You Asked, We Answered

We always love hearing from our community about what’s top of mind, so we picked a handful of questions to answer today.

If there’s something you’d like us to cover next, just reply to this email. 

Let’s dive in…

If somebody is starting a new YouTube channel, what would be your No.1 piece of advice to get to monetization fast?

We are still working on growing our YouTube channel ourselves. But we’ve spent a lot of time this year talking to YouTube experts, creators and company executives about what’s working.

Two things that have come up over and over again in our conversations: packaging and consistency. The cadence of content can vary, but you have to commit to uploading regularly. It’s the best way to build a habit with people and hopefully keep them coming back to your channel.

Most experts we’ve spoken to have also agreed that thumbnails and titles are key to grabbing people’s attention. But there’s still a lot of debate over just how important they are…

Jasmine: My take is that thumbnails matter, but only to an extent. You need a strong thumbnail to draw people in, but if the content isn’t good, people won’t come back—no matter how good your thumbnail is. So I’d rather focus my energy on making a great show, rather than spend hours trying to perfect a thumbnail.

Kaya: Agreed, but the thumbnail does really matter. You can make the best video ever, but if your thumbnail (or title) isn’t great, it won’t matter if no one watches it! You also have to deliver on what you promise, especially if you’re leaning into clickbaity packaging. 

We go way deeper on this question on Thursday’s podcast episode.

Everyone is chasing AI search behavior now. Does that change what brands should actually be optimizing content for?

Yes and no. 

AI chatbots are definitely a new place to get your product or company discovered. We’re even seeing a handful of our newsletter subscribers come from ChatGPT and Claude every week. But until we have more information about how Scalable is showing up in LLMs, it really doesn’t make sense to overhaul our content strategy. 

Day to day, we’re focused on what AI can’t easily replicate and what makes our content unique from other humans as well: Original reporting, real expertise and having a clear point of view.

That said, we do think a lot about ensuring that we’re answering the questions that people are asking about the business of the creator economy and writing in a way that’s easy for AI to read. That’s something that brands can—and should—be doing, too, as more people turn to AI chatbots to look for products.

One example we always come back to is from Oreo-owner Mondelez. Earlier this year, a company executive said that Oreo was only showing up in about 10% of LLM responses to questions like “What’s the best cookie for a kid’s birthday party?”, even though Oreo is the best-selling cookie brand globally. Part of the problem was that Oreo wasn’t developing content that answered that specific question. So the brand set out to change that.

That’s also where creators can come in. Many of the top platforms that AI chatbots source information from, such as YouTube and Reddit, feature content from creators and everyday people (many of whom recommend products and services). Creators also have a direct line to audiences, meaning that they know what people are asking.

Regardless, one thing this industry has learned the hard way is that you can’t be overly reliant on any one source, including AI. As brands chase new behaviors, they can’t forget everything else.

Long-form is having a moment again, including podcasts, newsletters and longer videos, after years of short-form dominance. Is that a real pivot or a pendulum swing?

It’s neither, really.

Short-form is still the dominant way people consume content on social media, and we don’t see that fading anytime soon. But it’s very hard to build a loyal audience and a strong business through short-form content alone.

Short videos can only get so much information across, and they can get old quickly. Creators often go viral for a specific shtick, like portraying the same character in a skit, and it can be challenging to expand beyond that with short-form alone. Monetization is also limited, and these videos generally live on platforms like TikTok or Instagram where creators don’t own their audience.

That’s why more creators and companies are now focusing on long-form content, podcasts and newsletters. Alix Earle launched her “Get Real With Me” series on YouTube in January and debuted a reality TV show on Netflix in September. Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network recently launched a newsletter, as have brands and celebrities like Goop and Matthew McConaughey.

At Scalable, our primary focus is our podcast and newsletter, rather than social media. That’s partially due to our business-focused content and audience, but it also gives us more ownership and a direct line to our readers and listeners.

At the same time, it is much harder for audiences to discover creators through podcasts, newsletters and long-form videos than through short-form content. That’s why most podcasters, streamers and long-form video creators clip their content for short-form video platforms. Even newsletter writers (like us!) have a short-form video strategy.

Still, there’s no consensus on how much is too much when it comes to clipping—or how successful clips are at driving people to longer-form content. Long story short: Short-form and long-form are both necessary.

Character.ai, an AI chatbot service where people chat with customized characters, filed for bankruptcy and agreed to sell some of its assets to Disney for $20 million, Reuters reported. Character.ai was one of the first buzzy generative AI startups, but has faced scrutiny and lawsuits over teen safety, including suicides its chatbots allegedly contributed to.

Meta banned ads from TikTok across its platforms in the US and six other countries, according to Bloomberg. Meta’s reasoning: Why should it allow ads from a competitor who is trying to pull users off its apps? A big part of TikTok’s early growth strategy in the US was a marketing blitz, which included spending heavily on ads across Meta’s platforms. We’re curious to see how TikTok may respond.

Maple Media, a company that buys apps, acquired Castro, an app for listening to podcasts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Slow Ventures invested $2.5 million into creator Will Lasry’s business Glass Factory, which aims to disrupt manufacturing. He and his co-founder built an agent to scan design files and return factories best suited to produce the items. The investment is part of the VC firm’s $60 million fund to back creator businesses.

Sam Yam, the Patreon co-founder who recently joined OpenAI, is working with podcast host Chloe Shih on a new series focused on how tech can help people navigate early parenthood. 

YouTube, Meta, X and other platforms haven’t told media outlets whether they will allow the Defense Department to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. Their policies generally prohibit graphic and violent content, with some exceptions for footage shared in the public interest.

In lighter news…Instagram has been recommending Creed’s song “Higher” as a soundtrack to far more people’s posts than it intended. A spokesperson told CNN that its engineering team is working to fix the issue. 

Joe Rogan renewed his deal with Spotify, which will continue to handle ad sales for his hugely popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” The deal has similar terms as before, with the show being available on other platforms, and an estimated earnout of $250 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

🗳️Vox Media announced a new podcast partnership with Kara Swisher and Hillary Clinton covering the midterms and beyond, starting with a co-hosted limited series called “High Stakes.” It will debut on Wednesday as an additional episode of Swisher’s show “On with Kara Swisher.”

Druski, whose real name is Drew Desbordes, will be the first creator to host SNL.

MrBeast was greeted by massive crowds of fans during his trip to Uzbekistan. “I didn’t realize we had so many fans here,” the YouTuber said. 

Megan Fox partnered with OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely to launch a subscription content page for herself through his new venture Subs.com. 

Bethenny Frankel, the former Real Housewives star, announced her new content and commerce company, Bethenny Media. In a LinkedIn post, Frankel said that the company works with brands and creators across different verticals.

That’s how many marketers worldwide said they funded their increased investments in influencer marketing through net-new budget, up from 33% in 2025, according to CreatorIQ’s annual report.

The growth comes alongside a more optimistic outlook for advertising: The IAB raised its forecast for US ad spending in 2026 to 12.3% year-over-year, up from its previous estimate of 9.5%. That means there is now more money to go around.

It also makes sense that more brands are choosing to dedicate those additional dollars to influencer marketing. Not only is it getting more scalable and measurable, the IAB report also showed that a growing number of marketers want their ad dollars to go toward building brand equity. That’s something creators are already pretty good at.

Who said luxury brands can’t do social media? 

A video posted to Chanel’s official TikTok account, which features Dua Lipa, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig and Nicole Kidman lipsyncing to Adela’s “Nicole Kidman,” went viral last week across platforms. Kidman joined TikTok in late August, while Wiig recently made an Instagram account.

Fede Goldenberg, a long-time content partnerships executive at YouTube, joined Sony as head of Screen Gems, its film production division specializing in horror. (Read more about the rise of creator-led horror films here.)

He replaces Ashley Brucks, who was president of Screen Gems since 2023, and will transition to a producing role, according to Deadline.

Tim Holt was promoted to Dude Perfect’s head of YouTube Studio. He’s been with the YouTube group’s company for 11 years, most recently as vice president of post production. 

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