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- Influence Weekly #429 - Hershey Just Revealed A Limited-Edition Product That's Launching First On TikTok Shop
Influence Weekly #429 - Hershey Just Revealed A Limited-Edition Product That's Launching First On TikTok Shop
Night Raises $70M To Expand Creator Management Into Gaming, Music, And Live Events
Nii Ahene
February 20, 2026
Spotlight Stories
Night Raises $70M To Expand Creator Management Into Gaming, Music, And Live Events
Hershey Just Revealed A Limited-Edition Product That's Launching First On TikTok Shop
Pro Shop Partners With Influencer Paige Spiranac To Expand Golf Media, Consumer Products
Dick’s Sporting Goods Doubles Down On Creator Program Amid Growing Demand For Sports Storytelling
Great Reads
Creator talent management firm Night raised $70 million in a new financing round, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Dallas-based company, founded by Reed Duchscher, represents creators including Kai Cenat, Sam and Colby, Safiya Nygaard, T-Pain, and the Kalogeras Sisters.
Investors in the round included StepStone Group, Founders Fund, House Capital, K5 Global, and PagsGroup. Night said it planned to use the capital to build, operate and acquire businesses across digital media, music, sports, gaming, podcasting, streaming and live events.
The funding followed several acquisitions by Night. The company purchased the Roost Podcast Network from Warner Bros. Discovery in 2024 and acquired experiential marketing firm Experiential Supply Co. in 2025. Night also acquired LFM Management in 2023, adding Kai Cenat and creator collective AMP to its roster. The company operates Night Capital, a $100 million venture fund launched in 2022 with The Chernin Group.
Hershey is using TikTok Shop as the exclusive launch platform for a $5.99 limited-edition chocolate Olympic medal tied to the Milano Cortina Winter Games. The product dropped February 13 on TikTok Shop before hitting physical retail the following day — a deliberate sequencing that positions the platform as a premier launch channel for major consumer brands.
Hershey paired the drop with custom AR lenses on Snapchat and branded TikTok effects featuring digital medal versions, engineering shareability directly into the product launch. The move is part of a broader Olympic marketing push by the $45 billion company, its first milk chocolate bar ad campaign in eight years. For creator economy professionals, it's a clear signal that legacy CPG brands are now treating TikTok Shop as a strategic first-to-market retail window.
American Eagle launched the AE Creator Community on February 2, replacing its previous Live Your Life affiliate program. The retailer attracted 911 creators within 11 days, with more than 200 migrating from the earlier program.
The program targets micro-influencers with at least 1,000 followers on one platform who are 18 years old and US-based. Creators earn points redeemable for gift cards and products at a rate of $1 per 1,000 points, in addition to commissions. For example, creators received 1,500 points for posting haul videos.
The program includes monthly challenges and a chatroom for direct communication with American Eagle representatives. The retailer built the platform internally rather than using existing affiliate networks ShopMy and LTK to maintain direct relationships with creators and secure content rights for marketing use.
American Eagle Outfitters reported $1.4 billion in third-quarter earnings, with affiliate marketing driving $210 billion in US ecommerce sales in 2025 according to eMarketer.
Acast is a leading podcast hosting and monetization platform that connects creators with advertisers and distributes shows globally. The company works with thousands of podcasters to help them reach audiences and generate revenue through advertising.
Ceci Carloni chats with CEO Greg Glenday to hear his perspective on three critical issues: why podcasting's listener-driven meritocracy makes it fundamentally different from algorithm-based platforms, why most top two hundred fifty US brands still haven't invested despite direct response advertisers proving the channel works, and how Acast is solving discovery and measurement challenges through curation and transcription data.
Campaign Insights
Vita Coco partnered with TikTok creator Romeo Bingham after his Dr. Pepper jingle went viral on the platform. The coconut water brand became the first company to pay Romeo for content after his viral breakout, following a comment on his original video that received 110,000 likes.
The collaboration resulted in Romeo creating a jingle with lyrics "Vita Coco, you'll go loco, 'cause it's so dang delicioso." Vita Coco featured the jingle on a Times Square billboard and sent Romeo and his family to Super Bowl LX in San Francisco.
Jane Prior, Vita Coco's chief marketing officer, said the campaign generated roughly twice the impressions of a standard Super Bowl ad. The company uses seven dedicated team members to monitor social media trends and tools like Archive to detect brand mentions for real-time responses. Prior advised creators to tag brands in content and engage through direct messages and comments to get noticed.
Dick's Sporting Goods expanded its Varsity Team creator program to 60 participants in 2026, up from 50 in 2025, after receiving 10,800 applications compared to 5,300 the previous year. The sporting goods retailer launched the program in 2021 as an employee-only initiative before opening it to the public in 2025.
The program includes store associates, NIL athletes, coaches, paralympians, and athletes' family members who partner with Dick's and its brand partners to create marketing content. Olympic athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall and Paralympic athlete Hunter Woodhall serve as team captains.
Dick's 2025 cohort produced 2,500 pieces of content that generated 40 million organic views. The company identified footwear, soccer, and running as priority content categories for 2026. Varsity Team members attend an annual four-day orientation in Florida and must be at least 18 years old with content creation capabilities.
Dick's operates a separate influencer program alongside Varsity Team, working with hundreds of creators for seasonal campaigns and local events.
Moose Toys announced two separate creator partnerships on February 16, 2026, expanding its influencer-led product portfolio. The toy company signed a multi-year global partnership with Mark Rober's CrunchLabs to develop the "CrunchLabs by Mark Rober" collection, featuring eight STEM-focused toys including The Crunchinator and Elephant Toothpaste Blast.
Moose plans to pair each toy with dedicated Rober videos explaining scientific principles like torque and mechanical advantage. The company also signed a long-term brand and licensing partnership with 16-year-old creator Salish Matter, naming her co-creative director of a new lifestyle toy line targeting kids and tweens.
Matter, who has generated more than 13.3 billion lifetime YouTube views, will see her first products reach retail by the end of 2026. The line evolves from her earlier Gui Gui slime collaboration into a standalone brand focused on trend-forward design and collectability. Both deals operate as separate initiatives under Moose Toys, which already works with creators including MrBeast.
Macy's expanded its Style Crew creator program to 600 members in 2026, up from 20 employees when it launched in 2017. The department store plans to grow the program to 1,000 participants and reported a 478% year-over-year increase in creator storefront sales.
The retailer tied creator programming to tentpole events including its 100th Thanksgiving Day Parade and 50th Fourth of July Fireworks. Macy's held influencer events in Dallas, Miami and New York City in 2025, plus its first influencer Black Friday activation at Herald Square.
The company integrated creators into direct mail campaigns and multimedia marketing, featuring Style Crew member Lilliana Vazquez on Jennifer Hudson's television show in December. Macy's operates on an affiliate model with 12% average commission and launched beauty-specific programming after requests from creators. Posts from Style Crew members grew 9,000% in the past year, with nearly every member posting monthly. The expansion supports Macy's Inc.'s "Bold New Chapter" strategy launched in February 2024.
H&R Block launched Creator Suite on February 11, a specialized tax filing platform designed for content creators. The platform provides DIY online filing with creator-specific prompts, guidance on platform income sources including YouTube ad revenue and TikTok Creator Fund payouts, and integration with H&R Block's Spruce mobile banking app.
The launch addresses documented financial management challenges in the creator economy. An H&R Block survey of 500 creators conducted from November 26 to December 7, 2025, found that 70% find managing finances difficult and 25% cite taxes as their primary business stressor. A separate 2025 Visa report found 71% of creators describe themselves as self-taught in financial management.
Creator Suite offers step-by-step guidance on creator-specific deductions including equipment, home studios, travel expenses, and software subscriptions. The platform includes automated 1099-K reconciliation to prevent duplicate income reporting and features a quarterly tax calculator for payment planning throughout the year.
Pro Shop, a golf media and commerce company founded in 2023, formed a long-term joint venture with golf influencer Paige Spiranac in February 2026. The partnership, named Paige Co., will develop digital content series, branded products, and consumer businesses across lifestyle, golf equipment, and consumer goods categories.
Under the agreement, Pro Shop will provide production, distribution, sales, merchandising, and commercial support. Spiranac will take an equity stake in Pro Shop and serve as strategic partner, on-camera talent, producer, and creative collaborator.
The deal follows Spiranac's June 2025 executive role at Grass League, a par-3 golf competition, where she handles brand development, digital marketing, fan engagement, and talent acquisition. Pro Shop was founded by former executives from Vox Media, Puck, and the PGA Tour. The company produces Netflix's "Full Swing," co-produced "Happy Gilmore 2," operates digital brand Skratch and commerce brand Sugarloaf Social Club, recently acquired GolfWRX, and signed a media agreement with the LPGA.
Primark retained its position as the top UK fashion brand on TikTok in Q4 2025, generating £15.7 million in earned media value through nearly 2,500 content pieces and 940 creators, according to Kolsquare's analysis of over 85,000 pieces of content. The influencer marketing platform studied 1,160 fashion brands across 45,348 influencer profiles with more than 5,000 followers from October through December 2025.
Gymshark climbed seven positions to second place with £6.14 million in EMV from 1,302 content pieces and 219 creators. H&M advanced five spots to third with £6.06 million in EMV, supported by 522 pieces of content and a 7.7% engagement rate.
The luxury segment showed exceptional engagement rates, with Aspinal of London surging 47 positions to first place in its category with £1.71 million in EMV from only 10 content pieces and six influencers, achieving a 68.9% engagement rate. The report analyzed performance across ready-to-wear, jewelry and watches, luxury, and lingerie segments.
The NFL and YouTube's Super Bowl LX Flag Football Game attracted over 14 million live views on February 13, more than doubling the previous year's audience from the New Orleans event. Team J Balvin defeated Team Druski in the matchup, which featured quarterbacks Cam Newton and Michael Vick with coaching from Deion Sanders and Ryan Clark.
The game aired on the NFL's YouTube channel and through simulcasts on participating players' channels. This marked YouTube's third flag football collaboration with the NFL, following previous games in London and at Super Bowl LIX, with partnerships scheduled for the next two Super Bowls.
NFL-related content on YouTube accumulated more than 20 billion views in 2025, with NFL video content growing 250% in annual global views from 2020 to 2025. The NFL now operates 11 official channels across four languages, expanding from a single channel launched in 2015.
Fallen Media launched The Love Network in February 2026, consolidating its dating and relationship programming to streamline brand partnerships. The New York-based studio grouped three short-form series under the division: "Street Hearts with Tiff," "Love Train," and "Sketch My Ex," which have collectively generated millions of views.
The network provides brands a unified entry point to integrate across multiple shows and explore original brand entertainment formats. Fallen Media reports 10 million followers and over 75 million monthly views across its portfolio.
The move follows similar strategies by other companies targeting Gen Z audiences through creator-led programming. Tinder produced "Double Date Island" on YouTube in September 2025, featuring social media creators to market its group dating feature, citing data showing 71% of Gen Z consumers aged 16-27 use social platforms as their primary content discovery channel.
CEO Sol Betesh said the consolidation was a natural step given the success of existing shows, allowing the company to scale proven formats while offering partners seamless access to culturally relevant audiences.
HypeAuditor released its "State of Influencer Marketing 2026" report analyzing 205.2 million creator accounts across major platforms. The study found nano creators with 1,000-10,000 followers represent 88.7% of TikTok accounts and 81.5% of Instagram accounts, reinforcing the long-tail structure of creator supply.
Engagement rates declined as audience size increased across platforms. TikTok nano creators achieved 11.6% median engagement versus 6.8% for macro and mega creators. Instagram nano creators recorded 1.78% engagement compared to 0.33%-0.35% for larger accounts.
Platforms shifted performance metrics toward retention and consumption behavior. Instagram prioritized views and watch time for Reels, while direct messages became the primary content sharing method. TikTok expanded commerce capabilities through TikTok Shop and favored videos exceeding one minute. YouTube added product tagging to Shorts.
Industry professionals surveyed by Net Influencer reported persistent gaps in creator performance measurement, despite U.S. brands spending over $10 billion on sponsored content in 2025. Thirty-three percent of marketers cited measuring creator performance as their primary challenge, while 61 percent planned to increase creator investment in 2026.
Multiple technology companies provided solutions to address attribution problems. Social Snowball introduced Safelinks, which generate unique single-use codes for each customer click to prevent coupon fraud. Later unveiled a unified influencer marketing analytics platform with sales tracking capabilities. Beacons launched a business intelligence suite connecting creator activity to business outcomes using first-party data from creators who actively use their platform.
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TikTok creator Aba Asante, who gained 200 million views on a single video at 16, took a two-year hiatus from content creation to attend college, returning with 6.4 million followers across platforms. The 22-year-old creator stopped posting after high school to study marketing and business management while playing collegiate volleyball in Boston, describing herself as overwhelmed by competing demands.
Asante returned to content creation after being approached by a manager, applying formal business education to rebuild her platform. She invested personal funds in equipment and studied platform analytics to regain audience trust. Her content focuses on POV storytelling, beauty routines, and lifestyle commentary targeting Gen Z audiences.
The creator has secured brand partnerships with YouTube, Netflix, Target, Tubi, Sephora, and Hollister, emphasizing creative freedom in deal selection. Asante now treats content creation as structured business hours and plans to expand into acting, commercial modeling, and launching her own venture beyond social media platforms.
Sixteen-year-old YouTube star Salish Matter secured a three-year deal with Netflix after her skincare brand Sincerely Yours caused a retail frenzy at Sephora. The brand, co-founded with private equity firm Strand Equity, raised $7 million and launched four products priced between $22 and $28.
The products sold out within hours at Sephora locations, with the moisturizer becoming a top 10 bestseller in its category. Sincerely Yours debuted in 384 Sephora stores and will expand to all 600-plus US locations this spring. A September 2025 mall event in New Jersey drew 87,000 attendees, forcing police to shut it down for safety concerns.
Matter has 10 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, while her father Jordan's YouTube channel has 34 million subscribers and ranks 70th overall in the US. Gen Alpha spent $14 billion on beauty products in 2024, up 70 percent from 2023, according to Fashion Institute of Technology data.
Sassy Chap Games, a Los Angeles-based transmedia company, signed with Creative Artists Agency to expand its gaming properties across film, television, publishing, consumer products, and live experiences. The studio is led by voice actors Robbie Daymond and Ray Chase, known for work on "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Final Fantasy XV," alongside COO Logan Burdick, formerly of pocket.watch and Maker Studios.
The CAA partnership follows the commercial performance of Sassy Chap's debut title "Date Everything!," which sold more than 725,000 copies and generated billions of impressions since its June 2025 launch. The game featured over 100 voice actors including Felicia Day, Matthew Mercer, and Troy Baker.
The studio recently partnered with collectibles company Youtooz for a plush collection featuring four community-selected characters, marking its first entry into toys and collectibles. CAA Games Agent Matthew Cohen will support the company's expansion to global audiences across multiple media platforms.
TikTok creator Kailey Anna outlined her approach to content strategy and future business plans during a recent interview. Anna, who has 400,000 followers, built her audience by posting 20 videos daily for six months while focusing on confidence-building content for her target demographic.
Anna scaled from zero to 400,000 followers in two months and reached one million followers within six months using this high-volume posting strategy. She previously earned an engineering degree from USC before launching a teen empowerment events company, which led her to social media during the pandemic.
The creator currently works with multiple non-exclusive managers for brand partnerships after initially charging $1,000 per deal. She operates a separate TikTok Shop account to isolate commerce content from community-building efforts on her main channel.
Anna stated she wants to transition into reality television as her next career move, either joining existing shows or developing family-focused content. She described herself as being in a "rebrand phase" while experimenting with beauty tutorials and lifestyle vlogs beyond her core confidence niche.
Later, an influencer marketing company, launched Later 360 on February 17, 2026, a unified reporting suite that consolidates influencer marketing performance data from engagement metrics to verified sales in a single dashboard. The platform addresses enterprise marketers' need to track performance across organic content, paid amplification, and commerce outcomes without manual reporting.
Later 360 operates on the company's dataset of over $2 billion in verified influencer-driven purchases, more than 1 billion Link in Bio transactions, and an ecosystem of 16 million creators. The system processes data from millions of scheduled social posts, generating over 130 billion annual impressions.
The platform allows brands to segment performance by product category, creator tier, retailer channel, and campaign objective. Reports populate automatically during campaign execution, displaying projected versus actual spend, category-level ROI, and cross-platform performance in customizable formats.
Later 360 is available to select customers based on program eligibility.
Jake Paul became the first celebrity to license his name, image, and likeness to OpenAI's Sora text-to-video platform after meeting CEO Sam Altman at President Trump's inauguration ceremony. The deal generated over one billion impressions for a portfolio company in Paul's Anti Fund venture capital firm.
Anti Fund, co-founded by Paul and Geoffrey Woo in 2021, evolved from a Miami rolling fund into a $30 million institutional firm managing over $65 million in assets. The fund secured allocations in competitive rounds for OpenAI, Anduril, Polymarket, and Ramp.
Paul ranked third on Forbes' 2025 Top Creators list with $50 million in earnings. His 2024 fight against Mike Tyson attracted 108 million Netflix viewers. The fund positions itself around supporting nontraditional founders and helps startups with distribution and marketing.
Paul faced recent controversies, including a 2023 SEC settlement for illegally promoting a crypto scheme and criticism for calling Bad Bunny a "fake American."
Industry News
Snapchat launched a creator subscription feature on February 23, testing with approximately 15 U.S. creators before expanding to Canada, the UK, and France. Creators can set monthly subscription prices between $4.99 and $19.99 and receive approximately 60% of revenue after platform fees.
Initial participants include David Dobrik, Catherine Paiz, Harry Jowsey, Jeremiah Brown, and Skai Jackson. Subscribers receive exclusive content, direct photos and videos, access to subscriber-only Stories, and featured text replies on creators' public Stories.
The move comes as Snapchat reported 474 million daily active users in Q4 2025, down 3 million from the previous quarter. The platform's existing paid products reached 24 million subscribers, up 71% year-over-year. eMarketer forecasted Snapchat's U.S. ad revenue growth would slow to 1.9% in 2026, prompting diversification beyond advertising revenue. The feature competes with YouTube Channel Memberships, which pass 70% of revenue to creators, and Meta's subscription tools that currently allow creators to keep 100% after fees.
Moburst, a digital marketing agency, launched Growth Labs, an AI unit focused on developing marketing solutions for clients. The company hired Fernando Ideses, founder of marketing analytics platform Crystal Ball, as Strategic Technology Product Lead to oversee product development.
Growth Labs aims to create products that improve brand performance across digital platforms, search engines, and generative AI platforms. The unit builds on Moburst's year-long AI investment across its operations.
The agency has integrated AI across all 29 service offerings, from creative development to app development. Moburst's AI team collaborates with 16 cross-department "AI Champions" who embed AI into daily operations. In January, the company launched 10 new AI-powered internal products separate from the Growth Labs initiative.
Growth Labs plans to expand its product roadmap over the next 12 to 24 months with AI solutions focused on predictive analytics, generative content intelligence, and integration with emerging AI platforms.
Stream Hatchet's 2025 report found live streaming viewership reached 36.4 billion hours watched, a 6% increase that brought the industry near its 2021 pandemic peak of 37.1 billion hours. This growth rate slowed from 15% in 2024.
Twitch maintained dominance with 19.2 billion hours watched but lost 8.3 percentage points of market share. The platform recorded three consecutive quarterly declines, with Q4's 4.4 billion hours marking its lowest since Q1 2020. Twitch implemented anti-viewbotting measures in July, contributing to reduced unique channels.
Kick posted the fastest growth, with hours watched rising 131% to 4.5 billion, capturing one-eighth of the market. YouTube Gaming hit record viewership at 8.8 billion hours, up 12%.
"League of Legends" reclaimed most-watched game status with 1.95 billion hours, displacing "Grand Theft Auto V." Kai Cenat led individual streamers with 131.9 million hours watched. Non-gaming content expanded to 22% of Twitch viewership, up from 20% in 2024.
TopFan, a Denver-based technology company founded in 2016, exited private beta to launch a white-labeled platform for independent creators. CEO Jeffrey Kohn, who previously held roles at Oracle and NASA, developed infrastructure allowing creators to own direct fan relationships through centralized websites and apps.
The platform consolidates content, commerce, and community features including subscriptions, merchandise sales, video requests, and live streams. TopFan addresses declining organic reach on social platforms, which now shows creator posts to only 3.4% of followers according to industry research.
After a decade serving enterprise clients including sports teams and entertainment brands, TopFan shifted focus to independent creators in 2026. The company provides detailed customer relationship management data and audience segmentation tools, allowing creators to target fans by location, purchase history, and engagement behavior.
Kohn argued that creators should operate like Fortune 100 companies with direct customer access rather than depending on third-party platforms for monetization and data.
Digital-first studio pocket.watch added eight YouTube creators with 132 million combined subscribers to its global distribution network in February 2026. The additions brought the company's total creator network to over 1.5 billion collective subscribers.
Topper Guild led the new signings with 87 million subscribers, followed by JJ & Mikey with 19 million subscribers and six smaller creators. The new partners joined existing roster members including Ryan's World, Kids Diana Show, and Toys and Colors.
Pocket.watch distributes content across 43 platforms globally and reported its network generated over 1 trillion lifetime views. The company announced "Rabbit Hole," a 10-episode original series featuring Topper Guild and other creators debuting on Hulu in 2026.
The expansion reflected pocket.watch's strategic push into teen and general audience content beyond its core kids programming. The studio previously reported generating over $100 million in payouts to partners, with licensed consumer products driving over $1 billion in retail sales.
New York-based e-commerce agency Front Row Group acquired performance marketing firm Socium Media in February 2026. The acquisition expands Front Row's services across brand strategy, performance marketing, and Amazon marketplace execution.
Socium Media, founded by Sam Sherman and Owen Loft, provides paid search, paid social, SEO, and geographic targeting services. The agency has worked with brands including Auberge, VINCE, Canopy, Magic Spoon, and OSEA across travel, wellness, and lifestyle sectors.
The merged entity will initially operate as "Socium, Powered by Front Row" under EVP and Managing Director Katie Martin, with full brand integration planned for later in 2026. The combined organization will deliver Front Row's marketplace leadership and retail media expertise alongside Socium's performance marketing capabilities.
Front Row specializes in e-commerce growth and Amazon marketplace management for beauty, health, wellness, and consumer packaged goods brands, serving clients including OUAI, Essity, Wella, and Tatcha.
TikTok launched Local Feeds on February 16, 2026, marking the platform's first new feature for U.S. users following recent ownership changes. TikTok USDS now operates the platform's U.S. operations after a national takeover.
The feature functions identically to TikTok's Nearby Feeds launched in the UK and Europe. Local Feeds displays location-based content including travel, events, restaurants, shopping, and posts from small businesses and local creators to users 18 and older.
The platform cited small business support as justification for the feature's value. A 2025 Oxford Economics report found 7.5 million businesses operate on TikTok in the U.S., employing over 28 million workers. ByteDance previously used this economic argument during legislation threatening to ban TikTok in the region.
Local Feeds remains disabled by default for all users and unavailable to those under 18. The feature's location tracking activates only when users open the app, according to TikTok USDS statements.
Apple Podcasts announced it will launch video podcast support this spring using HTTP Live Streaming technology, enabling dynamic video ad insertion for the first time on the platform. The update allows users to switch between video and audio from a single feed, use picture-in-picture mode, and download episodes for offline viewing.
Creators can now insert dynamic video ads, including host-read spots, while retaining control over monetization. Apple will not charge creators or hosting providers for content distribution but will implement impression-based fees for ad networks delivering dynamic video ads later this year.
Launch partners include Acast, Amazon's ART19, Triton's Omny Studio, and SiriusXM properties. The move positions Apple to compete with YouTube, which reported over 1 billion monthly podcast viewers, and Spotify, which paid creators over $100 million in Q1 2025. Edison Research found 37% of people aged 12 and older watch video podcasts monthly. The feature launches in beta with iOS 26.4.
LTK, a SoftBank-backed creator-commerce platform, conducted layoffs on Thursday as part of a restructuring affecting its 550-person workforce. The company, which operates as a unicorn in the creator economy space, cut software engineers and creator-facing staff while repositioning teams around its self-serve brand platform strategy.
The layoffs followed LTK's late 2025 relaunch of its brand platform with free tools including creator discovery and performance tracking. The company operates on a commission-based revenue model rather than platform fees, with over 1,000 brands onboarded to the updated system. LTK reported doubled EBITDA in 2025 while maintaining profitability.
The restructuring reflects broader industry trends as mature creator-commerce platforms shift resources from traditional affiliate and managed-services operations toward automated, self-serve brand tools. The move signals consolidation in legacy sales roles while emphasizing performance-based systems and scalable technology solutions for brand partnerships.
Meta launched "Dear Algo" on Threads, an AI-powered feed customization tool that allows users to adjust their content preferences by posting requests. Users type "Dear Algo" followed by specific content preferences to modify what appears in their feed for three days. The feature also enables users to repost others' Dear Algo requests to apply those preferences to their own feeds.
The tool launched February 12 in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom, with additional markets planned. Meta positioned the feature as giving users control over changing interests, citing examples like live sports events or television show spoilers.
Threads, which launched in July 2023, reached 200 million users by mid-2024 and grew to 320 million monthly active users by January 2025. The platform currently serves approximately 400 million monthly active users. Meta began rolling out advertisements to all Threads users globally in January 2026, following year-long testing in select markets.
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AI influencers flooded social media platforms in 2025, using deepfakes of real creators and generating revenue through affiliate links despite brand resistance. A Collabstr study of 40,000 advertisers found 86 percent did not want to work with virtual influencers, up 30 percent from 2024.
Venture capital firms invested heavily in AI influencer companies. Higgsfield raised $130 million while Doublespeed received $1 million from Andreessen Horowitz and operated over 2,000 AI influencer accounts on TikTok. The accounts promoted products from mainstream brands including CeraVe, Tarte, and Kitsch through TikTok Shop and Amazon affiliate links.
Medical professionals became frequent deepfake targets, with plastic surgeons and dermatologists finding AI versions of themselves promoting supplements and skincare products. Beauty influencer Eni Popoola discovered her deepfaked likeness in YouTube ads promoting courses she never endorsed.
Brands reported AI-generated negative reviews of their products while competitors were promoted. Grande Cosmetics found AI "lash techs" criticizing its serums while recommending rival brands in videos with over 400,000 views.
A new marketing discipline is forcing brands to optimize not for search engines, but for AI chatbots. Dubbed AEO or GEO — answer engine optimization or generative engine optimization — the strategy targets platforms like ChatGPT, which now reaches 800 million weekly users.
Brands are flooding Reddit, LinkedIn, and Quora with detailed content, since chatbots weight those platforms as trusted sources. Athenahealth published 250,000 words of targeted content over six months and measurably improved its chatbot citation rate.
Startup Evertune, which helps companies monitor what chatbots say about them, raised $20 million since launching in April 2024 and now serves 200 clients. Experts warn first-mover advantage is shrinking fast — and that vague brand storytelling won't register with algorithms built to reward specificity.
ByteDance is rolling out Seedance 2.0, an AI video-generation model that produces story-driven clips from text prompts, to CapCut's 642 million monthly users globally. The tool competes directly with OpenAI's Sora and Google's Veo, generating coherent narratives, realistic voiceovers, and complex character actions — currently capped at 15-second clips.
The launch has drawn a cease-and-desist from Disney and a copyright complaint from the Motion Picture Association, which claims ByteDance used Hollywood content for training without authorization.
ByteDance suspended an avatar-creation feature after a filmmaker demonstrated the model cloned his voice from a photo alone. For creators and media professionals, Seedance signals ByteDance is building a serious AI production stack — with CapCut as its primary distribution vehicle.