It's Sunday and here's a handpicked selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

But first, an AI influencer's trip to Wimbledon looked awfully real. With her stylish fit, Mia Zelu didn't look out of place at the All England Club—except, of course, for the fact that she wasn't actually there.

CREATOR COMMOTION

Creators are making comebacks, predicting the future, and bowing out of big events

The comeback kid: Welcome back to VSauce, Michael Stevens! Once upon a time, Stevens was YouTube's most popular source for scientific content and other academic videos, but his 24 million VSauce subscribers haven't gotten a new video in years—until now. Stevens' first long-form upload since 2022 is a philosophical video that asks big questions about life and death.

The music icon: RIP to Connie Francis, a TikTok late-bloomer. The leading songstress of the 50s and 60s, who passed away last week at age 87, got one last run on the pop charts. Her song "Pretty Little Baby" cracked Spotify's Viral 50 global and U.S lists after it enjoyed an initial resurgence on TikTok this year.

The golf controversy: Come on, PGA—let Grant Horvat cook! Horvat, a golfing star on YouTube who has collaborated with big names like Tiger Woods, was supposed to play in his first official PGA event. That changed after organizers barred him from filming his round. If the PGA is so intent on getting young people to ignore the sport of golf, Horvat will have no choice but to indulge it.

The YouTube time traveler: MrBeast is the biggest creator on YouTube…and he's a time traveler? One of Jimmy Donaldson's old videos resurfaced after viewers noticed that some of his predictions for the future of YouTube have since come true. He pinpointed FaZe Clan's pivot to general entertainment content, forecasted the launch of YouTube TV, and nearly predicted PewDiePie's exact subscriber count. (He was only off by about seven million subscribers.)

THE BIZ

This week in the creator economy…

The bottom line: KSI is operating at a loss on YouTube. So said the Sidemen member during a recent guest appearance on Kick. "I'm not making profit," he admitted. KSI undoubtedly has other means of lining his pockets, but this anecdote is nevertheless a reminder that content is not as big of a slice of some creator's revenues as it used to be.

The ghoulish game: Sam and Colby have added a board game to their long list of products. The haunted house-exploring duo teamed up with the Hunt A Killer brand to release The Haunting of Wicker Ridge, which comes with "realistic props" that help players "banish the demon." The game is tied into the real-life escape room Sam and Colby recently launched in Los Angeles.

The snack collab: Jesser—a basketball creator known for his viral hoops videos—is working alongside one of the biggest stars in a different sport. He recently took to Instagram to endorse BEEUP, a snack brand launched by former England winger David Beckham.

EVENTS & HAPPENINGS

From MIPCOM to the Slapfight Championship, summer is just getting started

The showcase: YouTube is bringing the creator economy to MIPCOM. As the Cannes-set TV showcase prepares for its 20th anniversary, its organizers are teaming up with YouTube to establish a programming track that will feature digital creators and platform representatives. The platform will activate and host a keynote at the event, which will return to the south of France in mid-October.

The fundraiser: Summer Games Done Quick just raised $2.4 million for Doctors Without Borders. The latest edition of the mid-year offshoot of Awesome Games Done Quick served as the latest reminder of the incredible generosity of the speedrunning community. Leave it to speedrunners to make the world a better place as quickly as humanly possible.

The championship: Next up from AMP: slap fights in Texas. When we last checked in on the creator crew's summer plans, they were living it up at the Nando's location inside of Tony Parker's San Antonio-area mansion. Now, at the same venue, they're hosting the next chapter in the Slapfight Championship. Boys just wanna have fun (and smack one another in the face).

WATCH THIS 📺

Thanks to gen AI, Matt can be anywhere now

The YouTube sensation: Once upon a time, a man's attempt to dance his way across the world was one of the biggest things on YouTube.

"Where The Hell Is Matt?" saw its 15 minutes expire years ago (circa 2008), but a clever creator recently revived the trend by using generative AI to imagine an appropriately aged Matt dancing through remote landscapes. Check out the clip here.

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