Have you heard? Twitch throws out VTuber gifts, Chipotle’s Boorito levels up, and ChatGPT gets brainrot.

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, there’s another TwitchCon-related scandal brewing, there’s a Halloween promotion booing, and there’s a large language model dooming. 

Creator commotion

Gifts left for VTubers at TwitchCon didn’t reach their intended recipients. After the conclusion of TwitchCon, multiple VTubers apologized to their fans after learning that convention staff had thrown out tributes left by IRL fans. The Emiru situation isn’t the drama coming out of TwitchCon this year, as the titular platform continues to struggle with creator relations.

MrBeast’s animated shorts are set to arrive this weekend. MrBeast has been working with Moose Toys to develop an animated series that will promote some of his brand’s physical products. Fans can catch the first two installments of the series on October 26, and the releases will continue throughout the rest of the calendar year.

Justin Bieber’s new Twitch streams are high-concept affairs. The singer has promised to stream every day on his brand new account. Rather than providing fans with formal streams, The Biebs has offered slice-of-life snippets as he shoots hoops and plays video games. Is the man once known as kidrauhl on YouTube innovating once again, or will he bore of his Twitch presence in the near future?

The ad world

Chipotle’s Boorito adds a TikTok challenge. It’s hard to fathom that Chipotle’s Halloween-themed discount is now 25 years old, but the chain is pulling out all the stops for its signature promotion’s big birthday. If you share your burrito Halloween costume on TikTok, you’ll be entered to win a gift card — and you’ll show all your friends how fly you look.

TikTok Shop is trying to enforce new rules for sellers. If you’re planning to use TikTok’s vending hub during the Black Friday rush, you’ll want to read this one. Sellers participating in the platform’s upcoming promotions will need to buy ads using the app’s GMV Max tool. Not all TikTok Shop partners are happy about the power play, but TikTok has enough ecommerce volume to pull off a move like this.

Meta looks to add skippable ads to Instagram Reels. The tech giant wants its short-form ads to be more like YouTube’s — that is, less interruptive and easier to blow past. If you want to see how this feature plays out, you’ll have to “skip ahead” to the end of Meta’s testing period.

The biz

Esfand is now a Red Bull partner. At TwitchCon, the popular streamer announced a pact

with one of the most digital-savvy brands in the esports biz. Esfand is a former college football player and a longtime Red Bull aficionado, so the team-up makes business sense for both parties involved.

With each passing season, the NBA’s creator strategy becomes more sophisticated. Here are some details on the league’s latest partnerships with social media influencers. I’m sure the league’s coaches will have these creators running the high screen-and-roll in no time.

Syracuse’s Creator Economy Center is drawing headlines. The private university made a big move when it opened a new program dedicated to digital and social content. The rest of the country is now catching on to the opportunity ‘Cuse has provided (and some current students are showing off their work).

Movers and shakers

YouTube alum Pete Cory will steer the Sidemen’s expansion. As the Chairman of Arcade Media, Cory will take a prominent role at the management firm that has worked with the Sidemen for years. The septet’s future could be expanding far beyond YouTube and Netflix.

Victoria Bachan is the new SVP at Wasserman. Bachan, a veteran creator economy operative with experience at management firms like Sixteenth, is moving on to entertainment company Wasserman. On LinkedIn, Bachan hailed her arrival at “an agency that already houses the #1 music agency and the #2 sports agency,” where she will “help lead and develop the creators division into a world class and innovative arm of the business.”

Epidemic Sound adds a Head of Strategic Creator Initiatives. That’s the name of the role that will be occupied by Gracie Schram, who revealed the move on LinkedIn. Epidemic Sound already provides usable music for thousands of creators; now, it can step up it partnerships with those digital tastemakers.

The internet is a strange place

Even ChatGPT get brainrot. So claims a study that explored AI learning by feeding unappealing content to large language models. One result was a “cognitive decline” among the LLMs that viewed the brainrot. If even AI can’t get us out of this hole, I guess we need to invent technology that can.

FAST content is literally fast. Free, ad-supported streaming television is becoming more common as an amenity in new vehicles. I don’t think the FAST acronym was ever meant to be literal, but I guess some jokes just write themselves.

There’s a new AI app that lets users pay for fake photos from their fake vacation. Just be careful with how you use this service. If you visit the Red Hands landmark in New South Wales, Australia, the AI model might have some trouble rendering it.