This Week: My top 10 Trends for 2026, including how The Beast joins Baby Shark, Disappointing Microdramas and the opportunities in AI Slop.
Hi, I’m Jim Louderback and this is my weekly creator economy newsletter. If you’ve received it, then you are either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.
If the latter – and you want to subscribe, get it here!
This week we’re diving into my top 10 trends for 2026, and next week I’ll share five creepy signals poised to erupt into the trends of 2027 and beyond. But first, a few big stories that dropped while we were all chasing visions of sugar plums and ringing in the new year.
TOP STORIES
iHeartMedia Embraces Video: Creators distributing via iHeartRadio can now publish both video and audio through standard RSS feeds. iHeart still sees video as “incremental”. More in today’s Trends Section below. (IHeartMedia)
TikTok Launches MicroDrama Theater in US: TikTok brings its in-app micro-drama theater over from Douyin, letting US users to access short-form microdramas from NetShort, StardustTV, PocketPlay and more. More in today’s Trends Section below. . (TikTok, WPN)
Fraud As a Service: Forget transparency. Meta has reportedly been “cooking the books” as it were by removing scam ads from its publicly accessible Ad Library seemingly to blunt regulatory scrutiny. Started in Japan but spread globally. (Reuters)
Slop As a Service: A Study finds that over 20% of videos served to new YouTube users are low-quality AI slop. Not surprising, and also not as worrying as the article makes out. (The Guardian)
Instagram Gives Up: Guess what? According to Adam Mosseri, AI Slop now owns Instagram. Now we just have to learn how to live with it. (Threads)
10 MEGATRENDS FOR 2026
Broader themes in this year’s trends include profiting from the inevitable AI slop hop and moving from managing content to managing identity
TREND: Beast Industries Goes Public and Others Follow
After a relatively successful Beast Games season 2 on Prime, Beast Industries files for an IPO. It will do better than Faze Clan’s SPAC, and it joins Baby Shark as an early creator success story.
Extended Trend: With the success of Beast Industries’ public offering, more creator-led brands embark on their own investor roadshows. 2027 will see middling success, with a few big hits and plenty of disappointment.
Big Question: Will MrBeast go for a standard listing or build a frenzy among fans with a Dutch Auction. I’d prefer the latter. It leans into what Jimmy said at Dealbook about wanting to give billions of fans a stake in his company and his future.
TREND: Prediction Economies Discover the Creator
One of my rare misses last year – I was a little early. But in 2026 creators and fans will embrace prediction markets as they begin to monetize beliefs along with memes.
What I said last year will likely emerge in 2026: “Fans investing in their favorite creators still makes me a little uncomfortable. But imagine them together in a creator-based mashup of predicting creator success while at the same time sharing in the success of those creators. While still gambling, oddly the two together seem less icky than each alone. Keep an eye on this space.”
Expect the Beast IPO to become the first big prediction market success as this new trend emerges.
TREND: Microdramas Disappoint in the US
TikTok’s late December launch of Douyin’s mini-theater in the US adds napalm onto an already out-of-control Hollywood obsession with microdramas. Some creators and producers strike gold, but the format disappoints in most of the US.
Just as in China, where advertising is supplanting pay-per-episode, advertising and e-commerce supported models will dominate in western markets too.
Question: Will webtoon capitalize on by funneling its web novels into microdramas? It’s right there for them.
Question: In Hollywood, per-minute microdrama production cost is still under 20% of even the cheapest traditional scripted. Will new platforms from traditional media execs overspend? Will it be more like Quibi, or more like China? And will western producers grasp the short-drama gestalt that makes this format so different from traditional fare?
Ongoing Trend: Despite a rocky road in the US, global microdramas and new micromedia formats drive huge 3-5 year growth, particularly in the developing world, where the best screen in your life is in your pocket. Existing creators discover a new outlet, and new stars are born.
Ongoing Trend: It’s not just soap operas for older ladies. New micromedia formats derived from reality TV, musicals, and other creator-driven genres develop their own variants of the microdrama framework while lowering per-minute costs.
Want to know more? Pick up Wenwen Han’s “Future Playbook” for more insight (Amazon – $). And come see her speak at 1 Billion Followers Summit on Friday on my “Binance Economy” stage. And read her take on TikTok’s new vertical drama app PineDrama. (LinkedIn)
TREND: Netflix vs YouTube Dominates the Traditional Media Conversation.
As Netflix tries to close its Waner Bros. Discovery acquisition, it’ll keep crying wolf to anti-trust regulators. That wolf is YouTube. Big bad YouTube gets painted as the poster child for media competition while traditional Hollywood fights to kill the deal. And with white-knight Paramount tossing around Daddy Ellbucks’ dough, it’s time to get ‘yer popcorn out.
Extended Trend: YouTube keeps devouring the living room.
Big Question: If Netflix gets denied, will it pivot and buy culture directly? Picture the top 20 YouTube studios and the top 20 podcasts under one roof. I want to be there when Joe Rogan and Jimmy Donaldson lunch it out at the corporate cafeteria.
TREND: Community and Fandom Replace Likes and Follows.
But as likes and followers get devalued, small, niche, and private communities take center stage. The most powerful creators connect directly, build like-minded communities, then activate those communities for economic or persuasive action. This is the year micro goes macro, and stacking vibrant communities becomes the new mass-media brand hack.
Related Trend: Joe Rogan might have put President Trump in office, but in 2026 grass-roots online community activation will rule, as politicians realize that influence is one thing, but getting those influenced to the ballot box makes all the difference. The winners will embrace the stack along with the superstars.
Related Trend: You’ll hear a lot about “brand storytelling” in 2026. You’ll also hear a lot of people pretend they invented it last week. Smart brands are moving beyond episodic storytelling to build private communities of superfans. Then they’ll empower those fans to do the storytelling for them.
Related Trend: Social Decline Accelerates: I called it last year. With 2024 looking like the peak of social media usage, changing demographic trends, government bans and increasing realization that social can be toxic leads to a structural decline in 2026. 2025 was NOT a blip.
The next five trends – along with 5 creepy signals, continues after this message from our sponsor:
SPONSOR
This issue is sponsored by 1 Billion Followers Summit, where you can find hundreds of sessions, thousands of creators and a unique look at the growing global creator economy. I hope to see you there!
FIVE MORE TRENDS
TREND: Mass Personalization of Media, Advertising and Everything
Welcome to the era of mass-personalized entertainment, where everyone’s a creator. 2026 will be the year we put “Me” into Media. Popcorn and Sora 2 started it last fall, and now Disney’s characters are lining up for cameos. Sure, those Sora 2 videos featuring Sam Altman and Logan Paul were mostly awkward and creepy. But AI will unleash our inner narcissist as it makes it simple for anyone to create compelling but creepy and content, starring themselves.
It won’t be “Mickey does a thing”, it’ll be “me and my BFF Mickey get in trouble together.” At scale. The kid – aka you and me – definitely stays in the picture.
And while we all become stars of our own blockbusters, advertisers wake up to customization at scale. First we’ll see ads customized for demographic, psychographic and regional differences Ultimately, ads, pricing, and even products get customized for every single member of the TAM. All A-to-Z tested and optimized at scale.
Related Trend: Clipping 2.0 accelerates as technology and new startups drive outrageous ROAS improvements by leveraging armies of nano-creators and AI bots. But firehose-style flooding of the market evolves into more intelligent outcome-based approaches.
TREND: The Brain Drain from TV to Creator Accelerates
What was once a trickle becomes a torrent. Last year Mr Beast hired NBC’s head of unscripted Corrie Henson to run Beast Industries Studios. Mark Rober hired ex-Discovery and Lionsgate exec Scott Lewers to be his Chief Content Officer. As traditional media gets rebuilt around creator formats, more and more top execs decamp to the dark side, where the cookies are presumably sweeter.
For creators, it’s caveat emptor. I’ve worked at three different mega-media companies over the last 20 years… and while some execs might have finally found religion, beware the carpetbagging Zelig hoping to jump on the trend. We need a big sign that says “Toxic Politics Not Welcome” on every bulletin board.
TREND: The AI Backlash is Real
Study after study shows just how pervasive AI-generated content has become, with algorithms serving new users a meaningful percentage of AI-generated videos (see news above). And with AI wreaking havoc with the job market, attitudes will increasingly turn against AI-generated anything. Platforms will accelerate their AI detection and labelling efforts, and identification and deplatforming of deepfakes.
But watch what viewers do, not what they say. As AI videos get more entertaining, more fantastic, and more lifelike, expect viewers to keep watching and watching and watching. There’s no accounting for taste. One man’s slop is another man’s masterpiece.
There might be a little guilt after watching AI-generated video. But expect viewers to keep coming back. It reminds me of YouTube’s early days, when traditional media denigrated creator content as low-quality user-generated content. Boy did that change.
For creators, remember: the platforms are not your friends, and they are not in business to make you money. Their business is eyeballs, time spent, and lifetime value. If AI content means more money for less cost, guess which way they’ll turn.
TREND: AI Slop Creates Tremendous Opportunities
As AI-generated content floods social platforms, and algorithms serve up a significant percentage of AI-generated videos, new ways for creators to profit emerge. Creating AI-free zones offers tremendous opportunity. We’re already seeing Rabble’s Vine rebook, diVine, delivering an AI-free experience… and Tubi offering an AI-free place for real creators to shine as well. Expect more of this in 2026.
But embracing AI slop also creates new ways to build content franchises, from AI-generated second channels to new formats starring you 2.0. Free programming idea: we need a Tosh 2.0-style reboot that focuses on the best (or worst) laughably bad AI of the week.
TREND: Audio-only Podcasting Decline Accelerates
If you’re starting a podcast in 2026, you’d better do both video and audio. Now that iHeart, tagline “America’s #1 Audio Company,” has embraced video podcasting (news link above), and with YouTube and Spotify battling it out, audio-only odds of success drop fast.
That doesn’t mean the podcast format goes away. It becomes a visual extension of an audio-first medium.
SPONSOR? – POSSIBLY YOU!
LinkedIn’s new B2B Buyer Report makes the case better than I ever could: buyers trust expert voices more than brands, and they spend most of their research time reading the people who actually understand the space. That’s exactly my audience: marketers, media execs, founders, top creators and operators who shape budgets and make decisions.
A weekly sponsorship puts your company inside a trusted, high-intent environment, shows up repeatedly where it actually matters, and aligns your brand with the point-of-view content buyers say moves them. If you want to speak to the people building the next wave of media, creators, and AI, this is where they show up every week.
Drop me an email and check out our sponsorship information here.
Where’s Jim? In Dubai with 130 speakers and over 60 sessions to produce. Can’t wait!
Like this free newsletter? Buy me a coffee and say thanks! Or let’s do a meetup in your town.
100% written by me. AI used very sparingly for edits.
I’ve built and sold multiple creator economy startups to top media companies – including an MCN to Discovery and VidCon to Paramount. Subscribe here on LinkedIn to get this newsletter every Monday.
Let me know what you think – email me at jim@louderback.com. Thanks for reading and see you around the internet.
