Quarterly earnings calls are a good way to get a pulse on what big tech companies are focused on. But what executives don’t say on those calls is often just as important as what they do say.
Take Meta Platforms. Executives didn’t mention creators once during the company’s fourth-quarter prepared remarks or in the question and answer session with analysts. AI, however, was mentioned nearly 50 times.
Compare that to the second quarter of 2021, when “creator” was said roughly 35 times. That suggests creators have taken a backseat to AI, at least in Meta’s messaging to investors.
To see how—and why—the company’s messaging around creators has changed over time, we went through earnings call transcripts stretching back to the first quarter of 2020. We also compared the number of times that the word “creator” appeared in Meta’s calls with YouTube’s parent company Alphabet, Netflix, Spotify, Pinterest and Snap.
We found that mentions of creators fluctuate from quarter to quarter. Looking just at year-end reports since 2022, Alphabet has been the most consistent and vocal, with the word ‘creator’ appearing between 15 to 20 times. But in mid-year reports, the number of mentions often dropped to single digits.
Quarterly earnings reports are, of course, a snapshot in time and what executives choose to stress on the calls often has to do with what’s going on in the broader market or business.
In Netflix’s first quarter 2025 earnings call, for example, the word creator appeared more times than in Alphabet’s. That coincided with YouTube’s rise to be the No.1 TV distributor in the US—and Netflix was likely laying the groundwork for its upcoming creator push. (We excluded traditional film and TV creators in our Netflix analysis.)
What executives discuss also depends on what questions they are asked by analysts on the calls. In Netflix’s case, much of the chatter around creators in the first quarter was in response to analysts’ questions rather than from its prepared presentation.
Annualizing these figures paints a more holistic picture of how companies have shifted their messaging around creators over the years. As you can see from the chart above, conversation around creators peaked in 2021. That year, the word “creator” was said a whopping 72 times across Meta’s four earnings calls—which is more than any other company in any other year. In 2025, “creator” was mentioned just five times.
Even companies that aren’t as top of mind when it comes to the creator economy were vocal about creators in 2021: Pinterest mentioned creators 60 times, on par with Snap. Meanwhile, creators came up roughly 40 times in Spotify’s earnings calls. (We counted Pinterest’s mentions from its shareholder letter, which often serves as prepared remarks, as transcripts for its 2021 calls weren’t available).
This makes sense as 2021 was the height of the creator economy boom. TikTok was rising fast and venture capitalists were throwing money at creator startups. Big tech platforms were trying to figure out their creator strategies, while fielding tough questions from analysts and shareholders about how their investments in creators could translate to revenue.
It’s easy to interpret the decline in overall mentions from then to now as a bad sign. But we see it as a signal of how much the market has matured.
The creator economy is no longer a shiny new object or as uncharted as before, meaning that investors likely view big tech’s bets on creators more as a given than a gamble. In Meta’s case, Wall Street is more concerned about what the company is doing in AI than if it can compete with TikTok on creators. It’s already showing that it can.
At the same time, the industry is also expanding. Creators are now a key strategy for companies like Netflix that few would have associated with creator content in 2021.
For more on how we approach earnings reports and what we made of YouTube’s fourth quarter results, tune into our latest podcast episode, available now on YouTube, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts.
In other news…
AI Creator Copycatting
More creators are reporting that their content is being ripped off. This time, it’s by AI.
Earlier this month, a micro-creator with roughly 3,000 Instagram followers said an AI influencer posted an almost exact copy of her video, down to her facial expressions and the calculator on her desk. That follows an NPR report from last year showing that AI was being used to create realistic avatars of real-life creators and repeating word-for-word what they said in their videos.
Drawing inspiration from others is a common practice for creators, especially on short-form apps that are focused on trending content. But blatant copying is a major faux pas that directly hurts creators’ ability to grow an audience and generate income.
Social platforms have tried to crack down on AI slop and are focused on promoting original content. But as the AI dupes get more realistic and more rampant, it’s harder to tell which posts are real—and who gets the credit.
Laws around AI are still evolving. But creators can ask platforms to take the content down or send a cease-and-desist letter.
“Creators may need to start thinking a bit more proactively—implementing measures such as watermarking their content, signing up for monitoring services to police their content and other digital enforcement tools could become highly valuable, especially if content is highly monetized,” said Rachael Connelly, a practicing attorney in Los Angeles. We’ll have more of her thoughts in Thursday’s podcast.
The Round Up
Apple is taking on Spotify and YouTube by embracing video podcasts, including the ability for users to easily switch between listening and watching a show in its Podcasts app and download episodes to watch offline. Apple will also allow creators to insert video ads, including ads read by hosts, into their episodes.
Wasserman is for sale following fallout from founder Casey Wasserman appearing in the Epstein files. In a memo to staff on Friday night, Wasserman said he’d “become a distraction” from the talent agency’s operations. Some high-profile clients have dropped the agency, which also represents digital creators, after the documents were released.
Night, a talent management firm representing creators like streamer Kai Cenat, raised $70 million from investors including StepStone Group, Founders Fund and K5 Global. The company said it would use the funding to expand, including to build, operate and acquire businesses “embedded in internet culture,” such as those related to music, sports, gaming, podcasting, live events and other categories.
Snapchat is testing creator subscriptions, where fans pay for access to exclusive content, similar to existing offerings from Patreon, Substack, YouTube and Meta. Snap is likely betting that the success of its existing subscription products like Snapchat+ will translate to creators and help further diversify its revenue: Creators will get roughly 60% of revenue from subscriptions, which range from $4.99 to $19.99 per month. That’s a steeper cut than some of its peers like YouTube, which pays out 70%, and Instagram, which lets creators keep 100% of subscription earnings.
LTK laid off some staff, including engineers and employees who work with creators, a spokesperson confirmed to Scalable. The spokesperson said it wasn’t a broad-based layoff, but a “strategic realignment.” The move comes as LTK is focused on building its brand platform, which allows companies to set up profiles on the app, work with LTK creators and access data or insights.
Vox Media expanded its “Language, Please” project, which launched in December 2020 as a resource and style guide for journalists and local newsrooms covering sensitive and complex topics. Now the company is adding special tools for creators.
“As more people rely on creators for news coverage, it is imperative that they have access to journalistic tools to ensure thoughtful, accurate content,” said Chris Clermont, Vox Media’s head of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Soundbite
“I’m sick of watching ‘reporting’ grifting, insane speculation, lies, and BS by random wannabe journalists and YouTubers who have now caused more harm than good…Please GO HOME,” Alma Hernandez, a Democratic member of the Arizona House of Representatives, wrote on X. That’s in reference to the influx of creators and true crime podcasters who have inserted themselves into the investigation of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance in Tucson.
People are also compromising the crime scene, a retired FBI agent complained, according to the New Yorker, saying “people touched things without gloves on” and “trampled over everything.” At one point, a Domino’s pizza delivery driver also showed up with food for an influencer. The sheriff’s department had to ask people not to order takeout to a crime scene.
Today in TikTok
• ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has created a new AI model called Seedance 2.0 which can generate a high-quality video with a story line, characters and different scenes based on one text prompt. The new model is making waves in China, but sparking copyright issues in Hollywood, the Wall Street Journal reported. A ByteDance spokesperson told the BBC it’s “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users.”
• The new US TikTok started rocky, but third-party data suggests things are stabilizing. Deletions of the app surged after TikTok announced its joint venture on January 23. But the average number of daily active users in the US remains around 95% of its usership compared to the week of January 19-25, according to Sensor Tower data cited by CNBC. (We predicted the backlash would settle in our podcast discussing the sale.)
• TikTok announced a local feed to show what’s happening in a user’s area, including events, restaurants and shopping. It also shows posts from small businesses and local creators.
Brand Buzz
Hasbro Entertainment and family-friendly media company Animaj launched Lumee, a joint venture focused on ad sales and partnerships for kids content. Kids content is among the most popular genres on YouTube, but there are strict restrictions on advertising to kids and many brands have chosen to steer clear. That has also made it challenging for YouTube and its kids creators to earn revenue from that content.
Crocs is getting into microdramas. The shoe company worked with CAA to release a scripted, short-form series called “Charmed to Meet You.” Procter & Gamble also recently launched a 55-part “microsoap” called “The Golden Pair Affair,” which also promotes its products. Last year, JC Penney worked with TelevisaUnivision on a five-episode series aimed at Spanish speakers.
Jake Shane was named chief creative officer of Katjes, a major German candy company that makes licorice and fruit gummies. As CCO, Shane will lead creative strategy, brand messaging and marketing campaigns as the company seeks to expand its presence in the US, per Forbes.
Creator Moves
Jay Shetty, the host of the podcast “On Purpose,” announced a new production company called Perfect Strangers Media and two deals with Netflix for an unscripted and a scripted series. Shetty’s company didn’t provide further details on the shows.
Moose Toys, the company behind MrBeast’s Lab toy products, announced partnerships with YouTubers Mark Rober and Salish Matter, who both also have deals with Netflix. Rober, a former NASA engineer, already has a STEM subscription box company called CrunchLabs, which will work with Moose Toys on STEM toys. It’s unclear what type of toy line the company will release with Matter.
