🤸Why creators are escaping the feed
Issue #405
Creators are constantly on the hunt for new ways to connect with their audiences. This is really about being in control, in how you connect and the revenue stream. In real life events are an obvious choice and a lucrative one. On the flip side brands are constantly on the hunt for new ways to connect with their customers and so we equally are seeing a lot of churn, with many one-off partnership deals as they try out different creators to achieve that goal. It’s a healthy sign that the creator economy allows both sides of the equation that freedom to experiment. Happy Thursday, Simon.
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Creators in the real world
Big name creators are venturing out from their feeds. Annoyingly loud comedy group Dude Perfect have been selling out stadiums for six years. Their 2025 tour drew more than 200,000 fans across 20 US cities, with event sponsorships now their second biggest revenue stream. YouTubers Sam Golbach and Colby Brock have run five IRL events already this year, including meet-and-greets and an escape room experience. Even LinkedIn creators are getting in on it, with marketing roundtable host Natasha Badger recently fielding a 300-person waitlist for a single event in New York. The pattern is the same everywhere: creators who built audiences online are discovering that putting fans in a room together is both more lucrative and a solid defence against the whims of the algorithm.
Facebook adding creators as friends
Facebook has launched Creator Fast Track, a programme offering established creators guaranteed earnings for three months, plus boosted reach on eligible Reels. The tiers: USD 1,000 a month for creators with 100,000+ followers on another platform, USD 3,000 for those over a million. In a time honoured Silicon Valley style Facebook isn’t trying to develop new talent. It’s trying to poach it; specifically the creators who already built their audiences somewhere else and might be open to a new revenue stream. For a platform that spent years being uncool, it’s an understandable move. Whether creators trust it enough to show up is another question.
Most brand deals are still one night stands
Despite everyone talking about creator partnerships as the future, new data from the Brand Deals Report confirms what most creators already suspect: the majority of brand partnerships end after a single collaboration. YouTube bucks the trend with half of creator relationships leading to repeat work. These partnerships averaged 13.5 months. Similar to its audience’s viewing habits, TikTok sits at the other end. 72% of brand relationships end after one post with an average duration of just under five months. The platform you build on doesn’t just affect your audience. It shapes whether brands see you as a channel or a campaign.
AI for Creators by Erik Magelssen
The Gemini Omni rumour did the rounds this week after a user surfaced a pop-up inside the Gemini app referencing a "new video model" just ahead of Google I/O. Tempting to read more into it than is probably there. Most creators have already settled into Runway, Sora, or Veo for AI video work and another model entering the space won't change that on its own. Worth watching for next week but I'd hold off rebuilding any workflows until there's something real to look at.
Cool Tools
For all the leaps iPhone photography has made, a growing number of creators apparently want their phones to behave like cameras from twenty years ago. This vintage imaging kit caters to exactly that crowd. An aluminium iPhone case, a Type-C grip with a microSD slot, a clip-on zoom lens, and a support bracket. The look is unmistakably retro and the handling makes the iPhone feel like an actual piece of gear rather than a slab of glass. Charming in a way that's hard to explain until you've held one.
Hot Tips
I didn't realise creative technologist was an actual job title until this week and now I can't stop thinking about the kind of work it produces. A creator I came across has been showcasing her projects sitting somewhere at the intersection of art and technology and the results are unlike anything else passing through my feed at the moment. This is the artsy end of the creator economy and it deserves more attention than it gets.
Viral Hits
There are moments when the internet outpaces my ability to write about it and the Scientology speedrun is one of them. Young men, mostly in their teens, filming themselves charging into Scientology buildings in face masks, dinosaur costumes, or full Jesus regalia, occasionally demanding to see Tom Cruise. The original video pulled 90 million views before being deleted. The trend has now reached Australia where actual arrests have started happening. I am genuinely not sure whether this is protest or just what social media looks like when it runs out of ideas.
Stuff from us
Seasonal data is one of those things brands rarely make interesting and we've been quietly trying to fix that. Our latest LinkedIn infographic for Visa breaks down spending patterns across Ramadan and Eid, designed not just for the season itself but for the planning that follows it. The patterns feed straight into demand forecasting, campaign timing, merchant strategy and customer engagement for the peak periods still ahead. Seasonal insight that earns its place beyond the season.