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, one-half of an influential power couple is crushing it in Milano, a comedian is going from TikTok to the Great White Way, and a whistleblower has found a unique way to get secrets to the masses.
Olympic achievements
Jutta Leerdam, Jake Paul’s fiancee, is a gold medalist. Leerdam broke an Olympic record on her way to victory in the women’s 1000-meter speed skating event, and Paul was in attendance to cheer on his lady. Now that she’s conquered the Olympics, will Leerdam take after her fiancee and try her hand at the influencer boxing trend? If she does, I feel bad for whoever has to go up against her.
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Nick DiGiovanni joined the torch-bearer ranks at the 2026 Winter Games. One of YouTube’s favorite chefs celebrated his Italian heritage by helping carry the Olympic flame to Milano. I’m sure that effort made him pretty hungry, but lucky for him, he has some five-ringed pasta he can chow down on in the Olympic village.
Ensemble goes freestyle with a skiing docuseries on Peacock. The production company affiliated with Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media has become a reliable partner for brands that want to break onto streaming platforms. Its partnership with Dunkin’ has delivered Qualified, a docuseries that will bring the stories of the Stifel U.S. Freestyle Ski Team women’s moguls team to Peacock viewers.
Pop culture minute
Move over, Charli D’Amelio: Jake Shane is the next TikToker headed to Broadway. You won’t see Shane in & Juliet — instead, you can catch the comedian in All Out, where he’ll make his Broadway debut alongside a stacked cast that includes Ray Romano, Nicholas Braun, and Jenny Slate. Those are some good friends for an up-and-coming funnyman to make.
Will Amelia Dimoldenberg’s romcom take place inside a chicken shop? The talented interviewer will work on both sides of the camera as she develops and stars in a romantic comedy for Amazon MGM Studios. I understand if Dimoldenberg wants to branch out, but her usual poultry-slinging haunt would be a good place for a meet-cute. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Olivia Ferney’s globetrotting ‘grams are becoming the basis for a scripted series. On Instagram, Ferney uses her Travel with Livii account to share stories from the world of concierge service. That makes the resulting adaptation sound like it will be one part digital travelogue, one part White Lotus, and one part Below Deck for the hospitality world.
Creator commotion
New Yorkers are about to start seeing Haley Kalil on screens all over the Big Apple. Kalil has signed a deal with Intersection, the out-of-home media company that operates the LinkNYC video boards. Thanks to the partnership, Kalil’s face will show up across more than 4,000 LinkNYC screens. She’ll use the same witty observations that power her videos to bring color to NYC neighborhoods.
If you ask me, MrBeast’s Whatnot stream was more exciting than the Super Bowl. Before the Big Game, MrBeast tuned into Whatnot to give away more than one million dollars worth of gifts on a star-studded stream. According to Whatnot, the stream delivered massive results: It peaked at 583,000 concurrent viewers and ended up distributing more than $1.25 million of prizes when all was said and done.
An Australian family channel is selling its “architectural beach house.” That’s how The Norris Nuts describe their abode in Newcastle, Australia. The house is on the market after being purchased for more than $15 million in 2022, so that’s just a reminder of how much money there is to be made in the world of family videos.
The biz
Propagate Content reloads with $50 million for new creator-driven shows. Ben Silverman’s production company has turned shows like The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives into star vehicles. Its latest investment comes with a $200 million valuation and will lead to the development of more shows, which are largely expected to see distribution on digital platforms.
With Red Seat Ventures’ Supercast acquisition, Fox gets into podcasts. Red Seat, a VC firm affiliated with the Fox-owned Tubi Media Group, has scooped up a popular subscription platform for podcasters. Tubi is already one of Fox’s primary links to the creator world, and it looks like the ideal vessel for some podcaster partnerships, too.
Zhong inks ad sales deal with Studio 71. On YouTube Shorts, the one-named creator racks up hundreds of millions of views per week. Studio 71 will provide both ad sales and content protection services as it buys into that thriving social video space. Zhong previously signed with UTA back in 2022.
The internet is a strange place
John Kiriakou has become TikTok’s favorite CIA whistleblower. Kiriakou was a Bush-era operative who came clean about some of the agency’s dirty work after leaving his CIA post. Now he’s the star of TikTok edits that reuse his old interviews to humorous effect. I would say he’s the Deep Throat of TikTok, but that description might not comply with TikTok’s terms of service.
AI Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are the latest threats coming from China. Hollywood studios are urging ByteDance to get the A-list film stars out of Seedance 2.0, a new AI engine developed by the parent company of TikTok. I understand the studios’ concerns, but when it comes to AI scraping, controlling usage might just be mission impossible.
A group of K-pop furries is smashing Spotify records. BASTTIE set the record for the most streams by a furry group after reaching 300,000 streams on Spotify. Good luck to them if they start touring — those costumes look like they’d cause quite the sweat.
