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• Substack pledges $20 million to creators who bring their followers its way
• Creators are getting thousands of new followers by posting Trial Reels. Was that Instagram’s plan all along?

  Instagram creators are using growth hacking tactics to benefit from the new Trial Reels. Was that the real purpose of the feautre all along?

  
• Even Tumblr is taking a stab at replacing TikTok

  Tumblr saw a 35% spike in iOS app installations and a 70% increase in people joining Communities, where users can congregate forum-style to discuss shared interests. Several Communities that rose to prominence were specifically about TikTok, including TikTok Refugees and TikTok Repository, where creators encouraged one another to post the videos they'd made for TikTok.

  
• Creator-made islands accounted for 1/3 of ‘Fortnite’ game time in 2024–and earned their developers $352 million

  According to Epic Games' first-ever Fortnite Ecosystem Year in Review, it paid out $352 million to creators in 2024. Those creators--around 70,000 of them, tripled from the 24,000 Epic says it paid in 2023--made a total of 198,000 "islands" within the game that often contain fully customized settings, minigames, plotlines, and more.

  
• The holidays have become the peak viewing period on streaming platforms
• Rival apps X, Bluesky are both launching their own takes on TikTok
• Trump’s inauguration stream shows that his YouTube presence could play a bigger role during his second term
• Instagram is reportedly offering TikTokers up to $50,000 per month to post on Reels
• The Paul x Tyson fight helped Netflix drive record account growth–just before it stops reporting subscriber counts
• Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 01/19/2025
• Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: A Joe Rogan threepeat
• Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 01/19/2025