The Selling of the Beast 2026

💡 TOP STORIES

MR BEAST HITS THE ROAD

I’m calling it. The Beast Industries IPO roadshow has officially begun.

MrBeast and CEO Jeffrey Housenbold sat down with Andrew Ross Sorkin at DealBook Summit, and it felt like an off-Broadway warm-up. They walked through the company’s three pillars: the content engine, the expanding Beast Industries business lines (including the MVNO and financial services arms gearing up for launch), and a new brand-focused clipping and marketing division.

(Want my take on a MrBeast phone? See my Sept 8 issue. I have concerns.)

This wasn’t just a fireside chat. It looked like the soft launch of an IPO. Investment bankers in the room seemed to agree, swarming around Housenbold afterwards, presumably eager to underwrite the Beast Industries debut.

It also adds context to Donaldson’s sudden vow last week to improve on 2025 by making “the greatest content of my life” in 2026. That wasn’t just a random rumination. Content fuels the Beast empire and his message was clear.  Jimmy will focus on honing the content stick, while Housenbold builds the enterprise stockade designed to outgrow the media business entirely.

A friend who attended the summit shared some revealing non-verbal color. Housenbold wandered onstage nearly ten minutes late, leaving Sorkin and Donaldson in an unexpected one-on-one. When the CEO finally arrived, the conversation shifted toward operations and business strategy. As Sorkin pressed Housenbold, Donaldson grew flustered and almost kicked the underside of his CEO’s chair to pivot the spotlight back on him.

“Jimmy needs more media coaching for the real roadshow,” my friend concluded. That is precisely why founders hire investment bankers.

Still, they need to prove that Beast Industries can become a diversified enterprise distinct from Jimmy Donaldson. Public markets hate key-man risk, and even the most successful creators are human. One scandal, or even a sustained viewership decline, could spell doom.

Either way, the Beast Industries IPO will be one of the biggest media stories of 2026. And the opening bell just rang.  (Dexerto, NYT($), Full Video on YouTube)

NETFLIX BUYS WARNER BROTHERS

As MrBeast prepares to take his creator empire public, Netflix is trying to buy itself another layer of dinosaur armor with an $82.7 billion bid for Warner Bros. It’s a bet on owning the future of global fandom as creators and AI rebuild the rules.  Many in traditional media, along with some in government, hate the deal. But I think it will go through. 

It also raises more questions than answers, and this week I’ve got a lot of them.  

10 Questions About Netflix, WB, MrBeast and YouTube

 (with apologies to Stuart Elliott)

Q: If $82.7 billion can buy Warner Bros Discovery, and roughly the same amount can bankroll OpenAI for just three years, which one is actually the bigger media company now?

Q: If Moneyball has officially taken over entertainment, what would Michael Eisner say today when his famous “I rely on gut instinct” speech hits a wall of Netflix and YouTube data scientists?

Q: If regulators block Netflix from swallowing WBD (or Paramount outbids), do we wake up one morning to find MrBeast, Joe Rogan, and the world’s top YouTube studios and podcasters all living under the Netflix roof instead?

Q: As media reshapes itself, will fandom consolidate around the few remaining mega-franchises, or will creators plus AI disperse fandom into a million smaller galaxies?

Q: If Beast Industries succeeds as a public company, how long until other creator-run media conglomerates start sprouting up like corn after a summer rain?

Q: During the next economic downturn, which one wins: Netflix’s expensive but stable model, or YouTube’s cheap but volatile one?

Q: When the AI backlash hits, will viewers cling even harder to familiar mega-franchises anchored by real humans instead of algorithmic soup?

Q: If Amazon ever decides to get serious, could the combined gravitational pull of Twitch, MGM, Prime Video and commerce quietly turn it into the real boss?

Q: As infinite content floods the world, which media giants evolve into something new and which ones wake up to find themselves the next MySpace?

Q: And if I ask Neal Mohan, David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos and Jimmy Donaldson about whether all of this marks the end of the platform era and the beginning of something new, will they reply, “you ask a lot of questions for some surf-punk from Pacifica”.

On Wednesday, I’ll send you all a special mid-week edition where I dig into what it all means for YouTube, fans, Netflix, the Creator Economy and the next evolution of media.  And try to answer these questions.

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💡 PLATFORMS

YOUTUBE

Your Year in Red: Everyone’s getting into the recap game – now YouTube has one too.  Check out your personalized recap here and learn more about how they did it here (still rolling out to many people, including me). (YouTube)

YouTube’s Year: YouTube released its annual state-of-the-culture report and it’s worth downloading. Here are the key trends that stood out to me:  (YouTube)

• Creators are becoming broadcasters and cultural authorities (France).

• It’s still possible to start from scratch and blow up (CaylusBlox, Double Date)

• Language walls are collapsing through dubbing and non-verbal formats (India).

• AI- influenced weirdness spawns global memes (Anomaly, Brainrot, Squid Games, Labubu, Grow a Garden).

• New hybrid genres emerge via local/global remixing (Indonesian hipdut).

• An authenticity yin/yang as raw reality and meticulous persona-building both thrive (Korea).

• In a world of AI abundance, audiences reward high-effort human content in both long-form and Shorts.

META

Improved Support?  Meta claims it is now easier to get account support and brags about a reduction in hacked accounts.  It’s long on AI, and lacks any sort of human intervention, though. (Meta)

Scam Fighters: Facebook can feel like a scammers paradise, but Meta claims it is making headway. (Meta)

Fake AI Shops Flourish: There’s still work to do, as AI-generated fake shops, amplified by Facebook ads, are everywhere. (Mashable)

A Rose by Any Other Name: Zuckerberg plans to dramatically cut Metaverse funding.  Perhaps it’s time to change the name too.  Metabet has a nice ring to it and contrasts nicely with YouTube/Google’s parent.  (CNN)

Hook, Test and Refine  Meta shares brand and direct response best practices for Instagram Reels (Meta)

TIKTOK

TikTok Leans into Local:  Following in the footsteps of Atmosfy, Seekeasy and other local-first platforms, TikTok rolls out its “Nearby Feed”, designed to connect you with local creators and businesses.  Europe only for now (TikTok)

Time’s Running Out:  Just 7 days left to get a deal done – or a stay of execution.  (TikTok Countdown Clock)

More Shoppers: TikTok Shop says 50% more people bought stuff this year during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday selling cycle.  Early winner?  Skullpanda.  (TikTok, Pop Mart)

💡 QUIBIS

OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY

Protecting Kids from Mobile and Social: Cell phone bans for teens ramp up around the world, as France considers banning them in schools.  Axios recaps all the global bans in place or under way. (Axios)

Major YouTube Envy: Spotify’s video focus starts working.  Their latest study shows that more than 80% of their US top 50 podcasts now include video.  (Lowpass $)

On Beyond Audio: Top independent podcast network Acast and Little Dot Studios just launched an accelerator designed to help podcasters access premium YouTube inventory, along with giving advertisers a unified way to buy both audio and video versions of an episode. The beginning of a trend. (Acast)

Big Robux!  Roblox creators/developers earned over $1B in the first nine months of 2025, with huge gains in Soth Korean, Japan and Indonesia.  (Roblox)

Revshare’s Unintended Consequences: Those fake bot accounts spamming America?  Many are just following the money. (404 Media)

Microdrama Ascendent: The money is likely coming from experimental budgets, but Televisa is seeing early microdrama wins with advertisers. (Variety)

Shoemaker’s Children: MKBHD’s Panels app struggles to find product/community fit, will shut down at the end of the month.  Note to all, that does NOT mean creator products are dead. (TechCrunch)

Oh, the Horror!  Nice read about the origin story of Yoga with Adrienne, a huge business / creator success. (Simon Owens)

Where’s Your Meme?  If startups are just stories about the future, then creators ought to be pretty good at it.  (99% Derisible)

CREATOR TECH – AI, AR, VR, MORE

AI SEO Tip:  Keep those “Best of <thing>” lists coming creators, as it’ll also boost your AI search score.  (ahrefs)

Read the Tea Leaves: The math behind why generative AI has fundamentally changed search – and why it’s a huge opportunity!  Aside: this story also shows why undifferentiated “Best of 2025” lists might not work.  (Joshua Budman)

📊 RESEARCH

The Long-Term Effects of Short-Form Videos

A new academic meta-analysis of 71 studies on TikTok, Reels, Shorts and Douyin found that the more you watch short form video, the worse your attention and impulse control get. The effects are moderate but real, with weaker (although still significant) links to higher stress, anxiety, loneliness and lousy sleep. The results were similar across both teens and adults. But it’s not raw minutes that correlate most strongly with problems, but the “addiction style” of use.  The study did not see any broad correlation between heavy short form viewing and negative body image or lowered self-esteem. My solution? More slow media, fewer short-form squirts. (NIH)

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

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