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Hello from New York!
Between the US Open final, New York Fashion Week, the IAB’s first-ever creator upfronts and multiple podcasting events, it feels like almost everyone in the creator economy is in town.
Creators also used the moment to break some news of their own: On Monday, “Diary of a CEO” host Steven Bartlett announced Obsn, a new venture with Authentic Brands Group that plans to deploy up to $400 million in creator-founded businesses.
Bartlett’s holding company Steven.com also includes a media division, venture arm and video podcast hosting platform. Authentic is a brand management and licensing company that owns Reebok, Sports Illustrated and others.
Before heading to Obsn’s launch event, Jasmine moderated a conversation about building sustainable creator businesses with Maggie Sellers Reum, host of the “Hot Smart Rich” podcast, at the inaugural Sounds Profitable Business Summit. (Bartlett invested in Reum’s business, after he nabbed a $425 million valuation from Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment Group last year.)
On stage, Reum gave her take on what she thinks is working for creator businesses compared with traditional brands: They have a direct line to consumers and can iterate based on feedback. That’s not how traditional brands typically operate, though many more are trying to emulate the model, in part by working with creators who can help connect the dots.
Who’s doing it well? Reum pointed to Elf Beauty. The beauty brand is typically among the first to jump on new marketing trends, including being early to TikTok.
Later that day, Bartlett shared an example of what Reum was talking about. During a panel discussion at the Obsn event, he explained how the name of his upcoming book is a result of testing options among his audience. “Just Fucking Do It” came out on top, with a roughly 14% click through rate, while other options he tested had click through rates of just 1%.
“I think that’s a 1,400% increase,” Bartlett quipped, while some audience members nodded in agreement.
Zooming out, Authentic’s interest and involvement in the creator economy is yet another signal of legitimacy for the industry. Besides capital, Obsn also aims to provide infrastructure to help creators grow their businesses.
Even so, the presentation left us with unanswered questions, including how the new venture will choose which creators it invests in and what the deals will look like in practice.
But there are no questions in Bartlett’s mind about who its rivals will be.
“If there is a competitor that we have as a platform, it is the 10 ‘fragmentation vultures’ that will swoop in,” Bartlett said, referring to the myriad of companies that help creators with one aspect of their business rather than the whole thing.
In other news in New York this week…
Infrastructure was also a key theme at the inaugural IAB CreatorFronts on Tuesday. There, the focus was less on creator businesses and more on advertisers who want to work with them.
The infrastructure for influencer marketing is also highly fragmented, with agencies, brands and social platforms either building or buying their own capabilities as they work to meet demand or to boost their own businesses.
Meta, for example, on Tuesday announced the global launch of its creator marketing hub with new tools, as well as the ability for marketers to turn Instagram Live video ads into partnership ads. Partnership ads hit a $10 billion revenue run rate in the first quarter of this year.
But standardized frameworks to buy and measure influencer marketing are critical to unlocking more budget. With more than $44 billion flowing into the tactic in the US this year, per the IAB, the industry has reached the scale needed in order to be treated seriously.
As James Douglas, vice president of the IAB’s Experience Center, put it: It’s about “standardizing the plumbing,” not the creativity.
And the time to do so is now. The shift of creator content to TV has already further complicated matters by adding yet another channel for brands to consider in their creator strategies. That was apparent throughout the conference as several sessions, including those from Spotter and Creative Genesis, were focused on TV-like creator content and how to make it more scalable and measurable.
Product Update
TikTok partnered with creator agency Amplify on a new content initiative called The Next Episode, which connects brands and creators to develop and produce original series for social media.
Twitch is testing an AI “stream coach” with select creators. The tool gives feedback on what went well and what to try next time they go live. Streamers can also opt out of getting these tips.
Roblox announced a wave of updates at its annual developers conference, including the ability for creators to make their games available as standalone apps on app stores. A new Roblox Wallet for creators also allows them to earn directly in real currency and get paid automatically each business day.
Creator Moves
YouTuber Michelle Khare, “Assistants vs. Agents” creator Warner Bailey and other influencers were at the Emmys on Monday night. “Subway Takes” host Kareem Rahma was the only social media creator to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy this year. He lost, but presented an award for the “Outstanding Emerging Media” category, working in a joke about boomers.
Jomboy, a sports media company, launched Heydaze, a new sports lifestyle brand timed to the Major League Baseball postseason. Last year, the MLB took a minority stake in Jomboy, which grew out of creator Jimmy O’Brien’s viral baseball breakdowns.
📊People love a creator ranking! The Affinity 100 list is the latest to take a whack at recognizing the most impactful creators of the year. Created by Shira Lazar and Evan Shapiro, the list looks at creator fandoms and engagement using data from Foam, a software service from Whalar Group. Niche names like educator Blair Imani and B. Dylan Hollis topped the list, beating out well-known creators such as Charli D’Amelio and Jake Shane.
Why Follower Counts Still Matter
in partnership with Open Influence
A creator’s follower count has never mattered less. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter at all.
Everyone now knows that follower counts don’t accurately reflect a creator’s popularity—or reach. As social media feeds have become increasingly driven by algorithms, more followers doesn’t guarantee more views.
This isn’t an entirely new problem. But it’s gotten more challenging as algorithms have gotten better at predicting what people want to see and tailoring content to each user. Most platforms have also moved away from follower counts toward other signals like saves, shares and time spent to decide whether or not a piece of content should be recommended or distributed more broadly.
For brands, that means metrics like saves and shares are also better predictors of business outcomes for creator partnerships than things like follower counts.
But big followings still carry weight. There’s still a level of cultural cachet that comes with working with a creator with a large number of followers. That’s a major reason why the MrBeasts and Alix Earles of the world can charge millions of dollars for campaigns and have no shortage of brands eager to work with them.
And marketers are busier than ever. Glancing at a follower count remains the quickest way to assess the legitimacy of a creator, even if it’s far from perfect.
Read more in the first edition of OI Magazine: The Creator at the Center. OI Magazine is Open Influence’s new editorial exploring the people and ideas shaping the creator economy. Inside you’ll also find a visual history of the industry, Cannes Lions and VidCon Insights, city guides to LA, NYC and Milan and more.
Meta Matters
• Meta launched its new subscription service Meta One, which offers additional features on its apps, including for creators and businesses. The most tempting feature for the Instagram subscription may be seeing how many times someone rewatched your Instagram story.
• TikTok rejected ads from Meta urging TikTok and other social giants to join it in settling with US state attorneys general in a major youth safety lawsuit, Axios reported. Meta has been running these ads on its own platforms like Instagram, as well as in newspapers.
• Kalie Robins, a parenting creator, posted a video detailing invasive prompts Meta AI surfaced under a previous video of her in the car with her daughter including “Who’s the child passenger?” and “Where does Kalie Robins live?”
Meta told CNET it “fixed” the issue, so that Meta AI won't suggest prompts to users that collect or reveal personal information, including about kids. Robins said she still wants “an explanation and accountability” over the issue.
• Meta is being sued in a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the company collected images uploaded to Facebook and Instagram without consent and used them to train AI facial recognition features in its smart glasses.
Political Download
Senators Cory Booker and John Kennedy launched the Senate Creators Caucus on Tuesday, a bipartisan effort focused on engaging and recognizing creators. To mark the launch, the senators hosted a panel and reception with 15 creators in tech, politics, beauty and other niches.
Booker has been leading the Senate Democrats’ social media and creator efforts. We spoke to him about the 2024 election and what’s next in an episode earlier this year.
Brand Buzz
🍻Molson Coors has revamped how it works with creators, including giving them faster and “looser” briefs. Engagement on creator content has quadrupled since starting the new approach in March, Digiday reported.
Talent Tracker
Mark Weinstein was named chief marketing and guest experience officer at Target. Previously, he spent 16 years at Hilton, including as CMO.
Mia Nygren was promoted to vice president of Latin America and Europe at Spotify. Nygren was previously managing director of Latin America.
Manar El Mugammar moved from COO to president of Shine Talent Group, a creator management firm. Managing director Samantha Walters is now VP of talent experience. Shine’s co-founders Emily Ward and Jess Hunichen will transition to the company’s advisory board.
Simone Oliver is now vice president of editorial and programming at The Lighthouse, Whalar Group’s physical campus for creators. Jeremy Jankowski was named VP of business development and partnerships. Previously, Oliver led the launch of media platform EE72 and was global editor-in-chief of Refinery29. Jankowski was CRO of EE72. (Scalable is a joint venture with The Lighthouse.)
