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Breaking through to new audiences on social media is harder than ever. At the same time, established creators are struggling to reach their own followers.
Taken together, these two factors are making it increasingly challenging for creators—and the businesses that rely on them—to connect predictably and effectively with audiences. And it’s the creator middle class that may be hit the hardest.
This dynamic is happening everywhere. But it’s most apparent on TikTok, which was once known for minting new stars seemingly daily, from the D’Amelios to Addison Rae and the Sway House boys. One of the most recent examples is Alix Earle, who began rapidly growing her following at the end of 2022—and that was nearly four years ago. Since then, it’s difficult to point to another creator who’s seen a similar trajectory.
Meanwhile, everyone from comedian Matt Rife to “Queer Eye” star Tan France has complained that they can’t reach their followers anymore.
“I’ve got as many followers as Instagram decides I’ve got that day. I don’t have almost 4 million followers. I’ve probably got an average of 20,000 followers,” France told us on a recent episode of Scalable. France’s follower count on Instagram was 3.6 million as of Thursday.
Casey Neistat, a long-time YouTuber with 12.7 million subscribers, shared a similar sentiment with Axios on Wednesday, saying he no longer has “any understanding of” what YouTube’s algorithm is optimized for.
Data on what’s really happening is mixed. Nearly two-thirds (63.2%) of creators say they have had at least one viral moment during their careers, according to a May survey of 342 monetizing creators in the US by influencer marketing company Fohr. The data was provided exclusively to Scalable.
Of the respondents who gave a specific timeframe for when they went viral, many said it happened during the pandemic. But a significant number also pointed to post-pandemic viral moments, including some as recently as April of this year.
Still, going viral isn’t exactly the same as breaking through. Creators can have one or even multiple viral moments and not be able to turn that into sustainable audience growth the way Earle or Charli D’Amelio did. And that’s what we’re seeing happen now.
“Virality” is also highly relative. There is no agreed upon number of views, engagements or lift in followers to define what it means to go viral. For example, someone who averages several hundred views per video could consider a video with a few thousand views to be viral. That’s especially true now when reaching millions of people, including those who are already followers, feels harder than ever.
Zooming out, the advice that most platforms and industry experts give to creators to stand out is to go niche. That makes sense: General lifestyle categories are already overcrowded, so finding a narrower focus to hook an audience is key.
A niche can also help creators better position themselves to brands and other partners, many of whom are now prioritizing more targeted, highly-engaged audiences over a large total follower count. Over half of influencer marketing budgets in the US will go to micro- and nano-influencers with 1,000 to 19,999 followers this year, according to EMARKETER.
But for creators who have already established audiences, that advice is much harder to heed. Contrary to popular belief, most aren’t overnight successes. Many of them have spent years building their followings and businesses: About 25% of the creators in the Fohr survey said they had been creating content for 10 or more years. Finding a new niche a decade in isn’t an easy task.
And the reality is that brands will always want to work with big-name stars, even as they partner with more niche creators. That means it’s the creator middle class that’s getting squeezed the most.
It’s a familiar story. Mid-sized creators are typically the first to feel the impact of industry challenges, from tighter marketing budgets to algorithmic shifts. While they have sizable audiences, they lack the massive scale and recognition of top creators. They also typically don’t have the same deep expertise or highly-engaged communities of niche creators.
The good news is that there are now more ways than ever to build a successful business as a creator that don’t rely solely on social media.
Netflix and Spotify Put More Heat on YouTube
Netflix has found a way to keep its creator deal spree going.
Last week, the streamer announced an unprecedented deal with Spotify to bring Jay Shetty’s podcast “On Purpose” exclusively to their platforms. As part of the deal, which is reportedly worth $100 million over several years, the show will no longer be available on YouTube.
YouTube has long positioned itself as the best place for creators to build businesses. That includes releasing a report with Oxford Economics on Wednesday that suggests the platform contributed over $55 billion to US GDP in 2024 and supported over 490,000 full-time jobs.
For most creators, leaving YouTube is still unthinkable. And even many of the biggest creators rely heavily on income from YouTube’s AdSense, which is the industry standard for ad-revenue sharing programs. But when someone like Shetty, who has 5.6 million YouTube subscribers, is willing to give up the platform and that revenue, it doesn't send a good message. That’s especially true for top creators and advertisers, who YouTube is simultaneously trying to convince that it’s the new TV.
Tune into today’s podcast to hear our take on why the Shetty deal matters—and why creators who are developing exclusive shows for YouTube would be right to question whether those are the best deals they can get.
Watch below or tune in anywhere you get your podcasts.
The Round Up
The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday. It’s the first film festival to accept submissions from social media creators, who will be recognized in the NOW, or New Online Work, category. This year’s first-time sponsors also included McDonald’s, Microsoft and TikTok, another sign of how brands are taking entertainment more seriously.
TikTok launched a new app in the US called TikTok Pro Events, which is designed for big cultural moments beginning with the FIFA World Cup. On the app, users can engage with other fans, watch trending videos and access curated creator feeds.
SiriusXM is partnering with Tubi to bring some of its podcasts, including from Conan O’Brien and Trevor Noah, to the streaming service. The deal is not exclusive, so the shows will still be available on YouTube and other podcasting platforms.
LinkedIn is rolling out a new metric that shows creators what percentage of their impressions come from people within their network versus new audiences, similarly to other platforms like Instagram. That can help creators understand what type of content is resonating with different audiences and finetune their content strategies based on their goals. For example, if a creator is looking to grow their following, more content that reaches new audiences is likely the way to go.
Substack launched a new feature called Reply Rules, which lets creators make their own guidelines for comments. For example, creators can set rules banning AI slop, spam or self-promotion on their content. Comments that break these rules are automatically hidden.
Meta Matters
Meta announced an AI assistant for creators on Facebook, which offers personalized recommendations based on a creator’s content style, performance, community and goals. It’s rolling out to creators in the US, Canada and India to start. The company also said it will expand AI translations to new languages including Arabic, French and Vietnamese.
Meta expanded safety features for teens globally. By default, its apps will now hide content that is inappropriate for teens. It will also limit them from repeatedly seeing certain types of content on Instagram, such as around mental health or fitness. The move comes as Meta is facing heightened scrutiny, lawsuits and regulation around teen safety.
Micro-Series Mania
Meta is testing a new Series feature for Reels, which allows some creators to serialize their short-form videos. Creators can turn new or existing Reels into episodes of a bigger story with a dedicated spot on their profiles. This is similar to an existing feature on TikTok. It comes as more creators are prioritizing serialized content, including some with a recognizable format. (Think: Who TF Did I Marry? or Celebrity Substitute).
TikTok and Sundance Institute, which is behind the annual Sundance Film Festival, announced a new micro-series writing program. The four-week, live online course will focus on scriptwriting.
By the Numbers: 5%
That’s the percentage of Gen Zers who want to be digital creators or influencers, according to May data from Yahoo and YouGov. It’s a sharp contrast from other studies in recent years, including one from Morning Consult, which found that 57% of Gen Zers aspired to be creators in 2023.
It’s one study, so the results should be taken with a grain of salt. But it did make us wonder what’s going on.
Our take? Gen Z is growing up. The oldest members are turning 30 next year!
Like older generations, they may be starting to realize that fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That could explain why 18% of Gen Zers in the Yahoo/YouGov survey wanted to be a “successful but not famous tech entrepreneur.”
Some have also likely realized that being a creator is harder than it looks. The comfort and predictability of a more traditional full-time job may seem more attractive. The difference now is that many of those jobs may now be at creator-led companies…
Either way, we’d be curious to see how many Gen Alphas want to be creators when they grow up!
A Message from Cannes Lions
At LIONS Creators, unpack how to create content that earns attention rather than
demands it. Hear from DoorDash and Loop on how brands can create content that
feels native to its platforms, culturally relevant and genuinely engaging.
Be part of it.
LIONS Creators | 22-26 June 2026 | Cannes, France
Brand Buzz
Corporate Natalie is the voice behind a new jingle for Olay. The campaign also featured an elaborate pink set and pop-up event in New York.
We recently spoke to Corporate Natalie about how she works with brands and why she launched her own B2B marketing agency, Expand Co-Lab, on a recent episode of Scalable. Watch below or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Talent Tracker
Anthony Chavez is LinkedIn’s new chief product officer for marketing and sales solutions. Before that, he spent nearly 15 years at Google, most recently as vice president of product management of Chrome.
Anmol Malhotra is the new global head of content and partnerships at Snap following the departure of Jim Shepherd to Meta. Malhotra has been at the company since 2015, most recently leading sports and media partnerships.
