It's Monday 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, OpenAI is seeking a new Head of Preparedness. The salary: $550,000/year. The catch: CEO Sam Altman says applicants can expect to be thrown "into the deep end pretty much immediately."

PLATFORM POTPOURRI

Can Instagram elbow its way onto TV screens?

The TV tussle: Instagram is bringing Reels to a TV screen near you. On Amazon Fire TV devices, the Meta-owned social media platform is testing an app that turns its library of vertical short-form videos into a form of living room entertainment. Multiple accounts can be linked to the Instagram on TV app, where Reels are sorted into categories and a search feature allows users to look up specific channels.

In other words, Meta wants to compete with YouTube. Some YouTube creators have reported getting as much as 40% of their traffic from TVs, and through that medium, older viewers are watching more YouTube than ever before. In the most recent edition of Nielsen's The Gauge report, YouTube accounted for 12.9% of TV screen watch time. No other service got more than 8.3% of that pie—meaning Instagram is facing an uphill battle if it hopes to challenge YouTube's TV dominance.

The AI controversy: X is facing backlash from authorities in India, France, and Malaysia after its Grok chatbot reportedly generated sexualized images of minors and explicit depictions of sexual abuse.

The takeover: Reddit is gaining prominence across the pond. According to new data from communications regulator Ofcom, the forum-based platform has surpassed TikTok as the U.K.'s #4 most-visited social media service.

The sports suite: Meanwhile, TikTok is capitalizing on its community of sports fans ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The platform has introduced TikTok GamePlan, "a comprehensive product suite that allows sports teams, leagues, and broadcasters to drive discovery, deepen engagement, and deliver real business results."

CREATOR COMMOTION

Creators are getting real about money and teaming up with chicken chains

The YouTube legend: MrBeast says "no one ever believes anything" he says about his personal finances—and we can see why. Despite bringing in hundreds of millions through his multimedia empire, Jimmy Donaldson told The Wall Street Journal that he has "negative money right now" and is actually "borrowing money." The YouTube star's reasoning: he's too "laser-focused on…making the greatest videos possible" to think about his personal bank account.

The chicken collab: Popeyes wrapped up 2025 with a tasty creator campaign. As part of a week-long promotion, the fried chicken chain gave fans a chance to order seven different meal bundles inspired by streamers Agent 00, ExtraEmily, Cinna, RaKai, Lacy, Tori, and Cooking with Kya.

The AI Twitch star: An AI streamer is climbing the Twitch charts. Per Twitch Tracker, AI-powered character Nuero-sama currently claims more active paid subscribers than any other streamer on the platform: 165,268.

The partnership priorities: Creators know what they're looking for when it comes to brand deals. According to eMarketer, 45% of creators describe "working with a high-quality brand" as their top priority when considering a brand deal, while 44% prioritize "alignment with personal brand values and identity."

INDUSTRY BUZZ

This week in the digital media biz

The audio advantage: Video podcast ads are an exciting new option for buyers—but there's a lot more to podcasting than just long-form videos. A whitepaper published by Oxford Road and Podscribe suggests that audio podcast ads offer far stronger returns than their video-based brethren.

The two companies tracked over 1,000 campaigns across 100+ brands to uncover what they describe as "the hidden performance gap costing brands billions." The TLDR: on average, campaigns that only targeted audio listeners outperformed "simulcast" campaigns that incorporated video viewership. In fact, YouTube views were found to be about 20% less effective than audio downloads as a vehicle for driving purchases.

The advertising update: According to Meta's updated privacy policy, users can now expect the prompts they direct to the "AI at Meta" chatbot—which is available across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—to be used as fodder for targeted advertising.

The AI problem: Adam Mosseri is tackling the mounting issue of AI content identification. In a recent post on Threads, the Instagram head suggested that instead of labeling AI-generated content, "it will be more practical" for platforms "to fingerprint real media than fake media." And that's just the beginning: Mosseri also argued that the digital media industry at large will need to "surface much more context about not only the media on our platforms, but the accounts that are sharing it for people to be able to make informed decisions about what to believe."

The $10M fine: Disney has agreed to pay $10 million in civil penalties after allegedly violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by mislabeling YouTube videos directed at underage viewers.

WATCH THIS 👀

MrBeast brought Starbucks to a floating island

The sky-high challenge: MrBeast is back on top in Gospel Stats' latest rundown of most-watched branded YouTube videos. For his most recent viral challenge, the beast man promised two fans $250,000 if they could last 30 days marooned on a floating island.

That might sound like a raw deal, but at least the contestants weren't deprived of caffeine. Midway through the challenge, a floating Starbucks counter arrived on the platform, complete with a barista. That brand spot may or may not convince casual viewers to patronize the U.S.'s biggest coffee chain, but we're betting the video's stars didn't mind the interruption.

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