This Week: The next wave of media moguls is already here. @Steven Bartlett just hit half-a-Unicorn, @Kaya Yurieff and @Jasmine Enberg launched a smart new media brand, and I sat down with Alan Chikin Chow and Jasmine Sik at Creator World Macao. Each is scaling in wildly different ways — but all point to where the creator economy is headed. Plus: read to the end for four essential studies on AI adoption, teen viewing habits, news creators, and how to actually show up in AI search.
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.
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TOP STORIES
MINTING THE NEXT GENERATION OF MEDIA MOGULS
Steven Bartlett joins the list, as he raises another round led by Slow Ventures and Aperion. Although the amount raised was undisclosed, it’s likely in the $20-$25M range, given that Bartlett still owns 90%+ and some was likely allocated to his new management team and prior investors. The post money valuation came in at $425M, which is pretty big. Love the new Flightcast service he built with @Rox Codes, and Bartlett himself is the real deal. It’s going to be fun to see this one develop. (Slow Upload)
BRINGING EDITORIAL INTEGRITY TO CREATOR ECONOMY COVERAGE
Speaking of minting media moguls… Two of the smartest voices in the creator economy just launched Scalable, a new independent media brand and podcast from @Jasmine Enberg and @Kaya Yurieff. Jasmine was eMarketer’s go-to creator economy analyst, and Kaya spent years covering it for The Information. Now they’re joining forces to do what few others will: deliver honest, nuanced analysis instead of hype. They are, quite frankly, the best at what they do..
Even with partial backing from Whalar Group’s Lighthouse division, Scalable promises to stay fiercely independent, unbiased, and unafraid to call things as they are. In a space crowded with cheerleaders and sponsored spin, that’s a welcome change. (Scalable)
IT’S ALAN’S UNIVERSE, WE JUST LIVE IN IT (Media Mogul #4)
Creators aren’t knocking on Hollywood’s door. They’re building their own lot, with a built-in audience that arrives before the actors do. The entertainment power shift isn’t theoretical anymore; it’s playing out in Burbank and all around the world.
I interviewed Alan Chikin Chow and Chelsea Sik at Creator World Macao last week, as he explained how he scaled from a kid making videos for his parents to a 10,000-square-foot Burbank studio. You could feel the old Hollywood playbook crumbling on stage right in front of everyone.
This isn’t just creators hoping to break into traditional media with a pilot. It’s a studio, a slate, and global fandom. Born on YouTube but now taking over the world.
Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:
Start with Heart, Scale with Intent: Alan started making videos to stay close to his family. He turned that empathy into universal stories, not platform tricks, and ended up with 100M+ followers and a team of ~20.
From Phone to Factory: His shift from short to long-form forced him to scale infrastructure. Allen’s Universe started in an 800-sq-ft apartment stuffed with a fake classroom, a tiny café and his bedroom. That turned into 10–15 permanent sets in a 10K-sq-ft space. The goal wasn’t vanity, it was reliability. He needed the space to move fast without breaking people.
Story > Fireworks: YouTube didn’t “TikTok-ify” them; they human-ified YouTube. The biggest retention spikes? Romantic, character-driven moments between Alan and Chelsea, not explosions. Their secret sauce? Spending time in the outline and the script made the on-screen action so much better.
Packaging is Product: Titles and thumbnails aren’t decoration, they’re distribution. They track three metrics like gospel: CTR, watch time and retention. They script-write to optimize those numbers, not their egos.
Let the Community Guide You – But Verify! Early episodes had no dialogue to enhance global viewership. But their community told them to “talk more,” so they did. But then they discovered that too much talk dragged down retention. The fix wasn’t more lines. It was focusing on meaningful lines.
Brand Reality Check: Scripted can monetize via in-show sponsorships. Case in point: Alan brought a team to Macao as part of a deal with the Macao Government Tourism Office. They shot an episode in and around Macao that fed into the Alan’s Universe arc. The integration presumably works because the story leads, not the brand (we’ll see when it ships).
Company-Builder Mindset: First hire wasn’t a DP, it was someone to post across platforms to keep Alan from getting distracted during mobile editing by his phone’s dopamine-infused vortex. CAA takes care of brand partnerships, while the business diversifies into content, streaming and other brand extensions.
Human Moment: Back when they were shooting at his apartment, Alan joked about waking up to find his bedroom “redecorated” by the team. Clothes replaced by scripts, lights stuck on the walls and whirling around in party mode. That’s the essence of a startup studio: scrappy, chaotic, alive… but a bit disorienting from time to time too (but sometimes he misses it).
Actionable Takeaway: Build your “retention loop.” Draft the outline, predict the top three spike moments, ship, then read the graph like Detective Pikachu. Keep the moments that spiked, cut the filler around them, and optimize the next script for earlier impact.
This is the new studio system: agile sets, measurable audiences, character IP, and a release cadence that looks more like software than cinema. When the graph rewards intimacy over spectacle, as it does here, the power accrues to the teams who can write, iterate, and ship over and over and over again.
It was so great to sit down with both Alan and Chelsea, they are true professionals and amazing creators. They also remind me of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (in the early days). Fun Fact: They shot part of an upcoming episode at Creator Week, with me and others as extras. So hopefully you’ll see me (or at least the back of my head) in Alan’s Universe in November!
CREATOR WEEK MACAO RECAP
I Had a great time helping to produce and host Creator World Macao last week. In addition to my conversation with Alan Chikin Chow (below), I also chatted with a variety of amazing creators, including Nick DiGiovanni, Matt the Meat Guy, Jordan Matter and more. My Recap: (LinkedIn)
Related: @Hudson Matter interviewed his dad @Jordan Matter at Creator Week. Amazing and emotional too. My Recap: (LinkedIn)
Related: Fascinating talk from Meta exec on how to grow on Instagram. My Recap: (LinkedIn)
Related: @Evan DeFilippis, Mr Beast’s VP of Strategy, shared some Beastly insight, along with details on the new Vyro service. My Recap: (LinkedIn)
PARTY TIME!
Coming to Web Summit? Join me at our Oh-So-Exclusive Creator Economy speakeasy party Tuesday night from 6-9p. I’m co-hosting with Epidemic Sound, The Influencers Club and Electrify. RSVP early, as it will fill up quickly!
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PLATFORMS
YOUTUBE
Your Next Partner Manager Could Be Virtual: AI leads to massive reorganization and voluntary buyouts at Big Red. No “layoffs”, but it’s a RIF by any other name. (THR)
YouTube on TV Updates: Great seeing @Rene Ritchie and @Jacklyn Dallas talking about changes coming to YouTube on the big screen. @Janko Roettgers has a good take. (LinkedIn, Lowpass)
Mouse Vs. Big Red Smackdown: ABC/Disney pull their channels from YouTubeTV. Not a good look for Big Red… but it might foreshadow a complete collapse of the multi-channel bundle. (Variety)
YouTube News Videos Trained AI Models: New analysis finds that WaPo, NYT, WSJ, VOX and many other news organizations unwittingly helped train AI models by uploading their shows to YouTube, violating YouTube’s own TOS. (Neiman Lab)
META
Copying Snap: By calling them “Ghost Posts”, Meta isn’t even *trying* to pretend they actually invented something new. (Meta)
Trendspotter: New “Ride the Trends Now” tool surfaces hot hashtags for you to pile on to. Hopefully there’s still a seat left on the bus when you get there. (WPN)
TIKTOK
Sitting Here in Limbo: Senior Trump Execs claim a China-US TikTok deal is done. China only says it will “properly resolve” the issues. That doesn’t sound like a done deal to me. (Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China)
Clipping For All: TikTok rolls out its own native clipping service for podcasters, live streamers and others. Also new AI trending tools and better subscription revshare. (TikTok)
QUIBIS
OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY
Kajabi’s Next Era: After four years, the company’s founders return, the CEO bumps down to President, and they refocus on becoming “The Operating System for Human Expertise.” They plan to double down on learning, trust and owned audiences, while ditching distractions. It’s all about building a destination for “the expert economy”. I wonder what that means for the other paid experiences acquired and built since 2022. (Kajabi Manifesto)
The Grass Is Not Always Greener: Maybe Substack Isn’t the best place to build your newsletter business. Neiman Lab finds that Patreon has successfully wooed some top writers back as Substack becomes more of a walled garden with golden handcuffs. (NeimanLab)
Twitter Diaspora Continues: Bluesky claims 40M users, ads dislike button. (TC)
Dopamine Culture: We can all agree that the definition of high-quality media is leaning more towards authenticity, relatability and relevancy. But @Doug Shapiro highlights a biological reason why today’s short video platforms win. It’s all in how our brain tries NOT to think. And Fandom is the antidote. (The Mediator)
Speaking of Fandom: @Brad Berens shared a fascinating piece of Star Wars fandom, ironically preserved on Instagram/Facebook. (Violin Phoenix)
There Otta Be a Law: New China law requires creators to be licensed and approved if they want to talk about serious topics like health, law, finance and more. Maybe we need this for TikTok? (CNet)
Attribution is a Lie: Marketers are waking up to the fact that last click is not a reliable measure. (Elana Verna)
TV Moves Slowly: Top TV advertisers aren’t exactly beating down a path to creators or their new studios, according to @Mike Shields (Next in Media)
What Happens to Wonder Works? Back in 2022 I interviewed Roblox CPO Manuel Bronstein and creator Megan Plays about Roblox, and Megan’s game studio Wonder Works that she built with her husband. Alas, it looks like that’s at risk. So sorry for everyone affected. (TikTok)
Someone’s Making Shopping Work in the US: Whatnot raises $225M at a whopping $11.5B valuation (LinkedIn)
I’ll Stay for That: Great conversation with Best Western’s Emily Huffer on how she uses creators for most of her job. (H@ndling It)
CREATOR TECH – AI, AR, VR, MORE
Micro High Density Pixels: Dynamic display breakthrough could change the world. (New Atlas)
The World Is Short Software: App developers will be the YouTubers of the next 15 years, as LLMs let anyone code anything (A16z)
Personalized Highlight Reels: New TLDW service makes long YouTube explainer videos easier to consume. (TLDW, Zara’s Newsletter)
Alas Poor Labubu: @Rex Woodbury releases 10 charts that show how the world is changing (Digital Native)
I Got Some CDs For You: Bending Spoons buys AOL. (AOL)
RESEARCH
Be Real and Appeal to Me! UCLA’s Teens & Screens 2025 report finds that Gen Z isn’t tired of media. They’re just tired of media that doesn’t get them. Nearly 60% of adolescents want stories centered on friendships and not romance and want to see “people with lives like mine” rather than wizards, billionaires or super-stars. YouTube is still their most trusted digital platform (sorry, TikTok), and they discuss TV and movies with friends more than social content. Grounded stories, real representation and characters that talk like humans are in, along with relatable animation. Love triangles? Not so much. (UCLA)
The Decentralization of News: Muck Rack’s latest “State of Journalism” report confirms what many of us suspected: creators are now the newsroom. One-third of all journalists now publish independently, and most do it for freedom, not fortune. 57% cite creative control as their top motivation, far outpacing money. Nearly 80% have fewer than 10,000 followers, but that hasn’t stopped them from shaping coverage: 82% of creator journalists say some of their stories start with PR pitches, though most of those pitches are irrelevant (that’s nothing new). It’s a mature and growing ecosystem, increasingly reliant on social platforms, built on autonomy, and full of scrappy “nano-newsrooms” publishing across formats. (Muck Rack)
Where’s the Beef? Adobe Creators’ Toolkit Report finds that 86% of global creators use AI, despite the obvious backlash to the flood of slop. And almost 70% are worried about AI stealing their content. Unfortunately, the full study isn’t available (the download button just goes to a PDF of the press release), but the filtered results are telling. (Adobe)
Winning At AI Search: Semrush’s new study and AI Visibility Index shows that creators are largely invisible in AI search… unless they’re already part of broader cultural conversation. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s SGE don’t just scrape your site or channel; they prioritize creators mentioned in Wikipedia, Reddit threads, press articles, and product reviews. In other words, if no one’s talking about you outside your content, AI likely isn’t either. Creators who showed up most were cited by name in reviews, quoted in blog posts, featured in listicles, or discussed in forums. The takeaway? Don’t just post, get cited. Appear on podcasts, contribute to expert roundups, get your name into newsletters and other content. AI doesn’t care how good your content is if the internet doesn’t vouch for it. (Semrush – scroll to the end to download)
Where’s Jim? Here in CA this week then headed to Lisbon for Web Summit. Come to our party Tuesday (invite here). Rex Woodbury’s LLM chart (see above) has me wondering if I should ditch ChatGPT for Anthropic. It’s been fairly wonky over the last week. Should I jump?
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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.
