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TOGETHER WITH |
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It's Tuesday and Facebook is bringing back yet another throwback feature: job listings. Now you can find your next couch and your next job on Marketplace. |
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Today's News |
🍎 Creators take over Times Square 🗓️ MIPCOM Cannes approaches 👀 MrBeast worries about Sora 🚀 Alex Cooper launches an agency 🎙️ This week on the podcast…
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BATTLING BURNOUT |
 | Jordan Howlett was featured on a Times Square billboard. Photo credit: Cristian Paez. |
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Creators took over Times Square for World Mental Health Day |
The billboard: In honor of World Mental Health Day, a prominent billboard in Times Square drew attention to creators' battle against burnout. That billboard—which launched on October 9—featured creators like Jordan Howlett (pictured above), Haley Kalil, Dhar Mann, Collins Key, Nia Sioux, Zachery Dereniowski, Dale Moss, and Creators 4 Mental Health Founder Shira Lazar. The goal of the campaign: promoting Creators 4 Mental Health's mission to tackle stigma, share resources, and spark conversation about the mental and emotional support creators need most. |
Creators 4 Mental Health joined forces with Influential (the influencer marketing firm acquired by Publicis Groupe last year) and out-of-home ad company OUTFRONT Media to bring its billboard to life, following an industry trend that has gained traction in recent years. |
The context: Creators 4 Mental Health was established to provide solutions for digital denizens who are feeling the flames of burnout—a group that now encompasses the majority of influencers. Thanks to factors like fast-paced feeds and the rise of generative AI, 78% of creators have reported suffering from burnout. |
"Openness is the first step to removing stigma. When creators share their experiences, it not only strengthens this community but also gives their audiences permission to talk about mental health in their own lives." | | | | - Shira Lazar, Creators 4 Mental Health Founder |
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As it continues its mission to support influencers, Creators 4 Mental Health aims to follow up its Times Square billboard with multiple activations, including events in D.C. and Atlanta. The organization is also planning to release a sweeping study on creator mental health in partnership with Opus, BeReal, Statusphere, and Social Currant. |
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The UAE's first global creator accelerator will culminate onstage at the 1 Billion Followers Summit |
Presented by Creators HQ in partnership with 500 Global, Creators Ventures is a 10-week hybrid accelerator designed for creators and creator economy-focused startups. The potential funding opportunity: $13.6M by Creators HQ. |
The Creators Ventures program kicks off next week and will run until January 2026, when participants will gain global exposure by pitching live at the 1 Billion Followers Summit. |
And that's just one of the funding opportunities set to be unveiled at next year's summit. |
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On January 11, 1 Billion Followers Summit and Google Gemini will conclude a global creator competition by awarding the world's largest prize for AI filmmaking: $1 million. |
Visit the 1 Billion Followers Summit website to learn more about the world's largest expo for content creators and reserve your spot: |
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 |
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MIPCOM Cannes kicked off yesterday at the Palais des Festivals and will run until October 16. Check out Tubefilter's overview of the long-running trade show here. (Tubefilter - Partner Story)
Language service Duolingo is bringing a short-form anime series to YouTube. (CNET)
Universal Music Group has launched House of Carmen, a new platform designed to facilitate its influencer marketing partnerships with creators. (Music Business Worldwide)
Apple TV Plus says it has adopted a "vibrant new identity" under a (slightly) rebranded name: Apple TV. (The Verge)
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AI REVOLUTION |
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MrBeast is stressed about AI tools like Sora. He's not alone. |
The X post: Earlier this month, MrBeast took to X to lament the launch of OpenAI's Sora video app. The top YouTuber (aka Jimmy Donaldson) remarked that these are "scary times," and expressed concerns over what will happen to creators "[w]hen AI videos are just as good as normal videos." |
That message didn't sit well with many commenters—in large part because Donaldson's own history with AI is a mixed bag. The creator participated in the beta for Spotter's generation-heavy Studio tool, teamed up with YouTube on the release of autogenerated dub tracks, and even introduced his own thumbnail generation tool through his platform, Viewstats. (That last tool garnered immediate and intense backlash, leading Donaldson to take it down.) |
The context: Those activities led critics to label MrBeast's X post as hypocritical—but that doesn't mean his concerns aren't shared by other creators. In the wake of Sora's chart-topping app debut, Hank Green, Kurzgesagt–In a Nutshell, and others have expressed fears about how the internet will be affected by the rise of AI content that is becoming indistinguishable from reality. |
"It's never been easier to make mediocre content…Google AI is summarizing websites instead of sending traffic to them. On YouTube, new channels publish long-form content multiple times a week with AI-generated thumbnails, voices, and scripts." | | | | - Kurzgesagt–In a Nutshell |
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Even as AI continues to infiltrate online video, however, it's important to remember that creators have weathered waves of positive and negative technological advances since the birth of this industry. It's a transitional time right now, but creators as a whole have shown savvy, resilience, and innovation in the past. They're also - most importantly - human. Here's to hoping they'll come out on top. |
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THE BIZ |
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Alex Cooper is joining the $2.4B U.S. podcast ad biz through Unwell Creative Agency |
The new division: Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper is expanding her Unwell Network with a new unit tailored to advertising partnerships. The Unwell Creative Agency will connect brands to Zoomers across multiple avenues, including sponsored content, live events, and podcasting partnerships. |
Cooper started to push the new division at the Cannes Lions festival in June. It was as that point, according to the Wall Street Journal, that the Unwell Creative Agency began negotiations with its first partner: Google. |
Thanks to a multi-year agreement, Google will put the agency to work across several facets of its business while also teaming up with Cooper's media company in a more general capacity. The first product of that partnership: an ad for the Google Pixel 10 featuring Cooper herself. |
"Gen Z has grown up scrolling their feeds, but the reality is, they're just being bombarded by sometimes tone-deaf brands. We have picture-perfect influencers selling endless products, and the honest truth is, I think most of that generation has tuned them out." | | | | - Alex Cooper |
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The context: The Unwell Creative Agency's focus on Gen Z furthers the mission of the larger Unwell network, which Cooper launched in 2023 to provide "a platform for this generation's unique voices that embrace social challenges and personal insecurities through honest conversation." |
Early partners included Alix Earle and Madeleine Argy, though the Unwell roster has shifted since launch, with Earle splitting from the network earlier this year. |
The ongoing diversification of the Unwell business has also included the launch of a hydration drink and a subsequent partnership with the National Women's Soccer League (aka NWSL). As a whole, those dealings have set Cooper up to enter a podcast advertising business that topped $2.4 million in sales in the U.S. alone in 2024. |
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LISTEN UP 🎙️ |
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This week on the podcast… |
"Is AI Coming for Your Job?": On the latest episode of Creator Upload, hosts Lauren Schnipper and Joshua Cohen take a breather from the hustle and bustle of VidSummit to break down creator concerns surrounding the popularity of OpenAI's new video creation app, Sora. |
Also on the discussion list: Instagram's exclusive "Rings" awards, major algorithm updates from Facebook and X, and a powerful new AI-driven podcasting tool from the creator of Diary of a CEO. |
Check out the full installment of Creator Upload on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to find out more. |
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. |
