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 hip-hop icon turned his swag on during a Kick stream, YouTube TV subscribers can channel surf to their hearts’ content, and the U.S. TikTok deal is done.
Creator commotion
Up first for Soulja Boy on Kick: A Twitch diss track. The man who brought “Crank Dat” to the world launched a Kick account and wasted no time before dunking on the streaming platform’s #1 rival. Did you hear who Soulja Boy is going to go after next? My sources tell me that it’s going to be YOU!
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Tfue gives back to his old stomping grounds with restaurant purchase. After operating in St. Pete Beach, Florida for 35 years, Woody’s Waterfront closed in 2024 due to hurricane damage. The eatery is now back in action thanks to its new owner: Twitch star and St. Pete area native Turner Tenney. Good for you, Tfue!
Dispatches from the TikTok deal
We can finally say it: The U.S. TikTok deal is official. Can you believe it’s been almost two years since Congress passed a bill that mandated either a ban or a divestiture for TikTok’s U.S. operations? The saga since then has been long and winding, with two different presidents involved, but at last, the ink is dry. The U.S. and China have signed off on a $14 billion agreement that will see some aspects of TikTok’s American app (such as its recommendation algorithm) come under U.S. control.
Adam Presser will run the new version of U.S. TikTok. Presser is the former Head of Operations for TikTok, and he will now occupy a tricky role in between ByteDance brass and the U.S. government. He’s been through several reorgs at TikTok, so he’s probably used to working in a transitional environment by now.
Platform headlines
Move over, sports fans — YouTube TV multiview is now for everyone. YouTube TV first debuted its split-screen feature just before the start of March Madness in 2023. Watching multiple channels at once is most applicable for sports fans, but viewers of all kinds now have more freedom to build a grid of up to four YouTube TV feeds. So if you want to watch the game while your partner keeps up with the Kardashians, knock yourselves out.
TikTok’s “Product Preview” adds more transparency for business partners. By uploading videos that preview new and upcoming features, TikTok is following the example set by its competitors. YouTube’s Creator Insider and Twitch’s Patch Notes are useful resources for creators and brands alike, so TikTokers should be cheering the app’s new series.
Substack heads for TV screens. If consumers are going to get their news from social media, why not put the social media news on the TV? That philosophy has led Substack to launch a TV app as it looks to expanding its journalistic empire beyond text-based newsletters.
Movers and shakers
Upright Media expands recruiting tools with key hires. The Dallas-based creator economy firm is officially launching Upright Recruiting, which helps creator-led businesses find the right personnel for their open positions. New Upright COO Michael Chiang has arrived from Fandom to steer strategy, while Bailey Heidhues has come on board to lead Upright Recruiting.
Micah Trainor is Select Management’s first manager hire for new Toronto office. The agency is ready to venture north of the border with Select Canada, and it is building the roster it needs to execute that move. Trainor arrives at Select with her 20 Canadian clients, who collectively reach 76 million followers across social media.
Funding rounds galore
Fanvue capitalizes on growing creator base with $22 million Series A. The London-based company has a familiar-sounding spiel — a creator monetization platform supported by generative AI products — but its growth rate has been extraordinary. Fanvue announced its Series A by noting that it has 17 million monthly active users, including 250,000 creators.
Microinfluencers go big with Statusphere’s $18 million Series A. There’s a lot of evidence supporting the theory that campaigns involving microinfluencers are more efficient than campaigns that rely on big-name creators. Statusphere has drawn interest from investors by building the infrastructure brands need to effectively scale up their microinfluencer activities.
AI learning company from Google and YouTube vets prepares for beta launch after securing $5 million in pre-seed funding. Say hello to Sparkli, which hopes to make early education more exciting by replacing the “dry AI chatbot wall of text” with dyanmic animations. Something tells me that a mix of colorful educational videos and AI characters could produce a form of brainrot the likes of which we’ve never seen.
Anvara gets $3.1 million seed round to sell sponsorships for sports and live events. Companies like Kalshi, Poshmark, and Ally are already using Anvara’s marketplace to find teams and events to sponsor. A seed round packed with a list of notable investors will help Anvara level up its flagship product.
The internet is a strange place
Don’t tell your esports teammates to respect the meta, or you might get banned. During a Marvel Rivals tournament, streamer Kingsman265 asked a teammate to switch off a subpar hero pick. That suggestion was met with so much criticism that Kingsman265 was banned from the tournament entirely, kicking off one of the silliest esports controversies in recent memory (and there’s a lot of competition for that title).
Goodies like Pokemon cards can now be found in a loot box at the Pentagon food court. On one hand, a vending machine for collectibles in the middle of the Pentagon sounds like a security risk to me. But when the Department of Defense gets its hands on a Blastoise, the results could be super effective.
