Recent Editions

Kyra co-founders Devran Amaratunga Karaca (left) and Nicholas Dart (right). Photo: Jonathan Dwyer
Creator Economy

Video Content Studio Kyra Raises $15 Million in Funding; Q&A with Creator and Former Product Manager Luo

By Mahira Dayal · Oct 12, 2022 2:57pm PDT
Kyra, a 5-year-old startup that helps creators produce content and connect with advertisers, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Bonnier Ventures, the startup exclusively told The Information. LionTree, Firstminute Capital, Guardian Group Media Ventures and Torch Capital participated. The new funding more than doubles Kyra’s previous... Kyra, a 5-year-old startup that helps creators produce content and connect with advertisers,...
Art: Shane Burke
Creator Economy

Link-In-Bio Startup Beacons in Talks to Buy Portals App; TikTok Reveals Shopping Ambitions

By Mahira Dayal · Oct 11, 2022 3:12pm PDT
We’ve written a lot here about how link-in-bio startups, the companies hosting websites that gather creators’ various social handles and e-commerce shops, will need to expand their services to buffer themselves from the threat social of networks like Instagram offering rival products. The latest: Beacons, a link-in-bio startup backed... We’ve written a lot here about how link-in-bio startups, the companies hosting websites that...
Actor Malina Weissman at the Wonderland Dreams exhibit. Photo by Ruby June.
Creator Economy

Instagram-Worthy Pop-Ups Are Back; Injury at TwitchCon

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 10, 2022 2:46pm PDT
Calling all Millennials. The Instagram-worthy art exhibit has returned. Pre-pandemic, and before the short-video wars, you may remember sites such as the interactive Museum of Ice Cream exhibit, with its giant pit of oversized plastic sprinkles—the perfect backdrop for snapping glossy photos for social media. Restaurants also upped their... Calling all Millennials. The Instagram-worthy art exhibit has returned. Pre-pandemic, and...
Photo: Bloomberg
TikTok Moves Into Hallowed Instagram Ground; Q&A with a ‘Bathroom Influencer’
By Mahira Dayal · Oct 6, 2022 3:38pm PDT
Photo: Bloomberg
Creator Economy

TikTok Moves Into Hallowed Instagram Ground; Q&A with a ‘Bathroom Influencer’

By Mahira Dayal · Oct 6, 2022 3:38pm PDT
Once again, social media apps are introducing features that make them all look the same. The latest move comes from TikTok, which on Thursday introduced a photo mode that will allow users to share a cluster of photos in the short-form video app. The feature is a swipe at Instagram, the Meta Platforms app best known for its glossy photos.... Once again, social media apps are introducing features that make them all look the same. The...
Social media consultant Matt Navarra. Photo Credit: Dan Taylor Photography
Creator Economy

YouTube Cash May Trump ‘White Hot’ TikTok’s Hold Over Creators

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 5, 2022 2:49pm PDT
Matt Navarra has built a Twitter following of nearly 140,000 people who come for his frequent updates on what’s happening in the world of social media, ranging from new features to news articles he finds interesting. This presence has made him a kind of meta-influencer, who both uses and reviews the features that help online performers or... Matt Navarra has built a Twitter following of nearly 140,000 people who come for his...
Photo by Bloomberg
Creator Economy

What Bulletin’s Closure Says About Facebook’s Creator Plans; The Fight Over Section 230 Returns

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 4, 2022 2:58pm PDT
Last summer, Facebook made a splash when it announced a new newsletter publishing platform called Bulletin that would go head to head with Substack. It signed big names ranging from author Malcolm Gladwell to “Queer Eye” star Tan France, offering them unspecified multi-year licensing deals. On Tuesday, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms... Last summer, Facebook made a splash when it announced a new newsletter publishing platform called...
Kim Kardashian. Soure: Getty Images. Art: Shane Burke
Creator Economy

Crypto Startups Multiply in Creator Economy Database; Instagram Tests Links-in-Bio

By Mahira Dayal · Oct 3, 2022 3:51pm PDT
Our latest update to the Creator Economy Database shows that investor interest in crypto startups hasn’t died down even as token prices cratered. Eight Web3 startups focused on offerings such as non-fungible tokens and decentralized communities raised a total of $86.9 million in the third quarter. That’s slightly higher than the $80 million... Our latest update to the Creator Economy Database shows that investor interest in crypto startups...
How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day
How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day
By Mahira Dayal · Sep 29, 2022 3:32pm PDT
How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day
Creator Economy

How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 29, 2022 3:32pm PDT
Amazon’s announcement that it will hold another shopping sales event known as Prime Day, in mid-October, could give a window into how creators will fare during the upcoming holiday shopping season.Amazon’s five-year-old influencer program rewards creators on Amazon and social media apps when they review Amazon-sold clothes, accessories and... Amazon’s announcement that it will hold another shopping sales event known as Prime Day, in...
Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman is launching a course for creators. Photo: Morning Brew
Creator Economy

Inside Morning Brew’s Plans to ‘Ride the Creator Wave’

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 28, 2022 2:30pm PDT
Morning Brew, the newsletter publisher focused on young business professionals, is launching a course called “Strategy for Creators” next month aimed at aspiring creators, founders and industry experts who want to build a personal brand online. Co-founder Alex Lieberman, who has 226,000 Twitter followers, will teach the one-week course in... Morning Brew, the newsletter publisher focused on young business professionals, is launching a...
Lachi, an artist and social media influencer who is legally blind. Photo courtesy of subject.
Creator Economy

How Social Media Can Be More Accessible for Blind Creators

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 27, 2022 2:01pm PDT
Last week, Twitter rolled out reminders to encourage users to add alternative text, or a written description, to images or GIFs they post. This is important for social media users who are blind or visually impaired and may rely on screen readers or text-to-voice software to navigate social media. Other platforms such as Instagram also offer what... Last week, Twitter rolled out reminders to encourage users to add alternative text, or a written...
Dom Esposito. Photo courtesy of the subject.
Creator Economy

YouTube’s Tech Reviewers Grow Up

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 26, 2022 3:01pm PDT
YouTube creator Dom Esposito has been around long enough to see the best and worst of YouTube tech reviews. He started posting to the Google-owned video unit in 2011, reviewing gadgets and making how-to videos. He now has 443,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he posts reviews of products ranging from phones, laptops and virtual reality headsets... YouTube creator Dom Esposito has been around long enough to see the best and worst of YouTube...
Abe Santos leads Underscore Talent’s new outdoor lifestyle division. Photo: Underscore Talent
Outdoors Creators Are Underserved and Ripe for Sponsorships
By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 22, 2022 2:37pm PDT · 2 comments
Abe Santos leads Underscore Talent’s new outdoor lifestyle division. Photo: Underscore Talent
Creator Economy

Outdoors Creators Are Underserved and Ripe for Sponsorships

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 22, 2022 2:37pm PDT · 2 comments
Abe Santos isn’t your typical talent guru. He spent more than a decade as a detective and investigator working with the Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI. In 2018, he joined Google’s investigations and threat division, where his job included investigations into data leaks and monitoring external threats to... Abe Santos isn’t your typical talent guru. He spent more than a decade as a detective and...
Photo: Bloomberg
Creator Economy

Twitch’s Gambling Problem; Kyncl’s Next Move

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 21, 2022 2:42pm PDT
While Twitch is best known as a home for gamers, livestreams of creators gambling and playing online slots games or poker have also proved popular. Last month, the slots category on Twitch soared to an estimated 50 million hours watched, a 66% jump year-over-year. “It has gone from a novelty to a mainstay," said Gil Hirsch, CEO of ... While Twitch is best known as a home for gamers, livestreams of creators gambling and playing...
Neal Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer. Photo: Bloomberg
Creator Economy

YouTube Ups Ante in Short-Form Video Wars

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 20, 2022 3:01pm PDT
The creator wars spurred by TikTok’s explosive growth are heating up again. In the latest twist, YouTube confirmed it will share ad revenue with creators who generate videos for YouTube Shorts. The pitch may attract creators who haven’t seen as many opportunities to cash in on TikTok.At its “Made on YouTube” virtual event on Tuesday, the... The creator wars spurred by TikTok’s explosive growth are heating up again. In the latest twist,...
Chart: Shane Burke
Creator Economy

YouTube Increases Pressure on Instagram, TikTok to Share Ad Revenue

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 19, 2022 4:14pm PDT
Social media companies are gradually introducing more ways to share their ad revenue with creators to keep them on their apps. YouTube is preparing to give creators 45% of the ad revenue generated on YouTube Shorts, the video platform’s short-form video feature, The New York Times reported late last week. That’s a smaller cut than the 55% of... Social media companies are gradually introducing more ways to share their ad revenue with...
Kaya Yurieff, Melinda Chung, Stephanie Smith, Katelin Holloway. Photo: Erin Beach
How to Thrive as Social Media Gets Less Social; Mosseri Sounds Alarm on Instagram’s Reach With Creators
By Mahira Dayal · Sep 15, 2022 2:58pm PDT
Kaya Yurieff, Melinda Chung, Stephanie Smith, Katelin Holloway. Photo: Erin Beach
Creator Economy

How to Thrive as Social Media Gets Less Social; Mosseri Sounds Alarm on Instagram’s Reach With Creators

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 15, 2022 2:58pm PDT
Social media isn’t as social as it used to be. Rather than using a Facebook feed to update friends every day or creating groups to host events, it’s becoming more common to use direct messaging for most personal interactions and instead place curated content on public profiles, such as an Instagram feed.That was one of the takeaways from The... Social media isn’t as social as it used to be. Rather than using a Facebook feed to update...
Agnes Chu, President of Condé Nast Entertainment. Photo by Erin Beach.
Creator Economy

Condé Nast Titles, the ‘OG Influencers,’ Are Evolving to Reach a TikTok Generation

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 14, 2022 3:31pm PDT
Condé Nast, the venerable media company behind Vogue, Wired and Vanity Fair, thinks a lot about reaching its Gen Z audience. That means connecting with them on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where a future generation increasingly turns to influencers rather than traditional media brands. “These influencers are providing an authority and... Condé Nast, the venerable media company behind Vogue, Wired and Vanity Fair, thinks a lot about...
Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at creative agency Mekanism. Photo: Courtesy of subject
Creator Economy

Why Advertisers Should Treat Influencer Marketing Like Athlete Endorsements

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 13, 2022 1:57pm PDT
In 2006, ad agency BuderEngel was about to turn down a client that wanted it to promote an MP3 player called Zvue because the client’s budget was too small for traditional advertising. Brendan Gahan, who was a recent college grad working for the agency, suggested they instead pay a popular YouTube channel called Smosh to promote the... In 2006, ad agency BuderEngel was about to turn down a client that wanted it to promote an MP3...
Roblox CEO David Baszuki. Photo: Bloomberg. Art: Shane Burke
Creator Economy

Roblox’s New Ads Could Keep Creators Coding

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 12, 2022 3:09pm PDT
Roblox over the last few years has quietly become a significant source of creator earnings. More than 12 million of these game developers, many of them individuals, collectively generated $538.3 million in revenue last year. Still, like other online services that benefited from a huge boost of interest during the pandemic shutdowns, Roblox—and... Roblox over the last few years has quietly become a significant source of creator earnings. More...
Ben Mathews, Night Ventures. Photo: Ben Mathews. Art: Mike Sullivan
A “Cognitive Dissonance” in Founder Pitches; Snap’s Growth Plans
By Mahira Dayal · Sep 8, 2022 2:50pm PDT
Ben Mathews, Night Ventures. Photo: Ben Mathews. Art: Mike Sullivan
Creator Economy

A “Cognitive Dissonance” in Founder Pitches; Snap’s Growth Plans

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 8, 2022 2:50pm PDT
Many startup founders are pitching ways for creators to use non-fungible tokens, says Ben Mathews, general partner at Night Ventures. But the creators he talks to don’t see much utility in these buzzy digital assets, he said. One-year old Night Ventures is the investing arm of Night Media, the management company of Jimmy Donaldson, or ... Many startup founders are pitching ways for creators to use non-fungible tokens, says Ben Mathews...