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, the ironmen of YouTube unveiled their new digs, a streamer made a splash in the world of reality TV, and a legendary character revealed her New Year’s Eve getup.
Creator commotion
After 20 years on YouTube, Smosh has a new office. The channel originated by Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla will operate out of a 32,000-square-foot studio located in Los Angeles. The Smosh team has reportedly doubled in size since 2023, and that growth has led the brand to expand its real estate footprint.
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Druski is on the cover of Billboard. In a cover story, the pop music periodical tracked Druski’s rise from Instagram Live streamer to popular, ubiquitous comedian. For one of 2025’s biggest success stories, there’s no more wondering what coulda been. Druski has officially hit the big time.
iShowSpeed tops Kai Cenat to take the highest honor at the 2025 Streamer Awards. At QTCinderella‘s annual celebration of streamer culture, Speed snagged the top prize. In the Streamer’s Choice category, JasonTheWeen rode a big year to a deserved victory.
Pop culture minute
Angry Ginge was a celebrity, and he got out of there. The streamer known for his FIFA content endured physical trials and multiple rounds of fan voting to become the first content creator to win the U.K. version of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here. You see? Winning reality competition series is not just a thing U.S.-based creators do.
Beast Games season two will include a Survivor crossover. MrBeast filmed an episode of his Amazon Prime Video series in Fiji, and that gave him a chance to catch up with Jeff Probst and the rest of the Survivor gang. The collab doesn’t just extend to Beast Games — MrBeast associate Karl Jacobs is participating in an influencer version of the long-running reality show.
Matty Matheson cooked up a move to Netflix. The chef, creator, former Vice contributor, and The Bear cast member moved one of his shows to Netflix after originating it on YouTube. Netflix has made no secret of its plan to poach creator content, and the Matheson coup is just the latest example.
The biz
YouTube is adding stablecoin payouts through PayPal. Users in the U.S. who are fed up with fiat currencies can choose to have their YouTube earnings paid out via PayPal’s stablecoin. The move is a soft embrace of blockchain technology that affirms YouTube’s continued curiosity related to cryptocurrencies.
Steven Bartlett’s FlightStory is getting hotter, smarter, and richer. The Diary of a CEO host is going into business with Maggie Sellers Reum and her Hot Smart Rich brand. Through a seven-figure investment, FlightStory will bring increased scale to Hot Smart Rich, which currently encompasses a podcast and an accompanying newsletter.
Michelle Khare is in a Hot Wheels commercial this holiday season. Creators are becoming more popular as brand spokespeople, to which Michelle Khare said “challenge accepted.” She worked with Hot Wheels on both the creative and talent sides of her ad, which sees her shrunk down to become a bite-sized toy car driver.
Movers and shakers
TalkShopLive taps Sandie Hawkins as its new CEO. In her previous role, Hawkins oversaw TikTok Shop’s expansion into the U.S. market. Now she’ll lead a company that has used partnerships with platforms like YouTube to put itself at the epicenter of the ongoing live shopping boom.
Patreon hires Betsy McCormick as VP of Creator Success. The Qualtrics vet will look to ensure copacetic relations between Patreon and its creator community as she dives into the creator economy. In a statement, McCormick said that her career “has been deeply rooted in financial empowerment,” a quality that will serve her well in her new gig.
Music exec Charlotte Stahl moves on after five years at TikTok. Stahl was in charge of TikTok’s music partnerships in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The app hasn’t announced an immediate replacement, but its relationship with the recording industry has evolved considerably since Stahl first landed there in 2020.
The internet is a strange place
Hatsune Miku will be projected onto the side of a building for a New Year’s Eve party. The influential vocaloid character is going bigger than she’s ever gone before. Thanks to a gargantuan projection on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Miku will be able to look down on revelers as they ring in 2026.
Duolingo has put up “coming soon” signs at four former Hooters locations. The risqué chain has fallen on hard times, leaving a lot of abandoned nests for a fellow owl to buy up. The language learning app has explained what exactly it’s doing at these bygone Hooters, but I guess we’ll find out “soon” enough.
Generative AI is making artificial travel influencers now. I hear that ChatGPT and Claude just went on vacation to this amazing server farm in Mexico. You just have to go there.
