Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. This week, a legendary creator makes an unexpected return to YouTube, a current star discusses his tricky finances, and the future comes into focus thanks to MrBeast.
Creator commotion
Welcome back to VSauce, Michael Stevens! Once upon a time, Stevens was YouTube’s most popular source for scientific content and other academic videos, but his 24 million VSauce subscribers haven’t gotten a new video in years — until now. Stevens’ first long-form upload since 2022 is a philosophical video that asks big questions about life and death. I hope that doesn’t mean Stevens is feeling fatalistic about his legendary YouTube operation.
RIP to Connie Francis, a TikTok late-bloomer. The leading songstress of the 50s and 60s, who died earlier this week at age 87, got one last run on the pop charts shortly before her passing. Her song “Pretty Little Baby” cracked the Spotify charts after it enjoyed an initial resurgence on TikTok.
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Come on, PGA. Let Grant Horvat cook! Horvat, a golfing star on YouTube who has collaborated with big names like Tiger Woods, was supposed to play in his first official PGA event. That changed after organizers barred him from filming his round. If the PGA is so intent on getting young people to ignore the sport of golf, Horvat will have no choice but to indulge it.
The biz
KSI is operating at a loss on YouTube. So said the Sidemen member during a recent guest appearance on Kick. “I’m not making profit,” he admitted. Luckily for him, he has some other means of lining his pockets, but this anecdote is a reminder that literal content is not as big of a slice of the content creator revenue pie as it used to be.
Sam and Colby add a board game to their long list of products. The haunted house-exploring duo teamed up with the Hunt A Killer brand to release The Haunting of Wicker Ridge, which comes with “realistic props” that help players “banish the demon.” The game is tied into the real-life escape room Sam and Colby recent launched in Los Angeles.
Jesser generates buzz for BEEUP. The creator known for his hoops videos is working alongside one of the biggest stars in a different sport. He took to Instagram to endorse BEEUP, a snack brand launched by former England winger David Beckham. I hope the next phase of this collab involves a Beckham edition of Guess The Secret Pro Athlete.
Pop culture minute
Thanks to generative AI, Matt can be anywhere now. Once upon a time, a man’s attempt to dance his way across the world was one of the biggest things on YouTube. “Where The Hell Is Matt?” saw its 15 minutes expire years ago, but a clever creator revived the trend to imagine Matt dancing through remote landscapes that are difficult to access in the real world.
An AI influencer’s trip to Wimbledon looked awfully real. With her stylish look, complete with a matching top and tennis skirt, Mia Zelu didn’t look out of place at the All England Club. While the rest of the internet debates whether Zelu’s stunt is good or bad news, I’ll be over here wondering if there are any other AI-generated personalities in the tennis world.
The first Netflix original to use generative AI has arrived. During the streamer’s Q2 2025 earnings call, Co-CEO Ted Sarandos discussed the use of AI in an Argentine series called El Eternauta. Sarandos said that genAI can make Netflix slows “better, not just cheaper,” but the Hollywood unions might have different ideas.
Events and happenings
YouTube is bringing the creator economy to MIPCOM. As the Cannes-set TV showcase prepares for its 20th anniversary, its organizers are teaming up with YouTube to establish a programming track that will feature digital creators and platform representatives. YouTube will activate and host a keynote at the event, which will return to the south of France in mid-October.
Summer Games Done Quick raises $2.4 million for Doctors Without Borders. The latest edition of the mid-year offshoot of Awesome Games Done Quick served as the latest reminder of the incredible generosity of the speedrunning community. Leave it to speedrunners to make the world a better place as quickly as humanly possible.
Next up from AMP: Slap fights in Texas. When we last checked in on the creator crew’s summer plans, they were living it up at the Nando’s location inside of Tony Parker’s San Antonio-area mansion. Now, at the same venue, they’re hosting the next chapter in the Slapfight Championship. Boys just wanna have fun (and smack one another in the face).
The internet is a strange place
MrBeast is the biggest creator on YouTube…and he’s a time traveler? One of Jimmy Donaldson’s old videos resurfaced after viewers noticed that some of his predictions for the future of YouTube have since come true. He pinpointed FaZe Clan’s pivot to general entertainment content, forecasted the launch of YouTube TV, and nearly predicted PewDiePie’s exact subscriber count. (He was only off by about seven million subscribers.)
Everyone on Twitch is a horse girl now. The ridiculous game Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is going viral, inspiring streamers big and small to participate in virtual horse races. Uma Musume is a gacha game, so if you want to check it out, be prepared to spend more than you want on upgrades.
Medieval health advice had a lot in common with TikTok hacks. So claim researchers at Binghampton University, who studied records from the Dark Ages to learn about the techniques healers used to devise their cures. I don’t think Ye Olde Ozempique had been invented yet, but if it had, they probably would have loved it.
