Clipping Wins the Election!

Opus Clip popularized video clipping, using AI to make it simple to produce just the right short-form vertical out of long form content. This new media format is here to stay. Also, MrBeast’s legal team exonerates the company, while others beg to differ, Cannes leans into creators, Kai Cenat goes retro and much more. And read to the end for another old, old media that’s being reborn by today’s fandom economy.

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CLIPPING HAS ITS MOMENT – AND IS HERE TO STAY.

Whatever happens in the US elections Thursday, clipping already won. Social media clippers have rapidly ascended as some of the most important voices across social, as quick clips go viral quickly (say that three times fast). White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre bemoaned the more egregious clippers as “Cheap Fakes” during the White House Creator Economy Summit in August – but the powerful format is here to stay. Netflix also just jumped in with its new “Moments” feature, allowing fans to clip and share their favorite shows. Oh, and Opus Clip – who really accelerated the market – is still tops. But I wonder how much business will change post-election?

OTHER SHOE DROPS AT MRBEAST

The results from a company investigation are in – and even though the report from Quinn Emanuel didn’t find any widespread issues, big changes continue. Along with hiring a new CEO, CPO and chief counsel, a new CFO will be added soon as well. 5-10 employees have been fired and new policies and procedures have been put in place. The report washes away all the allegations from previous employees by stating, “It is not uncommon that policies and procedures essential in a mature company would lag behind commercial success. This appears to have been the case here.” Read the full report.

It’s notable that the report only covered harassment, and not the potential problems with how videos were structured or produced. It’s also not uncommon for legal teams retained by under-fire companies to deliver whitewashed results. Skydance, for example, investigated allegations concerning ousted Pixar CEO John Lasseter and delivered a mostly clean bill of health – in contrast to the evidence that surfaced at Pixar during his tenure. Interestingly Rosanna Pansino got her hands on some work-chat logs from MrBeast that provide evidence of knowledge and tacit endorsement of harassment at the highest levels.

I expect other creators, company detractors and former employees to pick the report apart in the coming weeks. I’ll include any relevant discussions and revelations here in the weeks to come.

THE FASTER YOU GO, THE ROUNDER YOU GET

Kai Cenat is back with another 30-day 24/7 livestream to reclaim his subscriber count throne from VTuber Ironmouse. This time he’ll have top influencers stopping by, including Kim Kardashian and many others. Cenat continues to break records and re-invent streaming, but I was most struck by how he’s leaning back into the original premise of Twitch. Back in 2007 Justin Kan slapped a camera on his head and essentially invented lifecasting to his website Justin.TV. Justin.TV started evolving into Twitch.tv in 2011. Fast forward nearly 18 years and history repeats itself – only this time with more Ks. And a charity angle too!

NEW COMPANY AIMS TO PROTECT CREATORS, DELIVER $$$ FOR AI TRAINING

Instead of complaining about AI stealing creator content – or lobbying increasingly recalcitrant platforms – a new startup plans to help creators actually make money from the AI bubble. Early Troveo user Peter Hollens 🟣 says not only are creators getting paid, but they are building a “do-not-scrape registry” to help now and in the future. Hollens also warns that we’re in the middle of a land-grab and unscrupulous players are signing creators up to long-term deals without having a legit tech-stack or any transparency around revenue received and paid out. Hollens is also an advisor, so take that with a grain of salt. But it reminds me of the early days of YouTube when MCNs signed creators to (illegal) lifetime deals to pump up their valuations.

• Related: SAG-AFTRA signs a deal with Ethovox to allow its members to participate in training their foundational model.

BARGAIN OR ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY?

Hey creators – want to attend Cannes Lions in June? Now there’s a special “creators pass” that you and your team can apply for – and receive the “right” to pay $1,500 for a ticket. Sure, it’s a quarter of the $5k “classic” pass, but make sure it’s worthwhile before paying up. I’ve heard from some creators who attended last year that it wasn’t very useful but expect it will be improved in year 2. Still unclear if it’ll be more valuable than VidCon (the two events overlap). Plus, you can always visit the south of France for free during Cannes if you really need that rosé fix on the corniche. Fun fact – events giant Informa purchased both Cannes Lion and VidCon earlier this year. Maybe they won’t overlap in 2026.

SPORTS AND CREATORS – YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG

CreatorIQ data whiz Alex Rawitz explores how MLB, NBA, NHL and the NFL are faring in their attempts to woo creators – and their fans. My thesis is that these are good first efforts but going forward we will be less interested in creators covering the games and more interested in creators on the team, on the coaching staff and in the front office. This was obvious at the Paris Olympics when the athletes themselves took center stage on social. As an NFL fan, give me Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce over Haley Kalil or Lisa Nguyen any day. We’ll be exploring this issue at the One Billion Followers Summit in January.

SPONSOR: In an insightful LinkedIn article, Neil Waller 🐳 shares two bold predictions set to supercharge the Creator Economy. As Creators and brands collaborate in new ways, product placement in Creator content and the rise of generative AI are poised to fuel unprecedented growth over the next 12–24 months. This transformative moment is about building a true Creator Revolution—and it’s just getting started. Read Neil’s insights here!

MEETUP: So excited to do my third annual Inside the Creator Economy meetup in Lisbon at Web Summit! I’ll be gathering with friends from Influencers.Club at Catch Me Lisboa on Thursday November 14th from 7:30 until 9:30 for drinks, a beautiful view over the bridges and harbor (and some of us will likely decamp to a local restaurant for dinner after). See you there!

QUIBIS

YOUTUBE

• TWIYT: Content Tab updates – and “Comments” are now “Community”
• Big Big Red: YouTube delivers a bang-up quarter, with nearly $9B in ad revenue and $50B in trailing annual revenue. That means it represents a full 20% of the entire global creator economy (if you buy Goldman Sachs’ estimates).
• Related: YouTube’s five key ad formats explained.
• Better Save Your Rubles: Google fined 2×1037 dollars for blocking channels in Russia. Substantially more than all the tea in China.
• SuperChat Goals: YouTube inviting more users into its tests of a new way for creators to drive engagement on live and premieres according to CEO Neal Mohan.

META

• These Aren’t the Eggs You’re Looking For: It’s no yoke - AI slop gets sticky on Halloween with an egg-centric Facebook hoax.
• Related: Zuckerberg says more AI slop is on the way.
• Riding the Smile Curve: Stratechery unpacks Meta’s latest financial results. One fascinating insight: AI-generated slop is more expensive to produce than human-generated slop.
• Knocking On Heaven’s Door: Threads reaches 275M Monthly Active Users – on track to beat Twitter’s 500k MAU mid next year.
• The Pause That Depresses: Big fury around Instagram squishing quality for under-performing videos. That self-reinforcing loop is not a good look, Insta.

TIKTOK

• Apple’s Warning: More accidentally unredacted court documents show Apple advised TikTok that its app wasn’t appropriate for kids under 17.
• Back to School: TikTok updates its education platform for brands and marketers.
• Founders Dilemma: Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming tops the “Huron China Rich List” list – but for how long Jim, how long? My TikTokCountdownClock has the answer.

OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY

• I’m #49: Hard on the heels of his comprehensive 2025 creator economy report, Ollie Forsyth of New Economies dropped a list of 50 creators to watch in 2025. THANKS for including me Ollie – I’m honored! The rest of the list is well worth perusing – and you can catch a bunch of the annointed at One Billion Followers Summit too!
• Forbes Dreams of a Creator Marketplace: Forbes released their annual top 50 creator list – this one focused on top earners. Their data has been suspect in the past, but it’s a decent list. Instead of a party this year the tarnished brand threw a creator upfront with Walmart that was mostly just a pitchfest.
• It’s a Start: Health insurance for creators sucks in the US. MagicLinks is trying to do something about it, with insurance stipends for active creators. But really, the US gov needs to act.
• Smile! Lindsey Gamble has a good primer on LinkedIn video with tips on how to get started and what to do. I’m excited to chat with LinkedIn’s Cayman Rojas onstage at One Billion Followers Summit in Dubai to learn more!
• RIP Peanut: So sad that NY State wildlife authorities seized Instagram famous squirrel Peanut – and then killed him, apparently for no good reason.
• Ain’t No Time to Hate: Twitch reiterates that it’s about belonging, addressing recent racism and harassment on the platform, as creators pressure advertisers to pull ads.
• Me Too! Snap’s new EMEA research shows how people shop on its platform.
• Getting Late Early: Report from the first ZCON says its time for an ACON.
• Vibe Update: New $72M award for OMG Girlz in case against toy-maker MGA has implications for creators globally. Franklin Graves explores the fallout and what creators need to know.
• Welcome This Is a Dudehouse: Dude Perfect is building a Dallas studio and will open it up to other local creators.
• You’re a Bank Too? The Soul Publishing (who owns Underscore Talent) just bought Mediacube. The financial app for creators delivers cash advances and more financial solutions to creators globally. I wonder how this impacts Underscore’s roster of talent?
• Amazon XOXO Spotter: Amazon invests an undisclosed amount in Spotter. I wonder what the valuation was.
• So You Want to Be a Creator? Lots of places where you can trade money for knowledge these days. Probably need a Kelly Blue Book to rate all these courses that keep popping up like mushrooms in a cow field.
• Anti-Fandom Screed: Watchmen author Alan Moore lays out the downside of fandom. Inside Fandom contributor Morgan Ward 's take: Moore astutely points out how dangerous fandom power can be – and we should heed his warning.

CREATOR TECH – AI, WEB3, VR, MORE

• Shared Stupidity: Reddit launched a video game, thus joining the clueless club (Netflix, LinkedIn and YouTube are also members). As a dedicated dungeon crawler, I can confidently say it’s terrible. Others agree.
• Open AI Targets Google, Perplexity: OpenAI released its previously announced search product last week. I was on the waitlist and found it to be pretty good, but not perfect. For example, it told me to get a reservation at a restaurant in Portugal – but the restaurant does not take reservations. Beware of the Chrome Extension though. It’s like the dinner guest that never leaves – it needs an on-off toggle switch accessible from the toolbar.
• Related: Meta says it’s working on an AI Search Engine too.
• TEMU Time: The EU is going after Temu for a host of transgressions, including addictive design, selling forbidden products and more.

• Vatican Pop: Remember when we said Anime was eating the world? The trend has officially jumped the shark with a new Tokidoki-designed anime mascot from the Catholic Church, apparently walking the Camino de Santiago (check out the eyes).   It was an instant Halloween classic.

RESEARCH

• I Gotta Wear Shades: Latest report from hiring site “Creator Economy Jobs” finds that listings have doubled in the year, concluding that job demand has done so as well. I’m not ready to embrace that conclusion, but clearly our sector is growing strongly.
• Fantasy and Nomance: UCLA releases an interesting “Teens and Screens” survey of 10-24 year-olds. Good directional data about what’s resonating today. Apparently platonic escapism is where it’s at.

INSIDE THE STARKID PRODUCTIONS FANDOM

By Morgan Ward

Last week it was Dracula, this week Broadway Musicals (sense a theme?). It starts with A Very Potter Musical, a parody from Starkid Productions that went viral in 2009 on YouTube. Along with launching the musical careers of the entire cast and creative team, Starkid has released 14 other original productions, including this year’s hit, Cinderella’s Castle. Every production features a stage run, with YouTube versions posted for free shortly after the show closes. With 13 appearances on billboard’s top 10 for musical theatre albums and over 350 million lifetime views, Starkid makes musical theater accessible to fans around the world – and has built a widespread and passionate fanbase as a result. Productions are funded almost entirely via fans – through Kickstarter and advanced physical and virtual ticket sales. As with Dracula, fandom continues to breathe new life into even the oldest and most traditional media formats.

Go Deeper

• Beyond Potter, check out Trail to Oregon, and The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals.
• Starkid actor Mariah Rose Faith Casillas on Tiktok goes behind the scenes.
• Follow @smallestkyle, @thirdchildart, @fictionalheroine, and @coloredlion102 to see how fans interact with the shows.

100% written by me – no human or AI ghostwriters were involved in the production (except for the cover art!).

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I've built and sold multiple creator economy startups to top media companies - including Discovery and Paramount. Subscribe here on LinkedIn to get this newsletter every Monday.

Let me know what you think – email me at jim@louderback.com. Thanks for reading and see you around the internet.