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- Influence Weekly #401 - Instagram Ramps Up Competition With Snap, TikTok, Adds New Repost, Map Sharing, And Friends Tab Features
Influence Weekly #401 - Instagram Ramps Up Competition With Snap, TikTok, Adds New Repost, Map Sharing, And Friends Tab Features
ESPN Adds Five Social Media Stars To Creator Network
Nii Ahene
August 08, 2025
Spotlight Stories
Instagram Ramps Up Competition With Snap, TikTok, Adds New Repost, Map Sharing, And Friends Tab Features
ESPN Adds Five Social Media Stars To Creator Network
How Carl’s Jr. Built On Big Game Success With Social Star Alix Earle
Nature Made Expands Reach With HelloFresh And Food Influencer Partnership
Great Reads
ESPN launched its third ESPN Creator Network in August 2025, adding five social media creators with a combined 6 million followers. The 2025 class includes Brittney Elena, Emily Harrigan, Jaylin James, Lily Shimbashi, and Trey Phills, who will receive access to ESPN events and talent while creating social-first sports content.
The program, which began in 2022, generated 9.7 million impressions and reached 3.5 million fans in 2024. ESPN reported creator content engagement rates reached 13 times higher than typical social platform benchmarks. The 2024 roster of 12 creators produced over 400 million cross-platform views.
The initiative aligns with industry data showing personality-driven content outperforms traditional sports highlights. ESPN identified three high-performing content categories: highlight videos with on-screen text (816% engagement rate lift), multiple-player prompt content (344% lift), and mic'd up content (337% lift). TikTok proved particularly effective for NFL content, accounting for 39 of the top 50 NFL posts with 1.4 million average engagements per post.
Instagram launched three major features to compete with TikTok and Snapchat. Users can now repost public content directly to followers' feeds, similar to Twitter's retweet function. The platform introduced location sharing through Instagram Map, allowing users to share real-time locations with selected friends and view location-tagged content from connections. A new Friends tab in Reels displays content that friends have liked, commented on, or created.
The repost feature includes attribution to original creators and may help content reach new audiences through followers' networks. Location sharing includes privacy controls and parental supervision notifications for teens. These updates follow Instagram's pattern of adopting competitor features, previously implementing Stories from Snapchat and Reels from TikTok.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
YouTube became the UK's second most-watched media service behind the BBC in 2024, according to Ofcom's annual report. One in five young viewers now turn to YouTube first when using smart TVs, while viewers over 55 watched nearly twice as much YouTube content compared to two years ago.
Generation Alpha viewers aged four to 15 prioritized YouTube, while young adults aged 16-24 watched just 17 minutes of live TV daily. Overall broadcast TV viewing dropped 4% in 2024, with average daily viewing falling to two hours and 24 minutes on TV sets.
Half of YouTube's top-trending videos now resemble traditional TV programming, including long-form interviews and game shows, positioning the platform as a direct competitor to ad-supported television services. For audio content, YouTube captured 47% usage compared to Spotify's 36%, while BBC Sounds led radio broadcasters at 24%. The report noted that public service broadcasters must increase their online presence to reach audiences in digital spaces.
Campaign Insights
Carl's Jr. partnered with TikTok influencer Alix Earle for its 2025 Super Bowl-adjacent campaign, promoting free Hangover Burgers on National Hangover Day. The partnership generated a 47% engagement rate on Instagram and drove a 91% increase in followers for the fast-food chain, according to Metricool social data.
Earle, who has 7.5 million TikTok followers and works with brands like Poppi and Pantene, starred in campaigns that echoed Carl's Jr.'s provocative advertising from the 2000s and 2010s. The chain built on this success with multiple follow-up campaigns throughout 2025.
In May, Carl's Jr. hosted Club Carl's, converting a Los Angeles location into a one-night party featuring Earle and promoting a Build Your Own Bag value offering. This month, the chain launched its "Kay So?" campaign for the Queso Crunch Burger, featuring Earle alongside Paris Hilton, who appeared in Carl's Jr.'s controversial 2005 advertisements. The campaigns extended across TV, digital channels, and the brand's loyalty app platform.
Nature Made partnered with HelloFresh and food influencer Justine Doiron for a 12-week marketing campaign running July through September. The vitamin brand distributed samples of its eight billion CFU probiotic gummies to one million HelloFresh customers who selected "gut friendly" meal kits.
HelloFresh customers received Nature Made product samples, educational postcards with discount codes, and access to exclusive gut-friendly recipes. Nature Made hired cookbook author and social media personality Doiron to curate the gut-friendly recipe selections and create additional content for the brand's website.
Doiron also promoted Nature Made across her TikTok and Instagram channels and appeared as a spokesperson in a paid Good Morning America segment. Nature Made paid HelloFresh for audience access, compensated Doiron for content creation, and covered production costs for samples and marketing materials.
The campaign aimed to increase reach, awareness, and sales for Nature Made's gut health product portfolio, which represents one of the top five segments within the company's supplements category but has lower market share compared to its multivitamin products.
Regal, the second-largest US theater chain, partnered with YouTube group Dude Perfect to release "Dude Perfect: The Hero Tour" in over 800 theaters worldwide starting September 26, 2025. The 100-minute documentary captures footage from their sold-out 20-city arena tour and will run for two weeks across the US, UK, Western Europe and Australia.
The partnership addresses declining theater attendance, which remains 25% below pre-pandemic levels. Regal will distribute the film while competing chains AMC and Cinemark will also screen it. The strategy mirrors AMC's success with "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," which grossed $261.7 million worldwide.
Dude Perfect, which has 61 million YouTube subscribers and generated an estimated $50 million in revenue last year, received a nine-figure investment from Highmount Capital in 2024. The theatrical release follows their recent arena tour and represents their expansion beyond digital platforms. Both companies view this as an experiment in creator-driven theatrical content distribution.
Fox Corporation launched a multi-division effort to recruit digital creators across its properties, marking a departure from its traditional siloed operations. Fox News signed a licensing deal with the "Ruthless" podcast hosts and named conservative influencer Brett Cooper as a contributor. Fox Sports positioned to feature Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy's commentary.
The company acquired Red Seat Ventures in 2024, a production company managing business affairs for independent media figures including Piers Morgan, Megyn Kelly, and Tucker Carlson. Fox previously bought Outkick, Clay Travis's sports site, in 2021. Its ad-sales division purchased a stake in Lighthouse, a creator production studio within Whalar Group's portfolio.
Tubi unveiled plans in June to showcase content from creators including Mythical Entertainment, founded by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, and Canadian YouTube duo Dan and Riya. The streaming service launched "Stubios" as an outlet for creator-based content, aiming to expose digital talent to established advertisers while allowing creators to maintain their existing platform presence.
Snapchat partnered with U.K. broadcaster Channel 5 to integrate augmented reality technology into a television series about ancient wonders of the world. The collaboration, announced August 3, allows TV viewers to scan on-screen QR codes with their phones to access AR experiences through Snapchat's camera.
The series follows historian Bettany Hughes across Greece, Egypt, and Turkey to examine seven ancient wonders including the Giza Pyramids and Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Viewers can virtually explore these historical sites through Snapchat's AR platform while watching the show.
The partnership represents Snapchat's effort to expand its audience beyond its predominantly younger user base. Channel 5's programming typically targets older demographics than Snapchat's core users. The company previously announced plans to launch AR glasses in 2026 and faces competition from Meta in the AR space.
KlugKlug, an influencer marketing SaaS platform, released analysis of Amazon and Flipkart's Independence Day sales campaigns in India on August 4. The report examined first-day influencer marketing strategies for both e-commerce companies.
Flipkart deployed influencers at three times Amazon's scale, accounting for 75.89% of influencers and 71.01% of posts compared to Amazon's 24.11% and 28.99% respectively. Flipkart's strategy focused on macro and mega influencers, while Amazon used both nano and mega influencers.
Amazon achieved higher engagement rates at 3.02% versus Flipkart's 1.32%, with Amazon's mega-influencers reaching 3.50% engagement rates. However, Flipkart generated greater total reach with 136.91 million views compared to Amazon's 11.73 million views. This translated to Flipkart receiving 2.02 million total engagements versus Amazon's 1.05 million across likes, comments, and shares during the campaign's opening day.
Creators doubled their sponsorship rates from 2024 as brands increased influencer marketing spending, according to seven influencer marketers interviewed by Digiday. Open Influence associate account director Daniella Corredor said creators who previously charged $20,000 now demand $40,000 for similar work. Born Social vice president Steph Ross confirmed rates had doubled but noted clients accepted increases due to their own expanded influencer budgets.
Dept head of influencer Tiah Slattery estimated overall influencer marketing spending rose 30 to 40 percent in 2025, citing Unilever's announcement to allocate half its marketing budget to social channels. Brands demanding faster turnarounds drove additional premium pricing, with two-week campaigns costing 50 to 100 percent more than standard six-to-eight week timelines.
Creators gained confidence to maintain higher rates as they recognized their central role in brand marketing strategies. The Goat Agency global vice president Hannah Ryan noted creators now charge separate fees for content usage rights across multiple channels, which they previously included at minimal cost.
GrabFood launched a social media campaign across Instagram and TikTok featuring Malaysian content creators to promote its chicken restaurant offerings. The campaign featured creators including Safwan Nazri with 523,000 followers, Harris Annuar with 908,000 followers, Farhan Mazlan with 308,000 followers, and Abe Wee with 303,000 followers.
Each video showcased creators taking large bites of fried chicken from restaurants including KFC, Marrybrown, Sugar Bun, Hotbird, KyoChon, Nando's and Village Park. The posts promoted GrabFood's "Hot Deals" offering up to 12 Malaysian ringgit off selected chicken orders.
This follows GrabFood's previous creator-led campaign in July 2024 with Fishermen Integrated and Accenture Song for Subway, which involved hiding miniature 6-inch billboards in Kuala Lumpur MRT stations. The food delivery service, part of Grab, has increasingly used influencer partnerships to drive engagement and awareness for restaurant partners on its platform.
Travel influencers are promoting tourism to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan despite government warnings, sparking controversy over their content's impact. German influencer Margaritta spent three months solo traveling Afghanistan, telling her 18,000 TikTok followers she "felt fantastic" and was "treated like a queen." British vlogger Zoe Stephens, with 70,000 Instagram followers, claims Afghanistan is "often safer for women than men" while acknowledging strict Taliban laws.
These influencers share videos exploring landscapes and interacting with locals, contradicting perceptions of danger. Critics argue this content whitewashes reality for Afghan women, who face severe restrictions on education, employment, and movement. Afghan activist Orzala Nemat calls it "neocolonial tourism" that legitimizes "gender apartheid" while Western influencers gain fame from freedoms denied to local women. Tourism remains minimal with 9,000 foreign visitors in 2024, though some companies create promotional content later shared by Taliban social media accounts.
Brands shifted their influencer marketing strategies away from high follower counts toward long-term engagement and community building, according to new research from multiple industry reports. Linqia found that 68% of marketers planned to work with macro-influencers who have 100,000 to 500,000 followers in 2024, while 62% targeted micro-influencers with 5,000 to 100,000 followers.
A Viral Nation report showed that high engagement posts boosted sales by 20% and yielded 4.3 times higher return on investment compared to traditional awareness campaigns. However, a 2024 Harris Poll revealed that 85% of creators never received feedback from brands about content performance, creating gaps in partnership effectiveness.
The research indicated that 70% of creators preferred working on long-term brand campaigns rather than one-off partnerships, according to a February 2024 Sprinklr report. Beauty incubator Maesa and creator platform Kale emphasized that sustained creator relationships and community retention produced better business results than viral moments or celebrity influencer collaborations.
The UAE Media Council launched a mandatory permit system for social media users who publish promotional content, effective after a three-month grace period. The permits will be free for the first three years to encourage compliance, according to Secretary-General Mohammed Saeed Al Shehhi.
The regulation applies to both paid and unpaid promotional content across all social platforms. International content creators can obtain three-month "Visitor Advertiser Permits" through licensed agencies, renewable once for an additional three months.
Individuals promoting their own products through personal accounts are exempt, as are users under 18 engaged in educational or cultural activities. Permit holders must display their permit numbers on social media profiles and cannot allow others to advertise through their accounts.
The system complements business licensing requirements introduced in May for content creators earning income online, also fee-free for three years. The UAE positions itself as a regulatory leader in the creator economy space.
The PGA TOUR expanded its Creator Classic Series to three tournaments in 2025, culminating with a $100,000 winner-take-all event at East Lake Golf Club on August 20. YouTube partnered with the PGA TOUR to present the series, which streams across YouTube TV, GOLF Channel, and ESPN+.
The field includes returning competitors from previous events and winners from qualifiers. Players compete in an eight-hole gross stroke-play format on East Lake's holes 10-17, with the lowest four scores advancing to an 18th-hole playoff. The winner claims the entire purse.
YouTube will host a Creator Collective meetup bringing together more than 50 creators and operate a "YouTube Clubhouse" activation at the venue. The series grew from a single experimental event in 2024 that reached 60 million golf fans across social media, according to Pro Shop Studios, which co-produces the events.
The broadcast features live scoring data, shot-tracing technology, and focuses on creator reactions rather than traditional golf coverage approaches.
Creator pricing in the influencer marketing industry showed widespread volatility over the past 18 months, with two creators having identical followings commanding rates up to $10,000 apart, according to consulting firm Solutions by Sam. Talent agents and marketing executives reported inconsistent fee structures, with some brands offering $4,000-$5,000 for direct partnerships while affiliate teams quoted $500-$1,000 for similar deliverables.
Collectively reported creator rates increased 10-20% across tiers during this period, though exact figures were not disclosed. Unilever's public commitment to spend 20 times more on creator partnerships influenced other brands to enter the space, according to HYDP founder Thomas Markland.
Later CEO Scott Sutton attributed pricing confusion to inconsistency across internal brand teams. Industry executives said the volatility stemmed from brands lacking standardized pricing knowledge as they rapidly expanded creator programs. The pricing environment reflected a transition toward outcome-based compensation rather than follower-count metrics, according to Stack Influencer.
Australian electrolyte startup Hyro raised $1 million in its first funding round, with 25% of the investment coming from influencers who received equity stakes rather than traditional paid partnerships. The company was founded by Steve Chapman, former co-founder of nootropic drinks brand Shine+, and his wife Taylor Chapman, who has 30,000 Instagram followers.
Hyro launched in November 2023 targeting the hydration market between sports drinks and medicinal rehydration products. The company secured investments from creators including Sarah's Day, rugby players Quade Cooper and Daly Cherry-Evans, ironman Kendrick Louis, MasterChef's Dan Churchill, and former Wim Hof associate Johannes Egberts.
The startup is now raising a second $1 million round to fund US expansion. Additional investors include Maura Rampolla, who sold Zico Coconut Water to Coca-Cola, Remedy Kombucha co-owner Gary Cobbledick, and Charlie Gearside from Eucalyptus. The company operates on a direct-to-consumer model with subscription services, avoiding traditional retail margins that Chapman experienced at his previous venture.
The Big 3 Podcast - July Recap Podcast Now Out!
Join us for The Big 3 by Influence Weekly, where hosts Ceci Carloni and Nii Ahene deliver expert commentary on the creator economy's most impactful business developments. Each month, they offer insider perspectives on industry-shifting stories, unpacking what these changes mean for brands and marketing professionals in the creator economy
Interesting People
Edison Research released Q2 2025 podcast rankings based on interviews with 5,086 weekly podcast consumers. "The Joe Rogan Experience" maintained its number one position for the second consecutive quarter. The top five remained unchanged from Q1, with "Crime Junkie," "The Daily," "Call Her Daddy," and "This Past Weekend w/Theo Von" holding their positions.
Edison introduced a methodology change by incorporating data from consumers who watch podcasts exclusively through video. This shift caused rankings to fluctuate, with video-heavy shows seeing gains. "No Jumper" climbed 11 spots and "The Pat McAfee Show" rose 26 positions.
"SmartLess" moved up three spots to sixth place, while "Stuff You Should Know" jumped five positions to eighth. "The Mel Robbins Podcast" reached number 11, and "The Megyn Kelly Show" entered the top 20 for the first time at number 19.
Edison announced integration with Nielsen Media Impact starting next month, making podcast metrics available through the planning tool.
MrBeast raised $2.3 million on the first day of his #TeamWater fundraising campaign after appearing on Adin Ross' Kick livestream on August 1. The monthlong initiative targets $40 million by August's end to fund global clean water projects.
The campaign features commitments from multiple content creators, with MrBeast, Adin Ross, xQc, and Trainwrecks each pledging $400,000. Logan Paul, FaZe Banks, and Jynxzi contributed $100,000 each, while Young Thug and Kodak Black pledged $50,000 apiece.
MrBeast and science creator Mark Rober lead the effort, leveraging their combined 2 billion subscriber reach. Funds will primarily benefit WaterAid, an international nonprofit that builds community water infrastructure, along with GivePower and the Alok Foundation for projects in Kenya and Brazil.
The initiative builds on MrBeast's 2023 "100 Wells in Africa" campaign, which constructed over 100 wells across five countries, providing clean water access to more than 250,000 people. The new campaign aims to reach 2 million people globally across multiple countries including Colombia, Bangladesh, and Kenya.
Australian TikTok comedian Maddy MacRae completed a five-day residency at Singapore's Changi Airport from July 28 to August 1 as part of "The Week-Long Layover" campaign. MacRae livestreamed her experience to her combined 2.9 million followers across TikTok and Instagram.
Creative communications group Connecting Plots developed the campaign with Changi Airport Group to position Changi as a destination for extended layovers, targeting Australian and New Zealand travelers. During her stay, MacRae explored airport attractions including Jewel Changi Airport's Rain Vortex, Canopy Park, the Butterfly Garden, and the Aerotel rooftop pool. One selected follower was flown in to join MacRae for 24 hours.
The campaign supported Changi's broader strategy to encourage longer stays, including its revitalized "Free Singapore Tour" program for passengers with layovers between 5.5 and 24 hours. Changi recently won World's Best Airport for the 13th time and operates the "ChangiVerse" metaverse experience created with Accenture.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted up to 90 influencers at 10 Downing Street this week as part of his government's strategy to reach audiences through social media platforms. The event comes as Ofcom data showed that over half of adults now get their news from social media rather than traditional outlets.
The move follows similar approaches by previous UK leaders, including Theresa May's 2018 efforts to recruit Twitter influencers for Brexit messaging and Rishi Sunak's collaborations with content creators like "Budgeting Mum" Beth Turbutt-Rogers. The strategy mirrors developments in the US, where White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt now holds exclusive briefings for influencers.
The government also appointed David Dinsmore, former Sun editor and News UK Chief Operating Officer, as its new civil service communications chief, though he will not start until November. The appointments reflect Labour's attempt to modernize its communications approach amid criticism of Starmer's messaging strategy.
Aaron Parnas left his law career in 2022 to become a full-time news creator after gaining over 1 million followers in one week while covering the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The 21-year-old George Washington University Law School graduate, who previously worked at firms including Levi & Korsinsky and served as a U.S. District Court judicial clerk, now reaches 5.5 million followers across social platforms.
Parnas creates 90-second news segments posted 20 times daily across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, focusing on legal and political topics. He operates a paid Substack newsletter and limits brand partnerships to approximately one per month to maintain editorial independence, foregoing potential six-figure sponsorship revenue.
His content creation process takes five minutes from story identification to publication, with no editing. Parnas monetizes through platform creative programs and Substack subscriptions rather than brand deals. He plans to launch a podcast on YouTube and expand his newsletter while maintaining his rapid-response news format that capitalizes on the growing trend of Americans consuming news through social media creators.
Channel 4 aired a documentary about former OnlyFans creator Bonnie Blue on July 29, drawing viewer criticism over explicit content on mainstream television. The film "1,000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story" examined the 26-year-old's claim that she slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours.
Viewers posted complaints on X, questioning why Channel 4 provided airtime to Blue, whose real name is Tia Billinger. The broadcaster defended the documentary in a July 30 statement to LADbible, saying the explicit content was editorially justified and broadcast after watershed hours in compliance with Ofcom broadcasting codes.
Blue was permanently banned from OnlyFans in June after announcing a "petting zoo" stunt involving 2,000 men. She told Us Weekly in June that despite setbacks, she planned to continue public events. The documentary represents a shift from adult subscription platforms to traditional television coverage of creator economy personalities.
YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul hired attorney Alex Spiro to pursue legal action against individuals who claimed his fights were staged or fixed. Spiro, who previously represented Elon Musk and Aaron Hernandez, told The Post that Paul would seek legal redress for damages suffered from these accusations.
The legal threat followed widespread criticism of Paul's November fight against 58-year-old Mike Tyson, where fans questioned the bout's legitimacy after Tyson appeared inactive and struggled by the fight's end. Paul's comments about wanting to "give fans a show" and not wanting to "hurt somebody that didn't need to be hurt" fueled conspiracy theories despite the fight being sanctioned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Potential targets for legal action include broadcaster Piers Morgan, who doubled down after Paul's lawsuit threat, and actor Sylvester Stallone, who called the fight a "sham" in a since-deleted social media post. Paul's promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions, previously issued a statement denying any contractual restrictions during the Tyson bout.
Industry News
Creator economy platform REACH acquired a 12% stake in Tesslate, an open-source AI infrastructure and development ecosystem, marking REACH's expansion into technical incubation and infrastructure-first startups. REACH provides creator growth, distribution, and marketing services. The deal was announced in August 2025.
Tesslate, founded by AI engineer Manav Majumdar, builds tools that convert ideas into production-grade software using modular AI agents and full-stack generation tools. The platform recorded over 60,000 model downloads on Hugging Face and earned 300+ GitHub stars across its open-source libraries.
Beyond the equity investment, REACH and Tesslate committed to co-developing and incubating consumer technology companies. The partnership combines REACH's brand-building capabilities with Tesslate's multi-agent software stack to create an AI-native startup studio model. The collaboration targets the growing integration of AI in content creation, as recent Wondercraft research showed over 80% of creators now use AI tools, with nearly 40% incorporating them throughout their entire workflow.
YouTube expanded its AI-powered "Jump Ahead" feature to television platforms, extending the Premium subscriber tool beyond web and mobile applications. First spotted by Android Authority on NVIDIA Shield TV devices, the feature analyzes viewing data to identify segments that most viewers typically watch or skip to.
The feature launched in May 2024 for web and mobile users. On TV devices, a dot appears on the video progress bar indicating popular segments, allowing users to skip directly to highlighted moments using their remote's right arrow button.
The expansion comes as YouTube reported capturing a record 12.8% of total TV usage in June 2025, marking its fifth consecutive month leading Nielsen rankings. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said television screens overtook mobile and desktop as the primary viewing medium in the United States, with viewers watching over 1 billion hours of YouTube content on TVs daily.
YouTube reported surpassing 100 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers in early 2024, alongside YouTube TV's 8 million subscribers.
Instagram implemented a new policy requiring users to have at least 1,000 followers before accessing live streaming capabilities. The change rolled out in recent weeks and brings Instagram in line with TikTok, which maintains the same follower threshold across major markets including the United States and Europe.
Users below the 1,000-follower requirement received notifications about the change and must use video calls as an alternative for real-time audience communication. Meta has not provided an official explanation for the policy change.
The threshold contrasts with YouTube, which requires only 50 subscribers for live streaming eligibility but supplements this with additional criteria including a minimum age requirement of 16 years. Instagram also implemented the same 16-year minimum age restriction in April.
The follower requirement potentially serves as a quality filter to ensure only creators with established audiences can broadcast live, while also reducing server resource demands for broadcasts with limited viewership and helping prevent newly created accounts from streaming inappropriate content before moderation intervention.
TikTok launched new creator protection tools on July 31, 2025, aimed at reducing harassment and improving content compliance. The platform introduced Creator Care Mode, which uses AI to automatically filter offensive comments based on each creator's past reporting behavior. For livestreaming, TikTok added bulk mute capabilities allowing hosts to block specific words, phrases, and emojis from chat for creator-determined durations.
The platform rolled out Content Check Lite through TikTok Studio, enabling creators to pre-screen content for For You feed eligibility before posting. When TikTok implemented similar tools for Shop sellers, the company saw a 27% reduction in low-quality uploads. TikTok is testing an expanded Content Check feature with select creators to verify compliance with all Community Guidelines.
Additional features include Creator Inbox for professional message management with organizational tools and custom responses, plus Creator Chat Room for direct follower interaction. Creators with 10,000+ followers and either Subscription or LIVE Fan Club access can create up to 20 chat rooms with 300 participants each.
Creator monetization platform Fanvue launched the Future Sound Awards, a competition for AI-generated music content with $10,000 in total prizes. The company, which operates in the "Creator AI Economy" sector, opened submissions until August 5 for creators over 18 worldwide.
Fanvue partnered with TwoShot, an AI music creation platform, to handle submissions and SoundCloud to host the contest chart. Creators submit tracks through TwoShot Studio, which includes licensing technology from Audible Magic to prevent copyright infringement. A judging panel including AI music producer Jeff Nang, producer Butter Bro, and TwoShot founder Tobi Akinyemi will evaluate submissions alongside audience metrics.
The awards received over 300 submissions and will announce winners with $7,000 for first place and $1,500 each for second and third place on August 12. According to the International Music Summit, over 60 million people used AI to create music last year. Fanvue Head of AI Narcis Marincat leads the initiative as part of the company's broader Fanvue World AI Creator Awards, which includes the Miss AI competition returning in 2025.
Creator Sports Capital led a $45 million investment round in Good Good Golf in March, alongside Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions, Manhattan West Private Equity, and Sunflower Bank. Benjamin Grubbs, co-founder of Creator Sports Capital, announced the goal to grow Good Good into a top-five golf brand.
Good Good Golf, founded in 2020, operates 1.75 million subscribers across its YouTube channels and generates revenue through both advertising and product sales without traditional marketing spend. The Texas-based creator company has partnerships with NBC Sports and Golf Channel for events like the Good Good Desert Knockout.
Creator Sports Capital was founded in 2024 by Grubbs, who previously worked 18 years at YouTube, Turner Broadcasting, eBay, and Yahoo. The firm focuses on sustainable creator businesses at the intersection of sports and creator economies. Good Good had never raised outside capital before this round and was seeking investors with platform and international market knowledge.
Adelaide-based talent partnerships group Launchd acquired influencer marketing agency Hoozu from Izea Worldwide Inc in July 2025, marking its second purchase from Izea in two months. The company previously bought Brisbane-based agency Huume from Izea in June and speaker bureau ICMI in April. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Hoozu, an influencer marketing agency that partners with brands on creator campaigns, will continue operating under its own brand from its Sydney office. Nathan Ruff remains CEO while Sarah Fischer Letts joined as head of creative and strategic partnerships. Hoozu's Sydney location will serve as a creator marketing center within Launchd's expanded operations.
Founded by former Australian Football League players James Begley and Matthew Pavlich, Launchd began as speaker marketplace Pickstar before expanding through institutional backing from Altor Capital. The combined entity now connects brands with over 5,000 athletes, influencers, entertainers and speakers, supporting more than 100,000 talent activations annually. Launchd plans international expansion in 2026.
Everyone has become their own content creator, driven by invisible pressures to document and perform their lives online. This shift extends beyond young people to all demographics, with middle-aged concertgoers filming themselves as frequently as Gen Z audiences. The behavior stems from modern "cultural capital" - the need to appear successful and culturally literate online to attract professional opportunities.
Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital has evolved from wine courses and art prints to social media presence, particularly relevant as more workers face precarious employment requiring self-promotion. Journalist Natalie Olah suggests this reflects "widespread delusion that anything outside of the spectacle doesn't exist" - visibility has become validation.
For creator economy professionals, this trend represents both opportunity and challenge. While everyone performing like influencers expands the potential creator pool, it also increases competition for authentic audience attention and professional opportunities through social proof.
Amazon-owned podcasting company Wondery underwent a business restructuring on August 4 that resulted in 110 layoffs and the departure of CEO Jen Sargent. The company split its operations, moving narrative podcast titles including "Dr. Death," "American Scandal," and "Business Wars" to Amazon's Audible platform.
Video-focused podcasts from creators like Jason and Travis Kelce's "New Heights," Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert," and LeBron James' "Mind The Game" transferred to Amazon's creator services team to unlock larger brand partnerships while maintaining the Wondery brand name. A source indicated Wondery faced a profitability mandate from Amazon to be met by year-end.
The reorganization reflects broader industry shifts toward video podcasting driven by YouTube's dominance. YouTube reported 1 billion monthly active podcast viewers as of February and generated nearly $10 billion in advertising revenue last quarter. Spotify also pivoted to video in 2024, reporting video podcast consumption grew 20 times faster than audio-only content, with over 430,000 video podcasts on its platform.
Twitch implemented enhanced viewbot detection systems to combat artificial viewership inflation across its platform. The Amazon-owned streaming service announced on July 28 that it deployed new technology to identify and remove fake engagement, with changes rolling out over several weeks.
CEO Dan Clancy explained the platform addressed two primary viewbotting methods: streamers working with third parties to inflate numbers and bots deployed to harass creators. He acknowledged the detection process as "a cat-and-mouse game" while emphasizing efforts to avoid filtering legitimate viewers.
The crackdown follows persistent viewbotting controversies involving multiple high-profile streamers. QueenGloriaRP received a ban in March after accidentally revealing viewbotting software during her stream. Popular creators xQc and Kai Cenat became involved in public disputes over artificial viewership accusations.
Twitch warned that third-party sites publishing unverified viewcount data would experience changes as the new detection systems take effect. The platform commits to continued monitoring and system updates to maintain authentic engagement metrics.
Democratic Senator Edward Markey introduced legislation on July 31 that would establish national security safeguards for TikTok while keeping the platform available to its 170 million American users. The proposal would eliminate the current divestiture requirement if ByteDance implements transparency measures and restricts foreign access to American user data.
The framework offers an alternative to existing legislation requiring Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. operations by September 17. President Trump has extended the divestiture deadline three times since January, with lawmakers questioning his legal authority to grant these extensions.
A potential deal to spin off TikTok's U.S. operations stalled earlier this year due to U.S.-China trade tensions. The proposed structure would give outside investors 50% stake, existing American investors 30%, and ByteDance under 20%. TikTok is reportedly developing a standalone U.S. app version scheduled to launch September 5, replacing the current app by March 2026 if a sale completes.
Atlantic Council analysts warn TikTok poses national security risks through potential influence operations targeting American youth and future leaders. The authors argue Beijing could use TikTok's algorithm to shape public opinion, particularly around sensitive topics like Taiwan conflicts, while collecting real-time data on American sentiment. A Rutgers study found TikTok suppressed content about Tibet and Xinjiang while heavy users showed more positive attitudes toward China.
The platform's 170 million U.S. users experienced notable political sentiment swings, with Trump's youth support rising seven points in 2024 then dropping 27 points within three months of taking office. The authors highlight stark contrasts between TikTok's U.S. operations and China's domestic Douyin app, which restricts users under 14 to 40 minutes daily with nighttime lockouts. They argue this demonstrates China exports "attention-fracturing content" while protecting its own youth.
ShopMy launched a consumer shopping platform on Wednesday that allows shoppers to buy directly from curated storefronts featuring their favorite creators' product recommendations. The affiliate marketing platform, which operates 175,000 creators including Sofia Richie and Molly Baz alongside over 1,000 brand partners, introduced AI-powered "circles" that personalize taste profiles based on followed creators.
The platform moves $80 million monthly through creator affiliate links, with its automated influencer outreach tool generating 5.5x ROI for brands. Shoppers can wishlist items and purchase later through affiliate links that redirect to brand websites, with commissions split among creators who recommended each product.
ShopMy competes with LTK, which launched a similar consumer app in 2017. The company acquired review platform Thingtesting earlier this year and plans to launch a mobile app by early 2026. The platform positions itself as a permanent archive of creator recommendations, addressing the temporary nature of social media posts.
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Meta is aggressively pursuing partnerships with AI video startups as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's push toward "personal superintelligence." The company recently held acquisition talks with video generation startup Pika, which has raised $135 million from major investors. Separate acquisition discussions with creator-focused video app Higgsfield have stalled, while earlier talks with Runway also ended without a deal.
The video AI push follows Meta's broader organizational overhaul after hiring Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang as chief AI officer in a $14.3 billion investment deal. Meta has also recruited former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to co-lead its new Meta Superintelligence Labs and poached dozens of researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
Video AI capabilities could enhance Meta's smart glasses and social media platforms, where early AI-powered editing features are showing promising user engagement according to recent analyst calls.
TikTok launched "Footnotes," a community-driven fact-checking program allowing nearly 80,000 qualified users to add contextual information and source links to videos. Unlike Meta and X, which replaced professional fact-checking with community notes, TikTok maintains existing moderation partnerships while adding this crowdsourced layer.
The feature targets TikTok's 170 million American users as the company faces continued regulatory pressure. President Trump has extended the federal ban deadline to mid-September, requiring ByteDance to find non-Chinese ownership.
Contributors must be 18 or older with clean community guideline records and six months platform history. Users can cite any sources they deem authoritative, including Wikipedia and fact-checking articles, with the highest-rated notes appearing on all users' screens.
For creator economy professionals, this represents TikTok's attempt to address advertiser concerns about content safety while potentially creating new engagement opportunities through the contributor program, though it adds another content moderation variable to navigate.
TikTok has become a news source for 17 percent of adults and 39 percent of adults under 30, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Traditional media outlets represent fewer than 1 percent of TikTok accounts followed by Americans, with users instead consuming news from "newsfluencers" and entertainment-style content.
Aaron Parnas, a 26-year-old lawyer, has built 4.2 million TikTok followers through rapid-response news videos. His content reached more than 100 million American users in six months, and his Substack newsletter leads the "news" category in subscriptions. Jack Mac, another creator with 1.1 million followers, delivers news commentary through what he calls "journalisming."
The Washington Post adapted to TikTok with news skits, but Dave Jorgenson, who launched their TikTok channel in 2019, left in 2025 to start his own video company. A NewsGuard assessment found 20 percent of TikTok's news search results contained misinformation. Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok's Chinese owners to sell, but Trump has delayed implementation three times since taking office.
Amazon broke up its Wondery podcast network operations and cut approximately 110 staff members as part of a reorganization of its audio business. Wondery CEO Jen Sargent exited the company during the restructuring.
The company moved existing Wondery series into two divisions. Some shows transferred to Amazon's Audible banner, while others joined a new "creator services" team that houses personality-driven content including Jason and Travis Kelce's podcast. The Wondery brand will continue on some creator services-managed shows.
The reorganization reflects broader shifts in podcasting toward video-oriented content. Amazon acquired Wondery, a podcast production company known for true crime and narrative shows, in 2020 for an undisclosed amount. The restructuring consolidates Amazon's audio operations under existing business units rather than maintaining Wondery as a standalone division within the company's media portfolio.
Katie Feeney represents sports media's future as traditional outlets pivot to creator-driven content. The 22-year-old influencer parlayed pandemic-era TikTok success into a million-dollar business by age 18, now commanding six-figure brand deals and nearly 8 million TikTok followers.
ESPN hired Feeney to host "SportsCenter on Snapchat" and appear on "Monday Night Football" and "College GameDay," recognizing her direct fan access advantage over traditional journalists. Her packed schedule includes the Super Bowl, Masters, Final Four, and ESPYs, with brands like Gatorade and Google sponsoring appearances.
Sports leagues increasingly prioritize influencer partnerships over traditional media. MLB hired a director of influencers while the WNBA credentials fashion creators, acknowledging players engage more with social content than newspaper coverage.
Feeney maintains "brand safety" by avoiding politics and controversy, posting 50-100 times daily across platforms. For creator economy professionals, her trajectory demonstrates how authentic audience relationships can rapidly translate into major media opportunities and corporate partnerships within established sports ecosystems.