James Hale

• Netflix poaches top YouTube video podcasts
• A DraftKings co-founder just launched a company to “build empires” for creators

  In practice behind the buzzwords, that means providing creators with support around content strategy, production, and distribution, plus social media management--all aimed, of course, at generating revenue from brand deals and putting ads in front of their Gen Z viewers.

  
• Meta is (reportedly) letting scammers target its users, so long as it keeps making the big ad dollars

  An investigation from Reuters revealed that in early 2024, Meta devoted resources to figuring out why so much scam advertising was coming out of China. Chinese ads are big business on Meta; there are entire industries built around making, deploying, and "optimizing" them to reach the most eyeballs (often by finding loopholes in Meta's platform rules), and together they purchase enough marketing to supply over one-tenth of Meta's global annual revenue. 

  
• Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: YouTube Recap pepperoni

  The holiday shopping adstravaganza is in full swing--but despite the many videos peddling stuff to put under the tree, our #1 video this week comes from a channel that's decidedly less festive.

  
• Here’s what made YouTube YouTube in 2025
• Kajabi is now offering creator financing, citing reports that 81% of small biz owners struggle to access capital
• Disney signs $1 billion licensing deal with OpenAI, is big mad at Google
• Instagram is the latest platform to make users fix their own recommendation algorithms (via AI chatbot, of course)
• YouTube evolved from Rewind to Recap. Is it a step up?
• Netflix is leaning on YouTube to defend its Warner Bros. acquisition
• Boring Stuff wants creators to know: Taxes don’t have to suck
• Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: My brand!!!