Long-running annual TV trade show MIPCOM returns to the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, Oct. 13-16–and this year it has plans to “[place] the creator economy at the very heart of the world’s largest market for television and streaming content.”

We already unveiled MIPCOM 2025’s biggest creator economy additions and expansions, including a major presence from YouTube. But there’s a lot more to look forward to at this event, so ahead of its kickoff this Monday, we wanted to highlight the speakers and programming that will help make this year’s MIPCOM the best yet.

Attendees can anticipate seeing a swath of platforms, brands, and legacy studios, including YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Disney, BBC, Fox Entertainment Global, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery, Indeed, and Mattel.

Keynotes will come from executives including…

• Robbie Brenner, President and Co-Chief Content Officer of Mattel Studios
• Josh Silverman, Chief Franchise Officer and Co-Chief Content Officer
• Kim Miller Olko, CMO of Toys “R” Us and President of Toys “R” Us Studios
• Elisabeth d’Arvieu, CEO of Mediawan Pictures
• and Marco Bassetti, CEO of Banijay Entertainment and Banjiay Live

Meanwhile, scheduled premieres and celebrity appearances include…

• Mediawan and Toys “R” Us-produced anime series Ki&Hi in the Panda Kingdom will premiere at MIPJUNIOR, a dedicated kids’ conference and networking event within MIPCOM that wants to “help companies maximize business across attention, creator and experience economies.” The series is based on the manga by YouTuber Kevin Tran, who’ll be there to watch its debut with attendees.
• Boston Blue (Paramount) and The Miniature Wife (Sony Pictures Television) will premiere with visits from cast members Donnie Wahlberg, Sonequa Martin-Green, Matthew Macfadyen, O-T Fagbenle, and Sian Clifford.

Also noteworthy here is other MIPJUNIOR programming, like keynotes and panels from…

• Alexis Rice, YouTube’s Global Youth Partnerships Lead, and Andy Yeatman, CEO of Miraculous Corp
• YouTuber family The McCartys
• pocket.watch Founder/CEO Chris Williams
• Paul Telner, Head of Programming at Viral Nation
• and Wind Sun Sky Entertainment Founder/CEO Catherine Winder

(We’ve written about The McCartys and how Telner, Winder, and Viral Nation are making an animated series based on their content. Check that story out here.)

As for other content creator involvement, MIPCOM especially highlighted special Grand Auditorium sessions that focus on “where next-gen storytelling meets global entertainment,” and examine audience habits across social platforms. Those sessions will feature participation by…

• After Party Studios’ co-founders: creator-focused film director RVBBERDUCK and YouTuber Callux
• Dhar Mann
• Dhar Mann Studios CEO Sean Atkins
• Tubi VP of Creator Partnerships Kudzi Chimkubu
• What’s Trending CEO Shira Lazar (host)
• and Lea Karam, Founder/CEO of Mindscope (host)

Over at the MIP Creative Hub on Cannes Beachfront, attendees can catch sessions from industry experts like…

• Joshua Barnett, Managing Director of After Party Studios
• Nicole Morganti, Head of Local Originals at Amazon Studios
• Lucas Green, Chief Content Officer at Banijay
• Kate Phillips, Chief Content Officer at BBC
• Lisa Perrin, Managing Director of International at ITV Studios
• Becky Gardner, Head of Originals at LadBible Group
• Tobias Hoss, SVP of Operations at Lunar X
• Amie Parker-Williams, Director of Digital Commissioning and Production at MTV
• Jonathan Shrank, VP of Streaming & Content Partnerships at TheSoul Publishing
• Soraya Castellanos, Head of Programs and Partnerships EMEA at TikTok
• Paul Telner, Head of Programming at Viral Nation
• and last but not least Justine Ryst, Managing Director of France and Regional Director of Southern Europe at YouTube

Not enough for you? There’s also the Innovation Lab with summits on AI, FAST, AVOD, and connected TV, plus networking and demo spaces and a brand-new workshop series from YouTube.

Those workshops will cover strategies for audience engagement and effective monetization, and will be hosted by executives from content optimization/monetization company Merzigo and production/distribution/monetization outfit Little Dot Studios.

Finally, across the event are various festivals and the MIP Creative Hub, all of which have “the aim of nurturing new brand-led stories through showcases and case studies,” organizers say. Speakers there hail from Banijay, BBC, Digitas, Forbes, Indeed, UTA, Toys “R” Us, and more.

The ultimate goal with this year’s MIPCOM programming? “Bridging the worlds of TV, tech, and creator-led entertainment,” Lucy Smith, Director of MIPCOM Cannes, said in a statement. “[T]his year’s edition of MIPCOM CANNES promises to be more vibrant, diverse, future-facing and productive than ever before.”

Tickets for the event are currently available, starting at €1,740 for a Visitor Pass, €2,540 for a Premium Pass (Visitor perks + access to a lounge and dedicated business spaces), and €3,540 for a Prestige Pass (all previous perks + concierge, transport services, hotel booking service, and fast-track access into the event).

Check out tickets here. See you next week!

MIPCOM Cannes is a Tubefilter partner.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, MIPCOM by Tubefilter Staff
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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 internet is arguing about a streamer’s treatment of his dog, a TikTok standout is ready for her close-up, and a disgraced Try Guy is stepping into the ring.

Creator commotion

Hasan Piker denies shock collar allegations — but some critics aren’t convinced. The political creator has been embroiled in controversy after some viewers claimed that he used a shock collar to keep his dog Kaya in the frame of his stream. Piker has denied those assertions, friends like Valkyrae have backed him up, and PETA has chimed in as well.

Moist Cr1TiKaL turns off donations. Charlie White has become one of the most popular voices in the streaming community, and he doesn’t feel like he needs direct support from his fans. He’d rather they support charities or other beneficial causes, so he has decided to disable all donations on his account.

Pop culture minute

Sorry, haters: Dylan Mulvaney is “the least problematic woman in the world.” So claims the title of Mulvaney’s one-woman show, which has opened at Manhattan’s Lortel Theatre. The show’s eclectic list of contributors ranges from TikTok-famous songwriter Abigail Barlow to brilliant Scottish thespian Alan Cumming, so Mulvaney is covering all her bases with her big theatrical break.

Adam Rose parlays short-form success into directorial debut. The actor broke out on TikTok thanks to his vexed reactions to unusual posts. More than one billion views later, Rose is directing a satirical comedy called 15 Minutes, in which he will also star as an influencer. Write what you know, as they say.

One of YouTube’s top kidfluencers is the queen of Halloween novelty tracks. The young star of the Kids Diana Show channel now spearheads a franchise titled Love, Diana. The latest piece of IP under that umbrella is “The Halloween Scene,” a spooky party song that has dropped just in time for October 31 festivities. Will Diana follow up in a few months with a Yuletide tune?

Molly Burke’s memoir chronicles “the challenges of being a blind woman in a sighted world.” In Unseen, published by Abrams Books, the vlogger tells the story of her life. As she told YouTube, her channel provided “the perfect opportunity to create the representation she wasn’t seeing in movies and TV shows.”

Politics as usual

Gavin Newsom x ConnorEatsPants was the collab I didn’t know I needed. “Democrats haven’t been talking to young men, and we’ve lost them.” That was one of California Governor Gavin Newsom‘s quotable lines during his hang with Fortnite creator ConnorEatsPants. Is this appearance a preview for Newsom’s entry into the battle royale known as the presidential race?

Will Barron Trump lead the new version of TikTok? The president’s 19-year-old son is still in college, but that hasn’t stopped his dad from suggesting that Barron could lead the upcoming, U.S.-only version of TikTok. On one hand, a member of Gen Z steering TikTok makes some sense. On the other hand, what is this reality we’re living in?

New York City sues social media platforms due to teenage harms. Ayy, we’re litigating heah! Taking on TikTok, Snapchat, Google, and Meta is a tall task, but prosecutors in the Big Apple are ready to fight for the mental health of the city’s youth.

The biz

The “Lemonade Stand” is the hottest podcast of the moment. Twitch streamers Atrioc, DougDoug, and Aiden McCaig may only have enough business acumen to run a lemonade stand, but that didn’t stop them from launching a podcast that features wide-ranging cultural and social discussions. Lemonade Stand is now bagging $58,000 per month from Patreon. Not bad — and imagine how much more money they’ll make on a hot summer day.

Oasiz raises $2.5 million seed round to blend TikTok with Roblox. Andreessen Horowitz is one of the backers supporting Oasiz, which is looking to capitalize on surging interest in “playable content.” If Roblox can launch its own TikTok-style feed, and platforms like YouTube can add playable games, then there is certainly a lane for a startup like this one to step into.

Poker is the hot new creator revenue stream. Tastemakers like King Bach and Wengie will ante up for the Creator Poker Championship, an upcoming tournament affiliated with the World Poker Tour. If these creators run out of chips, they can start betting their follower counts against one another.

The internet is a strange place

Ned Fulmer wants to be the internet’s favorite wrestling heel. With his debut on the AEW circuit, the disgraced former Try Guy is following in Logan Paul’s footsteps. His old chums may not like it, but Fulmer has turned the concept of trying adventurous new experiences into a form of performance art.

Nearly 30,000 viewers (including Twitch’s CEO) watched someone give birth on stream. The gaming creator Fandy and her baby are doing well after going live with a memorable and unprecedented stunt. As long as we stop this trend before we get to “Twitch Plays Obstetrics,” everything will be good and well for mother and child.

Raising Cane’s put on a fashion show inspired by fast food chicken. I would say this is the most extravagant public stunt in Raising Cane’s history, but I’ve seen season one of The Rehearsal.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Everyone’s talking about MrBeast‘s AI tweet–the one where he laments OpenAI‘s introduction of the Sora app and wonders what will happen to him and fellow content creators “[w]hen AI videos are just as good as normal videos.”

He says we’re entering “scary times,” having apparently not predicted this is where things would end up. His history with AI is a mixed bag: He was involved in the beta for Spotter’s generation-heavy Studio tool, which scrapes participating creators’ entire channels, feeds them into a LLM, and then spits out new video ideas and thumbnails. He also teamed up with YouTube on the release of the platform’s autogenerated dub tracks, which involve machine learning and replace creators needing to hire human captioners to make their videos available in multiple languages.

Then, this past summer, MrBeast introduced his own thumbnail generation tool through his platform Viewstats. The tool garnered immediate and intense backlash, including criticism from other YouTubers like Jacksepticeye. MrBeast pulled it, saying he mistakenly “thought people were going to be pretty excited about it.”

Meanwhile, his nonprofit Beast Philanthropy has invested in at least one AI project: light.ai, which claims it uses the tech to create “novel solutions for healthcare professionals and consumers that are safe, rapid and easy to use.” Beast Philanthropy’s partnership specifically helped bring “AI-powered life-saving [Strep A] tests to Africa,” according to light.ai.

A large portion of responses to MrBeast’s tweet have called him hypocritical, pointing to the AI thumbnail tool and accusing him of trying to hop on the AI bandwagon for personal gain. Some are pulling for the other side, saying Sora is just the next step into the inevitable future where humanity at large enjoys net benefits like somehow only having a three-day workweek while still convincing companies to pay us enough to live.

Like we said, lots of people are talking about MrBeast’s tweet. And it is important that the de facto biggest content creator on Earth is (finally) talking about the slop being pumped out by big tech companies chasing the latest shiny dollar sign.

But the real story here is that MrBeast isn’t the only creator expressing outright anxiety about generative AI usage in the wake of Sora’s chart-topping app debut.

Hank Green, Kurzgesagt–In a Nutshell, and more have posted videos this week sharing their worries about how YouTube and the internet at large will be affected by the rise of generated video that’s indistinguishable from reality.

“I’ve now scrolled SlopTok, and anybody who scrolls SlopTok for fun needs to reexamine how they interact with media,” Green said in a video called Give me a single reason why Sora2 should exist. “This isn’t an interesting place to spend time. There’s so much good content on the internet. […] This is pure fad, pure novelty. This is what they’re spending their money on? Their time on?”

He goes on to say he’s seen credible peers fall for Sora-made fake videos, like one where a cop’s bodycam supposedly shows him interrogating an elderly woman about her pet bear. This indistinguishability is exacerbated by OpenAI, he says, which puts tiny watermarks at the top or bottom of videos, where they can be easily cropped out. Without that watermark, there’s little to no way to tell a video is generated.

“The friction matters, Sam!” he bellows (meaning OpenAI CEO Sam Altman). “The extent to which these very powerful people feel no sense of responsibility to anything makes me feel like maybe they shouldn’t have this much power. They shouldn’t be in charge of the kind of thing that literally, by their own admission, destroys humanity. If you’re the kind of motherfucker who will create SlopTok, you are not the kind of motherfucker who should be in charge of OpenAI!”

Meanwhile, top educational channel Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell posted a video called AI Slop Is Destroying The Internet.

“It’s never been easier to make mediocre content, from the black hole of meaninglessness that is LinkedIn, low-effort short videos just engaging enough to hypnotize kids and fry their attention spans, to endless soullessly rewritten books on Amazon,” the video narrator says. “AI music is invading streaming services. Google AI is summarizing websites instead of sending traffic to them. On YouTube, new channels publish long-form content multiple times a week with AI-generated thumbnails, voices, and scripts.”

His ultimate conclusion: “We’re in the golden era of soulless slop.”

And with Sora becoming available to thousands or millions of people who can text prompt any video they want into existence, it’s about to get even worse.

YouTube has tried cracking down on what it calls “mass-produced” and “repetitive” content, but it and parent company Google are also going all-in on pumping AI for their own financial benefit, so it’s not clear where the line on that crackdown is drawn. Either way, regardless of efforts, YouTube is still teeming with AI channels, especially on Shorts–and the watch time those channels rack up (all in the name of making a quick buck) is taking viewership from human creators.

Everything sounds dire, we know. But Sora’s existence doesn’t mean the end of digital video has dawned. Our ever-expanding corner of the world is not going to collapse. Honest, passionate creators have weathered waves of grifters since the birth of this industry, and should know that audiences who truly care about quality will find and follow them.

It’s tough right now–but creators are smart and innovative and, most importantly, human. They’ll come out on top.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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After rising to the top of the audio charts and building her own media company, Alex Cooper is now looking to gobble up some ad dollars. The host of the Call Her Daddy podcast has announced The Unwell Creative Agency, a unit that will bring advertising partnerships into the fold of Cooper’s Unwell Network.

Call Her Daddy‘s ascension established Cooper as a leading voice in the Gen Z media landscape, and the podcaster has that cohort in mind as she kicks off her new venture. She told the Wall Street Journal that she sees Gen Z as a group that is tired of cringey, pandering ads. To bring about a change of pace, The Unwell Creative Agency will connect brands to Zoomers across multiple avenues, including sponsored content, live events, and podcasting partnerships.

“Gen Z has grown up scrolling their feeds, but the reality is, they’re just being bombarded by sometimes tone-deaf brands,” Cooper told the Journal. “We have picture-perfect influencers selling endless products, and the honest truth is, I think most of that generation has tuned them out.”

Unwell arrived in 2023 to provide “a platform for this generation’s unique voices that embrace social challenges and personal insecurities through honest conversation,” as Cooper put it. Early partners included Alix Earle and Madeleine Argy, though the Unwell roster has shifted since launch. Notably, Earle split from the network earlier this year.

The ongoing diversification of the Unwell business has included the launch of a hydration drink and a subsequent partnership between that beverage line and the NWSL. Unwell’s business dealings have set Cooper up for her push into a podcast advertising business that topped $2.4 million in sales in the U.S. alone in 2024.

Cooper started to push the Unwell Creative Agency at the Cannes Lions festival in June. It was as that point, according to the Wall Street Journal report, that the newest Unwell division started negotiating with its first partner: Google. Thanks to a multi-year agreement, Google will put the Unwell Creative Agency to work across several facets of its business while also teaming with Cooper’s media company in a more general capacity.

Up first from that collab: An ad for the Google Pixel 10 device featuring Cooper herself. While the Unwell founder doesn’t plan to appear in all of the media that emerges out of her creative agency, she is the star here.

 

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A post shared by Alex Cooper (@alexandracooper)

With podcaster partnerships on the rise, overall market saturation growing, and providers like YouTube adding new tools, the podcast ad industry continues to mature. Cooper was already a familiar face in that world, and her creative agency will keep her at the forefront of the digital media landscape for years to come.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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October 10 is World Mental Health Day, and a group of prominent creators is making sure that their experiences are both seen and heard. A billboard in Times Square is promoting the mission of the Creators 4 Mental Health initiative, drawing attention to pervasive issues like burnout.

The creators featured on the scrolling billboard include Jordan Howlett (pictured above), Haley Kalil, Dhar Mann, Collins Key, Nia Sioux, Zachery Dereniowski, Dale Moss, and Creators 4 Mental Health Founder Shira Lazar. The campaign, which launched the day before World Mental Health Day, aims to tackle broad stigmas while sharing resources and sparking an open conversation about the mental and emotional support creators need.

The decision to use a public display to broadcast that message follows recent trends in the creator industry. Billboards have become status symbols for high achievers on the internet, with Times Square serving as a common location for those installations. Creators 4 Mental Health joined forces with Influential — the influencer marketing firm acquired by Publicis Groupe last year — and out-of-home ad company OUTFRONT Media to bring its billboard to life.

Creators have long identified burnout as a boogeyman that contributes to deleterious mental health effects. Seven years after Elle Mills made waves by telling her viewers she was “burnt out at 19,” progress has been made, but new challenges have arisen as well. Thanks to factors like fast-paced feeds and the rise of generative AI, 78% of influencers have reported suffering from burnout.

Creators 4 Mental Health was established to provide solutions for digital denizens who are feeling the flames of burnout. “Creators are the gig workers of the digital age, and their mental health must be taken seriously,” Lazar said in a statement. “Openness is the first step to removing stigma. When creators share their experiences, it not only strengthens this community but also gives their audiences permission to talk about mental health in their own lives.”

 

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A post shared by Shira Lazar (@shiralazar)

Creators 4 Mental Health plans to follow up its Times Square billboard with multiple activations, including events in D.C. and Atlanta. The organization is also planning to release a sweeping study on creator mental health in partnership with Opus, BeReal, Statusphere, and Social Currant.

Those efforts will continue to shine light on the roadblocks that hold creators back. In the meantime, those interested in keeping up with World Mental Health Day activities can visit the official website of the World Health Organization.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube has a controversial new policy regarding banned channels, and it has issued a new blog post to explain how that system will work. The leading video platform has officially launched a “second chance” program that will grant reprieves to some creators whose channels were previously terminated.

Over “the next several weeks,” eligible creators will start seeing the option to apply for a new channel. Requests for second chances can be filed via the YouTube Studio hub that corresponds to the original banned hub. Channels will need to be inactive for at least one year before their owners can apply for a second chance. Creators who have been hit with the ban hammer within the past 12 months will still be able to appeal that decision.

The initial reveal of the ban reversal system, which occurred two weeks before the official announcement of the second chance program, raised some questions about YouTube’s relationship with its own guidelines. To skeptics, this move is another example of Big Tech’s willingness to accede to the Trump administration’s demands and validate the White House’s claims regarding social media censorship.

To address those criticisms, YouTube’s latest blog post notes that “our policies are designed to evolve over time.” As creators apply for reinstatement, multiple data points will be weighed to determine whether those rulebreakers are granted new channels. “We’ll consider several factors when evaluating requests for new channels, like whether the creator committed particularly severe or persistent violations of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service,” reads the blog post, “or whether the creator’s on- or off-platform activity harmed or may continue to harm the YouTube community, like channels that endanger kids’ safety.”

Notably, channels banned for copyright infringment or violations of YouTube’s Creator Responsibility policy will not be eligible for second chances. That might not sit well with the creators who battle bad actors in the world of copyright, but other banned individuals will be thankful for “more options to return to YouTube.”

As second chance cases are considered, the conversation regarding YouTube’s political stance will surely get louder. The platform’s effort to tackle issues like election misinformation has been a roller coaster. After initially pledging to crack down on conspiracy theories, YouTube’s enforcement of its rules sputtered. The ban on “the big lie” went bye-bye in 2023, and creators have since monetized videos that dispute electoral outcomes.

Will the second chance program continue to fuel MAGA misinformation, or will reinstatements focus on channels that have fallen victim to confusing and outdated rules? The answer to that question will become clear when we learn which — and how many — channels get access to fresh starts.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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As short-form videos become ubiquitous on Facebook, the company now known as Meta is supporting its flagship app through an algorithmic update. Thanks to improvements to the Facebook Reels recommendation engine, users will have an easier time finding vertical videos that suit their interests and preferences.

According to a Facebook blog post, the new-and-improved algorithm “learns your interests quicker and shows you newer and more relevant reels.” New options within the Facebook interface will support that update. A “Not Interested” button will let the algorithms know when it missed the mark with one of its recs; in theory, those data points will increase the speed with which Facebook learns each user’s scrolling habits.

Other tweaks will also fine-tune the Facebook recommendation engine. “We’ve made updates to the Save feature to make it simpler to collect your favorite reels and posts in one place,” reads the blog post. “You’ll help Facebook fine-tune your recommendations with each save, resulting in a more tailored experience that we’ve seen lead to increased watch time globally.”

Some new features, such as AI-powered search suggestions and bubbles that inform you when a friend has watched a Reel, will make Facebook look more like Meta’s other properties, especially Instagram. On the whole, however, the recommendation refurbishment is another change that brings a Meta-owned platform closer to the experience that is available on TikTok. As U.S. users of that app prepare for a new algorithm, Facebook is trying to replicate the recs that catalyzed TikTok’s rise.

That strategy seems to become more common at Meta HQ during times when TikTok’s operational status encounters hiccups. At the onset of the second Trump administration, when it seemed like Americans could lose access to TikTok, Instagram rolled out its version of CapCut, the editing app owned by TikTok parent ByteDance. Nine months later, there are many questions regarding the operations of a U.S.-owned version of TikTok, so Meta has another opportunity to win over aggrieved users.

Longtime Facebook users may chafe at the platform’s TikTok-ification, echoing complaints from Instagrammers on the same subject. To defend itself, Meta has always contended that its widespread promotion of short-form video formats like Reels is a response to user behavior. The latest blog post notes that time spent watching videos on Facebook is up 20% year-over-year in the U.S. Of course, with Facebook jamming Reels into every corner of its app, it’s hard to determine how organic that user behavior really is.

TikTok’s hefty market share undoubtedly influences Meta’s Reels-forward strategy, but the updated engine is more than just a copycat. It will also continue Meta’s effort to promote more original content amid a sea of AI slop. Post-update, the Facebook Reels algorithm will recommend 50% more videos that have been published within the last 24 hours. Hopefully, that will keep feeds fresh — and if not, the “Not Interested” button will get a lot of use.

Filed under: Articles, Facebook, Featured, Homepage Feature, Meta, News by Sam Gutelle
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Amelia Dimoldenberg is venturing beyond the chicken shop to take a spin on the racetrack. The British creator, who is a fixture on YouTube thanks to her interview program Chicken Shop Date, is teaming up with F1 to launch a four-part series titled Passenger Princess.

Despite its name, Passenger Princess will put Dimoldenberg behind the wheel as she pursues her dream of becoming a licensed driver. The instructors who will teach her how to operate her vehicle will all be F1 stars. George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Ollie Bearman, and Carlos Sainz will join Dimoldenberg for her latest interview-based project.

Dimoldenberg’s success with Chicken Shop Date has made her an appealing partner for brands that are looking to activate on YouTube, and she has big-time aspirations of her own. For F1, a deal with Dimoldenberg is even more of a natural fit. The racing organization has seen its popularity grow among Gen Z women, with creators partially fueling that push. Dimoldenberg, who previously sat down with F1 driver Lando Norris for a Chicken Shop Date, is ready to increase her involvement in the burgeoning sport.

In a press release, F1 noted that 42% of its fans are female, up from 37% in 2018. “My dream has always been to tell stories and work with great collaborators, so I’m proud to be working with such an iconic and recognised brand as F1 on this latest original series,” Dimoldenberg said in a statement. “Although I don’t know how to drive. I’m excited to put my well-established passenger – and interviewing – skills to good use.”

On platforms like YouTube and Twitch, viewer appetite for motorsports goes far beyond F1. French creator Squeezie recently reached new heights by attracting 1.4 million viewers for the latest edition of his creator racing event GP Explorer. American streamer Ludwig, who participated in the race, described it as superior to all the creator events happening in the U.S.

With Passenger Princess, Dimoldenberg will have a chance to continue the motorsports category’s winning ways. Keep an eye on her YouTube channel to catch all installments of the four-part show as they arrive.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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There’s been a lot of talk about viewbots lately. That talk is mostly centered around Twitch and Kick and their efforts (with varying degrees of success) to keep streamers from fluffing their viewership numbers with fake engagement.

But there’s another platform that’s taking the most aggressive stance yet: Fortnite maker Epic Games, which just filed suit against two developers, alleging they used bots to boost their Islands’ traffic.

Quick context for those who might not be familiar: Epic offers its game creation engine, Unreal Editor for Fortnite, to game developers of all sizes, letting them use its power and assets to make their own digital destinations within the Fortnite platform. Other players can then visit these destinations–aka Islands–to do things like explore the landscape and buildings and play new game modes or minigames. Epic then pays developers per month based on how much engagement their Islands generate (and, soon, how many in-game items they sell).

Okay, back to the lawsuit: Epic says the developers, Michigan-based Idris Nahdi and Ayob Nasser, created over 20,000 fake bot accounts and sent them off to each other’s Islands, artificially inflating the Islands’ engagement. Between them, they had 10 active Islands, and the bots were not deployed to any other Islands–just each other’s.

That artificial engagement resulted in Epic paying the duo “tens of thousands of dollars” for traffic that was not real, the suit alleges.

Epic says that over 80% of the engagement on Nahdi and Nasser’s Islands was fake, rising up to 99% at times. Its official claims are breach of contract, copyright infringement, and fraud.

The suit aims to recover what Epic paid for the alleged fake engagement, plus damages, and asks the judge to permaban Nahdi and Nasser from Fortnite and every other Epic Games IP/server.

Epic has been litigious before, successfully suing hack sellers, DDoSers, and cheating players, so we’re not surprised it went the legal route with this issue, too.

However this case shakes out, it’s a clear indication that Epic is keeping a close eye on its game developer/creator population as it continues to expand their power within Fortnite. Like we mentioned above, Epic plans to introduce the ability for developers to sell digital items this coming December, bringing it closer in line with competitor Roblox and giving creators more opportunities to make money. Obviously Epic plans to make sure that when it pays that money out, the creators actually earned it.

Filed under: Fortnite, Homepage Feature by James Hale
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Gap Inc. is the latest legacy brick-and-mortar company to launch its own creator program, calling the initiative a key part of its “digital-first strategy and brand reinvigoration journey.”

The retail giant’s various clothing brands–Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta–have individually worked with content creators over the past couple of years, rolling out more social-first campaigns. One recent hit, “Better in Denim,” starred girl group KATSEYE and became Gap’s most successful digital campaign to date, going viral on TikTok and bringing in 600+ million views and 8+ billion impressions in a month. Gap Inc. says that success shows its trademarked approach to branding, “Fashiontainment,” is “resonat[ing] deeply with today’s creators and audiences alike.”

Big, splashy campaigns have always been a part of Gap’s marketing efforts, but now the company is doing something different: Introducing a unified hub meant to welcome new creator partners and connect with them on an ongoing basis. It’s building on that “Better in Denim” momentum by launching what it calls a “creator affiliate and advocacy platform” program, which is open to U.S.-based creators who are over 18 and have at least 1,000 followers on a single account on one social platform.

The program offers benefits like:

1. affiliate links with commission
2. free product
3. early access to news and promos
4. invites to brand events
5. feature spots on official brand channels

“As we continue to reinvigorate our iconic brands, creators play an important part in that transformation, which makes this the perfect time to launch this program,” Damon Berger, Gap Inc.’s Head of Digital Engagement, says. “The program helps link our brands to culture by connecting to the creators that are making culture happen, allowing collaboration at scale across our brands.”

The goal is for this program to democratize the ability for creators to get in with Gap Inc.’s brands–especially smaller, growing creators who may otherwise struggle to secure sponsorships with companies of similar esteem. Gap Inc. is looking to remove those traditional barriers to entry–including audience size.

Like we mentioned above, Gap’s only quantitative requirement is that creators have just 1,000 followers on one social account. That’s a lot smaller of a following than brands tend to require for individual sponsorship deals.

The other requirement is all qualitative: “We’re open to creators of all different audiences,” Berger says. “We just ask that you love our brands and products, and you’re excited to share that love with your audience.”

Gap Inc. is also prioritizing a more direct ongoing connection with creators instead of going through third-party agencies–something creator partners have asked Gap for in the past. (That’s not surprising; we’ve heard from the creator side how influencers want to build closer-knit, steadier, and longer-lasting multimedia relationships with their sponsor partners.)

Berger says this program will be “foundational to the rest of our creator marketing initiative” for the future.

“It opens the door for creators who love our brands to engage with us and it serves as a potential stepping stone to even greater partnership opportunities,” he says. “By balancing creator convenience and empowerment with rich brand storytelling, this new program will position us to build closer relationships with creators, amplify their content across all our channels, and leverage data-driven insights to deliver greater impact at scale.”

Gap plans to expand the program to creators outside the U.S. in the future. For now, U.S.-based creators who meet the above criteria can apply to join Gap’s initiative here.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Uncategorized by James Hale
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Welcome to our rundown of the most-watched branded YouTube videos of the week.

We’re publishing this snippet of a larger Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report in order to analyze sponsorship trends in the creator economy. Any video launched in tandem with an official brand partner is eligible for the ranking.

And – as the name up above would imply – all the data comes from Gospel Stats. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here.

In this week’s Gospel Stats report, we have a fiery video from MrBeast, a cottagecore chicken Short, a break-a-leg ad for Moose Toys, a makeup palette that’s not from a Jake Paul deepfake, and as a bonus, a glimpse into creepy creatures of Appalachia with a very interesting sponsor.

Check ’em all out right here:

#1 Would You Risk Dying For $500,000?
Channel: MrBeast
Brand: Jack Link’s
Views: 74,041,311

Chances are you’ve heard about this video already, because it’s generated some serious negative attention. The upload follows MrBeast‘s tried and true formula: Do X thing, win Y dollars. In this case, though, the contestant isn’t living in a private jet or hashing things out with his ex. Instead, he’s escaping an actively burning building while fetching sacks of cash along the way. This man isn’t inexperienced with fire: he’s a professional stuntman, and likely knows how to keep safe in dangerous situations. But, as Beast detractors pointed out, pros who know how to be safe still get injured, and fire is no joke.

All that being said, there’s another (less controversial) aspect of this video that’s worth discussing: It’s part of MrBeast’s ongoing relationship with meat snack brand Jack Link’s, which just released an official MrBeast-branded collection. The flavors in this collection aren’t new–in fact, none of the products are really new. They’re just smaller versions of Jack Link’s established flavors, meant for lunchboxes and on-the-go, with packaging that boasts how high-protein and low-sugar they are. No sales numbers yet, but based on the retail success of Feastables, we’re betting at least a few families will scoop up a bag during their next grocery run.

#2 Cleaning the chicken coop 🌞🫧 With my favorite drink 🍎 @bloomsupps #bloompartner
Channel: Gabie Vigneault
Brand: Bloom
Views: 13,988,806

And now for something completely different. Far from the high-octane premise of MrBeast’s video is a chill cottagecore routine with Gabie Vigneault, a maker of cleaning and ASMR content who has just over one million subscribers. She racked up a whopping 14 million views with a 52-second Short about taking care of her backyard chickens, who get to roll around in little chicken-sized hamster balls while she makes their coop nice and cozy.

Like many sponsored Shorts, this one is almost entirely dedicated to the partner brand–in this case supplement company Bloom, which only paid for Vigneault’s video this week.

#3 Ivy Broke Her Foot!
Channel: Lively Lewis Show
Brand: Moose Toys
Views: 10,025,561

Siblings Levi and Ivy star in this kid-bait family vlog channel, and this week their sponsor is the toy company behind MrBeast’s Lab Swarms and his upcoming animated YouTube series MrBeast Lab: The Descent—Moose Toys. The entire video is a skit that shows Ivy “breaking her foot” and feeling left out of family activites until her bro brings home Cooper, a toy dog from Moose Toys’ Little Live Pets Ouchies line.

The line is, as you may expect, intended to show kids why they need rest when they’re sick or injured, and how gentle care can make their little pals (and themselves) feel better. This video is one of two Levi and Ivy uploads promoting Little Live Pets Ouchies this week; the other came in at spot #267.

#4 I guess in my case the myth is true??  #NYXCosmeticsAUNZ #NYXSmushy #Collectables #ad
Channel: Bridey Drake
Brand: NYX Cosmetics
Views: 8,598,997

Look, makeup is hard. One of the great mysteries of the universe is how to find your perfect shade for all the BS you have to put on your face: foundation, blush, eyeshadow, lip liner, lipstick, etc etc etc. There are many who claim to have the secret solution to this eternal question, and in her sponsored video, Bridey Drake puts one of those solutions to the test. Is it really true, she wonders, that if you squeeze your finger, the color of the tip is your perfect lip shade?

We won’t spoil the answer, but we will say her endeavor is supported by NYX Cosmetics, which also promoted its lip products in video #3,032 this week.

BONUS #1,728 The Horrific Entities of Deep Appalachia…
Channel: Spoogli
Brand: Morgan & Morgan
Views: 75,492

You ever been to Appalachia? Well, as someone who has, I can tell you: There’s weird sh*t out there. And Spoogli, a man-with-a-cam YouTuber who promises to get into all things “unsettling and uncanny,” is ready to tell you all about it.

His channel and content are both interesting, but we also picked him this week because of his sponsor, Morgan & Morgan. This Orlando-based personal injury firm has been sponsoring dozens of YouTube videos every week for months now. It’s part of their strategy to reach a younger, digital-savvy audience. This week alone, Morgan & Morgan sponsored 25 videos from creators across genres.

If you’re keen to hear more about their strategy, stay tuned…Tubefilter recently had a chat with them, and will be sharing their story and insights in the coming days.

…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here.

Filed under: Articles, Brands, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by James Hale
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Steven Bartlett, the British-Nigerian creator whose podcast Diary of a CEO has welcomed guests like Michelle Obama, Scooter Braun, Simon Cowell, and Richard Branson, has co-founded a video podcast hosting/distribution platform that (as is the case with many productivity pipeline projects these days) has AI baked in.

Co-founded with the former MrBeast engineer/Thumbnail Test founder who calls himself “Rox Codes,” Flightcast has been in beta for two years, secretly becoming the production bones of Diary of a CEO, which has 12 million subscribers on YouTube and brings in around 30 million views per month. In a launch video, Bartlett and Rox Codes say it was built in response to the needs of Barlett and his Diary team.

“You guys were posting in a bunch of different places, these gigantic 4K files. It took literally hours,” Rox Codes says. “And then the data that comes back from all those platforms running ten different spreadsheets, trying to aggregate them…It was a nightmare.”

They moved forward with one question, Bartlett says: “Could we build something that tells you that information, but also helps you figure out what to do about it?”

Out of that came Flightcast, which lets video podcasters upload their episodes to it, and then have its systems distribute those episodes across YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

“And then there’s AI on everything to help you analyze the data, to help you understand what’s working and help you understand what’s not, make recommendations as to what you should do,” Rox Codes says.

Flightcast isn’t just using AI on the creator-facing side. Before episodes go live to the public, Flightcast fits them with AI transcriptions, titles, descriptions, and chapters, and also has an auto-clipping tool that cuts out chunks, edits them, and posts them on YouTube Shorts. Like other data analysis/generation products that have emerged in the creator space during the AI bandwagon boom, Flightcast says it offers custom generation that’s trained on individual creators’ content, so it can spit out the suggested new titles/descrips/etc “in your style,” thus saving creators the energy of actually, you know, creating.

In a LinkedIn post, Rox Codes says Flightcast has a chatbot, meaning creators can use “AI to chat with your data so you can actually understand what’s working.”

Flightcast is “basically taking the entire Diary of a CEO playbook one step at a time and turning it into software that any podcaster can use,” he adds.

In terms of being on trend, Barlett and Rox Codes are right there. AI is everywhere right now, and YouTube and Spotify have been putting big effort into making video podcasts a thing. The issues Bartlett encountered while making Diary of a CEO (big files, long upload times) are a widespread plague for video podcasters, and they–at least so far–haven’t had access to the same upload/distribution tools audio-only podcasters do. We can see how Flightcast would add value there for video ‘casters.

But in an era where generative AI grows ever more contentious (just check out the replies to MrBeast’s latest tweet about Sora), we’re wondering if Flightcast’s AI-heavy pitch will take off with creators who are conscientious about not feeding their work to slop machines.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Podcasts by James Hale
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