protection platform for creators, agencies, and small businesses. Leveraging AI‑generated demand letters and a three‑letter escalation protocol, the service reports an 81% success rate in recovering unpaid invoices across 16 countries. Beyond...
AiMCO Wants to End the ‘Wild West’ Era of Influencer Marketing in Australia With Its 2026 Summit
The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) will host its 2026 Summit on Feb 26 in Sydney, aiming to shift the perception of influencer marketing from a “Wild West” to a disciplined, brand‑ready channel. The not‑for‑profit body, which introduced Australia’s first influencer...
Digital Media Company Raptive Crosses $4B In Publisher Payouts
Raptive, the ad‑management platform for independent sites, announced it has paid $4 billion to its publisher partners, confirming its status among the top‑10 global media companies. The network now spans more than 6,500 premium sites, reaching 223 million unique monthly visitors and...
