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Suddenly it feels like every creator is taking their show on the road.
Scott Galloway announced a live tour for his “Prof G” show last week, on top of a second tour later this year with Kara Swisher for “Pivot.” Meanwhile, Travis and Jason Kelce are putting on a live performance of their “New Heights” podcast in Los Angeles in June.
Then there’s Max Klymenko, who is taking the idea of a tour and putting it on steroids. Klymenko, who is best known for guessing people’s jobs on his “Career Ladder” series on social media, is planning to visit 130 countries over two years.
For most creators, money isn’t the main driver. While ticketed events can bring in good revenue, traveling is expensive and can be physically demanding. And Klymenko’s style of touring doesn’t involve hosting large, paid events: He’s interviewing people in different countries for his videos.
Creators like Klymenko are embracing tours because they want to meet fans and create a stronger relationship with their audience. It also allows them to get a lot of content along the way and sell new types of sponsorships to brands.
More than half of enterprise brands worked with creators on live events last year, up from 34% in 2024, according to influencer marketing firm Linqia’s annual report. Tours like these seem like a natural fit for partnerships.
Klymenko kicked off his tour in late March, recently wrapping up the Caribbean leg. He plans to also travel to “places people don’t usually go to on tours,” including Tunisia and Latvia.
“Every country has a lot of interesting jobs and businesses they’re proud of,” Klymenko told Kaya during an interview at WebSummit Qatar in February. “We want to show the best the countries have to offer.”
When creators go on tour, they typically visit a few cities, often within the same country. That puts Klymenko more on the level of top musicians. For context: Taylor Swift visited more than 50 cities in 21 countries in about a year and a half for “The Eras Tour.” That pales in comparison to English singer Joss Stone, who set out to perform in every country during her “Total World Tour” over about five years.
Creators like Klymenko operate at a much smaller scale than artists, without extravagant sets, stage design and massive entourages. Klymenko doesn’t even travel with a ladder to each new place he visits, instead opting to find one locally. Still, the pure number of countries he’s visiting shows the ambition and scale of what he’s doing.
His content is also naturally suited to a live tour. He needs to be out in public, meeting new people and asking them questions about their careers. That’s not the case with every creator.
But Klymenko is also using the tour as a way to expand beyond the short-form clips he’s known for, including by livestreaming and making longer videos on YouTube. In Jamaica, for example, he interviewed a jerk chicken chef, a beer factory worker and an Olympic bobsleigh star during a 22-minute long YouTube video. These are also ways to build deeper relationships with fans, as we explained here.
In that sense, what Klymenko is doing reflects a broader trend: creators moving beyond short-form videos as algorithmic feeds make it harder to reach loyal audiences and earn a living.
The Round Up
Meta Platforms will track US employees’ computer movements, clicks and keystrokes for use in training its AI models, Reuters reported. Some employees have called the move “dystopian,” while a company spokesperson said the software tool has “safeguards in place to protect sensitive content.”
YouTube expanded its AI deepfake detection tool to everyone in the entertainment industry, including talent agencies, management companies and the celebrities they represent. The tool allows celebrities, such as musicians or athletes, to request that AI-generated content using their likeness be removed. YouTube started rolling the tool to all creators in the YouTube Partner Program in October, while politicians and journalists got access in March. Notably, these celebrities and prominent figures do not have to have their own YouTube channel to use the tool, a YouTube spokesperson told us.
Misuse of their likeness is one the biggest challenges creators face with AI. As we’ve noted previously, one of the few options creators currently have when this happens is to ask platforms to remove the content. It’s worth noting that a request for removal doesn’t guarantee that a platform will take down the content.
TikTok partnered with Visa to launch a debit card for creators in the UK, which gives them tools to access their earnings faster and to better separate their business and personal finances. For example, creators who earn virtual gifts during a TikTok Live can convert those into cash without waiting for payouts to clear, the companies said.
SiriusXM is partnering with YouTube to be the exclusive US advertising representative for audio ads that run on YouTube content like podcasts, talk shows and music. The move comes as YouTube has become a dominant force in podcasting.
Fixated, a talent management firm, acquired creator media company and podcast network Studio71 for an undisclosed sum. Fixated, which announced a $50 million investment in December, has been on a deal spree, acquiring other talent management and creator services companies in recent months including Ellify and Elevate.
Substack announced new translation features, starting with allowing users to translate Notes written in English into 15 languages, or into English from over 100 languages. In the coming weeks, the newsletter publisher plans to also add translation to longer posts. Notes are short-form posts within the Substack app.
Soundbite
“I founded the company, but I’m also the main character.”—MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, at the Time100 Summit in New York.
Donaldson was the only creator on the publication’s annual list of most influential people this year. As part of the summit, he appeared on stage for an interview, discussing why his brand is like no other.
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Creator Moves
Matt Friend, a comedian and social media creator, will host an exclusive political satire and late night comedy special on CNN on Friday. The special, filmed from Washington DC, comes ahead of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Friend recently hosted Snapchat’s first award show The Snappys.
Hulu’s reality TV show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” is getting a spinoff show in Orange County, which will premiere later this year. The cast list includes social media creators Bobbi Althoff, Aspyn Ovard and McCall DaPron, whose sister Mayci Neeley is part of the original cast. The spinoff comes as the original show’s future has been up in the air following a domestic abuse controversy involving one of the stars, Taylor Frankie Paul.
Fohr, an influencer marketing platform, launched an app called Connect that allows creators and brands to set up meetings at Cannes Lions. As of Tuesday, roughly 250 creators have registered. The move comes as more creators have started attending the annual advertising festival, which is also ramping up its creator efforts this year.
Talent Tracker: Executive Edition
Daniel Shapero is the new CEO of LinkedIn, succeeding Ryan Roslansky, who will remain with parent company Microsoft as executive vice president of LinkedIn and Microsoft Office. Shapero has been LinkedIn’s chief operating officer since 2021.
Oshiya Savur is the new chief marketing officer of e.l.f. Brands, succeeding long-time CMO Kory Marchisotto, who will move to a new role as president. Ekta Chopra, most recently the brand’s chief digital officer, is now its first chief technology and AI officer. E.l.f. is often one of the first brands to try out new social features and platforms.
Kevin Weil, a former Instagram executive, left OpenAI, where he was chief product officer and more recently leading a new AI initiative for scientists. Weil was one of several Meta executives that had joined OpenAI.
