From Washington D.C to being 'Imagital'

Before we begin this newsletter, I want to take a moment to honor the legacy of Susan Wojcicki, a true tech pioneer and visionary. Her leadership at YouTube transformed the digital landscape, and her contributions will continue to inspire generations to come.

Spotlight Story

Twitter's Ad Woes: A Battle for Control

Elon Musk's Twitter, now X, is in the hot seat! The platform is locked in a legal showdown with major advertisers, exposing the growing tension between brands and social media giants. Musk's aggressive tactics are shaking up the industry, but will it backfire? This is a classic David and Goliath story, with X playing the underdog, but the stakes are high for both sides.

This Week in the Creator Economy: A Global Update

Influencer Marketing Gets Serious

The influencer marketing game is changing fast! With brands demanding more data and accountability, creators need to up their game.

This move by Meta is a welcome step in the right direction—focussing on 'educating' not 'punishing'. I've seen it firsthand when creators would unfortunately be penalised by getting locked out of their accounts for a content policy violation that happened because of 'ignorance' and not 'intent'. In the pursuit of creative freedom, sometimes n00b creators just don't realise that they end up violating content guidelines. This is easily fixable with the right educational approach.

Meta X Universal Music Group

Meta and Universal Music Group (UMG) are refreshing their licensing agreements to expand the publishing giant’s content use on more Meta social apps. The new multi-year agreement now includes licensed media in content like short-form videos on Threads and WhatsApp, as well as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Meta Horizon.

Apple to Dismiss Patreon?

Apple says Patreon must switch to its billing system or risk removal from the iOS App Store.

This has two major implications for creators: 

1) Apple will apply its 30% App Store fee to all new memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app and to anything bought in your Patreon shop. 

2) Any creator currently on first-of-the-month or per-creation billing plans will have to switch over to subscription billing to continue earning in the iOS app because that’s the only billing type Apple’s in-app purchase system supports.

TikTok's Troubles and Creator Gains

TikTok is facing a tough battle to stay in the US market, while creators are cashing in on new opportunities. From YouTube's expanded shopping program to Snapchat's creator-friendly features, there's plenty for content creators to be excited about.

Amazon is ensuring that it pulls all the stops to ensure a seamless shopping experience. After recent partnerships with Meta (Facebook + Instagram) and Snapchat, it is now TikTok and Pinterest. This really means that if you like what you see while scrolling through your TikTok feed, you could choose and check out with Amazon without leaving the social media app. I think this is really great for the creators, as they can now create a shopfront within the comfort of their profile content and keep their audience within the fence, while they check out with Amazon in parallel. Unlike the earlier workflow where fans would need to step out of the creators' environment with an affiliate link/QR code to go shop on Amazon, this is a game changer. 

The White House Backs Creators

President Biden's first ever Creator Economy Conference is a major win for our industry as a whole. There is so much momentum when political leaders recognise the power of the creator economy. A few months back, Prime Minister Modi of India, hosted the 'National Creator Awards'. 

“You are the future, You are the new possibilities. You are the breakthrough in how we communicate." said President Joe Biden. 

It is important that all this just doesn't remain a political gimmick for the election season—but topics such as artificial intelligence technology, fair pay, data privacy, and the impact of social media on mental health see actual sustained policy development.

Some of our favourite Creator Economy experts were in the room, Jim Louderback’s post, Shira Lazar’s post, and Phil Ranta’s post, amongst 97 others!! 

Global Creator Updates

• YouTube Brandcast in India was a big deal!

Here are a few facts to get you thinking scale

- 11 thousand Indian channels have over a million subscribers, that’s a 50% increase year over year! 

- YouTube is number one in reach and watch time in India

- YouTube Shorts was first launched in India, and now has trillions of views

- Cricket videos had more than 50 billion views over the last year

- YouTube is the most watched streaming service on CTVs, with views on connected TVs in India having quadrupled in the last 3 years!

• TikTok's European Union woes: TikTok's Lite Rewards program shutting down in the EU for concerns about the feature’s potentially addictive qualities. Particularly, for young people.
• Roblox Rebellion: The Roblox ban in Turkey sparked outrage among young users, showcasing the platform's stronghold on its audience. After the Instagram ban last week, it was Roblox this week. Roblox kids have taken over the streets of Turkey in protest, screaming “Roblox Geri Gelsin” (which translates to “Roblox Come Back.").

AI X Creator Economy

AI-generated images are blowing our minds! These hyper-realistic visuals are blurring the lines between the real and digital worlds. Creators are loving the endless possibilities, but it's also sparking a debate about authenticity and originality. Is this the future of content creation, or are we heading down a slippery slope? Read more about it in Shira’s latest edition of The Alpha newsletter

Well, not every creator is going all-in on AI-generated videos, but as AI content becomes more relatable, reliable, and realistic, how long can they avoid the allure?? 

My Corner

There’s so much happening in the Creator Economy that compiling the newsletter every week is getting incrementally more complex than the previous week!! No, I’m not complaining! On the contrary, I’m actually quite enjoying this! It’s a good problem to have :)

At a personal level, I was quite intrigued by how realistic AI images are getting to be. A unique use-case for me was to be able to give a tangible imagery to my imagination. You see, I am a big believer in the visualization technique, and now with AI, I could literally ‘create and see’ my own future mental visualization in a very realistic *‘Imagital' (Imagination + Digital) form. This was truly exciting and beautiful! 

...with AI, I could literally ‘create and see’ my personal future mental visualization in a very realistic ‘Imagital' (Imagination + Digital) form. This was truly exciting and beautiful! 

Thats a Wrap

As we close out for the week, I'd urge you to try being 'Imagital' by visualizing your future self and letting AI bring it to life for you! Let us know how it turned out for you in the comments below. And, if you do not do it, let us know what was holding you back?

Here is your much-awaited Dad joke of the Week - I once submitted 10 puns to a joke competition. I really thought with that many, one was sure to be a winner. Sadly, no pun in ten did. 😀

Disclaimer - Imagital is a word coined by me, to emphasize digital rendering of one's own Imagination through the use of AI.

Hope you like this free newsletter? I’m still learning and this newsletter is still evolving. Would love your candid feedback. Anything you’d like to see more of, less of or least of! 😀

I have held leadership roles in big tech sales & partnerships across Asia Pacific-Japan, North America, and Latin America. I’m a seasoned entrepreneur (EdTech) and a military veteran. I am a business author on the evolving Content and Creator Economy and a LinkedIn Top Voice on Team Management and Creator Economy.

Join our community for a midweek insight into the pulse of the global Creator Economy, delivered straight to your inbox. Email me at mehrankur@gmail.com or swing by www.MetaCogX.me (under construction).

Stay curious, keep exploring!