Another Creator Event Fails

The MrBeast Experience was more TanaCon than VidCon

Author

Jim Louderback
April 21, 2025

This Week: A $1,000 BeastCon bag of 💩, TikTok creators go direct to factory, and the rise of your AI agent named Emma.

Hi, I’m Jim Louderback and this is my weekly creator economy newsletter. If you’ve received it, then you are either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.


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MRBEAST THROWS A TANACON

Remember TanaCon? Apparently, MrBeast’s events team loved it. Last weekend’s Las Vegas based BeastCon (not its real name) not only lacked a Beast, but the $1,000 event delivered the holy trinity of fan event fails:  Mystery merch bags filled with warehouse leftovers, forced in-room waiting for “gift bags”, and MIA activations.  At least TanaCon had an actual Tana in attendance. Fans were furious at both MrBeast and Resorts World and demanded refunds. Here’s the thing – if you keep treating your most loyal fans like afterthoughts, don’t be surprised when they stop showing up. Apologies after the fact don’t cut it anymore. Just ask Tana.

ZUCKERBERG TAKES THE STAND

“It is better to buy than compete”. That quote from Mark Zuckerberg during last week’s Meta anti-trust trial seems to be a pivotal argument for the prosecution. During three days of testimony, Meta’s business model and acquisition culture was under the microscope. Key revelations include that Meta considered spinning Instagram off in 2018, and that it wasn’t always successful in snapping up competitors—as its $6 Billion offer was rebuffed by Snap in 2013. Also in a surprise to no one paying attention, Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook is no longer about friends but “broad entertainment and discovery”.

THE AGENTIC AI MANAGER ARRIVES

A new AI manager/agent just launched, called Retrograde, and promises to never miss a brand deal. “Emma” will work “nights, weekends and holidays”, and will do outbound prospecting as well. So I put it to the test but discovered that “she” apparently only works with Instagram right now, as you start by adding a custom retgrograde email into your Instagram bio. I did that, then sent myself two brand deal requests on Saturday from two of my other domains – one for LinkedIn and another for an Instagram sponsorship. Guess she took Easter weekend off, because I was never informed of any brand deals underway, even though Emma began negotiating with “other-me” on the Instagram deal (she ignored the LinkedIn request). 

I would prefer that “Emma” inform me about any inbound, rather than just saying there were no deals yet. Still, at 10%—which is what many managers charge – there might be value here. Seems fitting, albeit ironic, that the first true agentic disruption in the creator economy targets the agents themselves. But at least based on my initial tests, there’s more work to be done before I’d turn my revenue over to “Emma”.

VTUBERS GO MAINSTREAM

YouTube’s latest trends report puts the spotlight on “Virtual Creators”—a catch—all for VTubers, music avatars, Roblox—based personas, and AI—generated influencers. With 50 billion annual views, and the top 300 creators pulling in 15 billion of those, the category has officially arrived. The key shift? Authenticity is no longer about being real, it’s about feeling real. I first wrote about virtual humans like Lil Miquela back in late 2020, and it’s been up and to the right ever since. That momentum isn’t slowing down.

 

😎 SPONSOR

Whalar Group’s Creator and social agency, Whalar has been named Campaign UK’s Social Media agency of the year! Whalar has been focused on elevating social and Creator marketing from a game of likes and followers, to a sophisticated, outcomes-driven discipline rooted in accountability, creativity, and innovation. Additionally, Whalar EMEA President Emma Harman was named Campaign UK’s Head of Agency (Digital) Leader of the Year. Check out all the recent winners here: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/social-media-agency-year-2024/1911101.

💡 PLATFORMS

YOUTUBE

META

TIKTOK

💡 QUIBIS

MEDIA DISRUPTION

CREATOR MONETIZATION

  • Creators Moving FAST: @Mike Shields explores creators building their own FAST streaming TV channels and the pitfalls therein.

  • Let’s Do It Live: Patreon begins to roll out support for live video and connects it with chat. The ad-free video streams could theoretically go on forever, offering an interesting new way to engage your superfans.

  • Judging Has Begun: We’ll find out Thursday which 12 creators won a free ticket to Cannes Lions (and able to “fund their own travel, subsistence, accommodation and expenses”). They’ll be judged on creative trailblazing, consistent content evolution, career potential, breaking barriers and value alignment. How exciting.

  • Give It Away: Here’s an idea: Let’s just delete all IP law and let everyone remix everything. Guess that works if we give every artist alive a living wage x 10.

OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY

CREATOR TECH – AI, WEB3, VR, MORE

RESEARCH

Context Matters: Influencer launches “Creator Perspectives”, an analysis of brand partnerships as perceived by creators. Key data: 88% of creators still do it as a side hustle—and 72% want long—term brand deals. Key pain points: late payments, vague briefs and endless revisions. 

 

The Rise of the Entrepreneurial Creator: New study from Kajabi shows that for the first time, more than half of creators identify as business leaders (59%), while those that rely on platform revshare earn much less. Alas, the study also found that brand deals are down, TikTok volatility is starting to hurt creator earnings and those with owned revenue streams sleep better at night. 

Is this a statistically rigorous snapshot of the industry? No. But directionally, but it’s also gratifying to see creators rejecting algorithm whiplash and building on their own land. Back in February 2023, I wrote that creators needed to diversify their revenue mix off—platform—and 26 months later, it’s not just advice – according to Kajabi’s report, it’s survival.

📍 Where’s Jim?

Phish in SF and then hunkering down on Open Sauce.  Our Industry Day lineup is going to be killer.

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

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