Creatorverse: A Political War Is Brewing Over Creators
Hey Creatorverse readers,
The Democratic party is making good on its promise to take creators more seriously. Last Wednesday, the Senate Democrats’ Strategic Communications Committee hosted a full-day event in D.C. with nearly 100 creators and independent journalists.
The goal was to better educate creators on the party’s priorities and help limit the spread of misinformation. It’s also part of a larger party effort to encourage more Senate Democrats to be active on social media. Several notable senators stopped by including Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Jon Ossoff.
The Democrats aren’t the first group to fight against creator misinformation. News Creator Corps, an organization dedicated to teaching local creators journalistic skills, announced its second fellowship class this week after receiving 51% more applications than for its inaugural class. Similarly, Vox Media’s “Language, Please” project, which offers resources and style guides for journalists covering sensitive and complicated topics, added new tools for creators.
The difference is that Democrats really need creators to be on their side right now.
It’s been well covered that the Republican courtship of rightwing podcasters and creators helped lead to Trump’s victory. Embarrassingly, Democrats even spent part of last year looking for their own “Joe Rogan.” Booker reiterated the left’s social media problem during last Wednesday’s event.
“We weren’t showing up where the people were, and then we were getting upset that they weren’t aware of the issues that we were fighting for,” Booker told attendees, according to Scalable.
But what may help seal the creator vote aren’t symposiums but actually listening to creator needs. As much criticism as Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill received, the “No Tax on Tips” provision lets creators who make less than $150,000 a year deduct up to $25,000. And Democratic California Representative Ro Khanna’s proposed Creator Bill of Rightsaddresses several major creator concerns such as affordable healthcare options, portable benefit systems and clear revenue-sharing terms between platforms and creators.
This isn’t to say that creators can be bought. The creator economy is a vast and diverse one that provides income for 12% of the U.S. population; it’s impossible to confidently speak on the political alliances or needs of any group that large. But there is a gap between politicians wanting access to the younger audiences creators have and creators needing more financial stability and protection. The first party to bridge that divide would probably get a leg up.
Now onto the rest.
P.S. We have a programming update: Creatorverse has moved to Wednesdays. Same content, same snark, now one day earlier.
Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
kayla.cobb@thewrap.com
What’s New
Over 200 creators took the court for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend
Creators were all over the place during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, which took place in Los Angeles last weekend. Basketball creator Jesser (37.4 million YouTube subscribers) served as the host in the lead-up to the main games, and creators like Dude Perfect’s Sparky (61.8 million YouTube subscribers) and Cam Wilder (7.2 million TikTok followers) played in the PlayStation NBA Creator Cup, a series of 3v3 games. Altogether, over 200 creators assembled to host events and share behind-the-scenes content.
The NBA is far from the only major sports league that’s partnering with creators in a major way. The Super Bowl’s second annual Creator Flag Football Game from the NFL and YouTube scored 14 million views, more than double the viewership of last year’s game.
Meta, TikTok and Snap agree to teen safety ratings
Four of the biggest social media platforms around — the Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook alongside Snap and TikTok — are going to be judged on how well they protect the mental health of their teenage users. These independent assessments will come from a coalition of advocacy organizations and will measure things like whether platforms mandate breaks or let users turn off endless scrolling. Each platform will be given a rating based on their performance.
How social media platforms treat underage users has become a major issue. Teen safety is at the center of the ongoing lawsuit against Meta and YouTube, which will see Mark Zuckerberg taking the stand today (TikTok and Snap previously settled out of court). It’s even led to several countries age gating platforms.
Law&Crime Network buys Court TV
Law&Crime Network (7.4 million subscribers), the live court YouTube channel created and led by ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams, is purchasing Court TV from Scripps. Court TV isn’t really a thing anymore, but the network was a big deal in the ‘90s after it aired wall-to-wall footage of the O.J. Simpson trial. The deal is reportedly valued under $125 million, and ownership will transfer to Jellysmack, the creator amplification company that’s the parent company of Law&Crime.
Behind the Scenes
Propagate Content secures $50 million from Ares Management to make more creator-led content
Propagate Content, the production company behind “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” secured a $50 million investment from Ares Management to make more creator-led content. “Mormon Wives” has been a big hit for Hulu. The reality series that centers on the Mormon influencer community of “MomTok” was the streamer’s most watched unscripted premiere of 2024.
Creator management firm Night raises $70 million from investors
Night, the creator management firm that counts Kai Cenat (20.2 million Twitch subscribers) among its clients, raised $70 million in a new round of financing. StepStone Group, Founders Fund, House Capital, K5 Global and PagsGroup are among the companies that invested in this round. Night plans to use the money to expand into music, sports, gaming, podcasting and live events.
Publicis Groupe invests in sports-focused creators with new division
Speaking of investing in sports, Publicis Groupe launched Influential Sports, a division designed to connect brands to sports fans using the creator marketplace. In case all the creators partnering with the NFL, NBA and Olympics didn’t give it away, sports is a hot segment for the creator economy right now.
Movers and Shakers
Amelia Dimoldenberg is coming to Amazon, and Olivia Ferney partners with Fifth Season
Amelia Dimoldenberg, the host of “Chicken Shop Date” (3.3 million YouTube subscribers), will develop and star in an upcoming rom-com from Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures. The project will follow a journalist whose life spirals after a celebrity interview turns into an unexpected romance. Should sound familiar to anyone still swooning over Dimoldenberg’s chemistry with Andrew Garfield.
In other news, Olivia Ferney (966,000 Instagram followers), the luxury travel concierge known for catering to millionaires and billionaires, is getting her own scripted series. The project will come from Fifth Season, known for shows like “His & Hers” and “Severance.”
Dana Terrace’s “Knights of Guinevere” is greenlit for a full series at Glitch
We’ve covered “Knights of Guinevere” before, the animated series from “Owl House” creator Dana Terrace that premiered last year on Glitch. Now the production studio that often airs its series on YouTube has picked up Terrace’s pilot for a full series. “Knights of Guinevere” saw over 11.9 million views in its first week and had a cumulative watch time of over 2.9 million hours, marking one of Glitch’s strongest debuts. Also, it slaps. Congrats all around.
Dropout launches a 24/7 channel
It’s finally happened; a creator channel has invented TV. Dropout, the comedy streaming service that was formerly known as CollegeHumor, introduced a 24/7 feed of its content. “It’s just like regular TV except it’s all Dropout content and there’s no ads for food processors at 4 in the morning,” CEO Sam Reich joked. The channel will start with a marathon of “Dimension 20” and “Adventuring Academy.”
@davejorgenson Social media sites exposed anti-ICE users at the government’s request. Some social medias sites are voluntarily complying with Homeland Security requests for data from users who have expressed anti-ICE sentiments. The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sending tech companies legal requests for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying data behind social media accounts that track or criticize the agency. In recent months, Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have received hundreds of administrative subpoenas from the Department of Homeland Security, according to four government officials and tech employees privy to the requests. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Google, Meta and Reddit complied with some of the requests, the government officials said. In the subpoenas, the department asked the companies for identifying details of accounts that do not have a real person’s name attached and that have criticized ICE or pointed to the locations of ICE agents. The New York Times saw two subpoenas that were sent to Meta over the last six months. Unlike arrest warrants, which require a judge’s approval, administrative subpoenas are issued by the Department of Homeland Security. They were only sparingly used in the past, primarily to uncover the people behind social media accounts engaged in serious crimes such as child trafficking, said tech employees familiar with the legal tool. But last year, the department ramped up its use of the subpoenas to unmask anonymous social media accounts. Caption from article by Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac, The New York Times.
♬ original sound – Dave Jorgenson
Who to Watch
Dave Jorgeson
Still mad about the mass layoffs and upheaval happening at the Washington Post? Now’s a good time to check back in on Dave Jorgeson (252 million TikTok followers) the former staffer who left the publication back in July to create his own independent news organization. Jorgeson is still hosting a masterclass in how to make engaging, entertaining and informative news content for the modern age.
Bonus Content
- Under the Mormon Influence How the Women of Utah Blogged and Posted Their Way Into American Hearts and Wallets (via The Cut)
- ByteDance Is Hollywood’s Latest AI Boogeyman | Analysis (via TheWrap)
- Much Ado About Nothing? TikTok’s U.S. Usership Steadies After Turbulent Start (via CNBC)
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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.
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