The Vibe Creator Era Begins

💡 TOP STORIES

FIVE YEARS OF INSIDE THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Five years ago, I hit publish on the first edition of what would become Inside the Creator Economy. Now, 260 issues later, we’ve grown from zero to nearly 35,000 subscribers. Thanks for being here.

That first issue went out on 10/5/2020, when I was still CEO of VidCon. We were cranking out 10 to 15 virtual VidCon sessions a week and planning a post-Covid return to IRL events. At the time, the newsletter only went to VidCon’s Industry mailing list. Then in February 2021, LinkedIn launched newsletters and I decided to multicast it there. Now we’re live on Beehiiv, LinkedIn and my own blog at Louderback.com - with an RSS feed too.

The very first top story? TikTok, of course. Back then, The Atlantic explored the cultural and psychological shockwaves of a platform where anyone could rack up millions of views overnight. (The Atlantic)

Other highlights from that first issue included David Dobrik’s voter registration push, Teespring’s Nike collab with Alex Wassabi, and Colin Hickey’s pick for video of the week: “Sweaty McMovesalot.”

WHAT’S CHANGED

The Demise of Free
I’ve always prioritized linking to free sources. That was easier in 2020. Even my first story is now behind a paywall. Today I link more to primary sources—press releases, company blogs, and LinkedIn posts.  That means I include more of my own analysis. Early on, I couldn’t do much opining (Viacom/Paramount PR rules). Now I’m free to add context, predictions, and my own take. Hopefully you’re OK with that.

Independent Coverage is Scarce
With Passionfruit gone and many other top reporters laid off or moving up, it’s harder to find dedicated, unbiased coverage of the creator space. Thank goodness for the independent newsletters that are still grinding it out.

Our Favorite Obsessions
TikTok. MrBeast. AI. YouTube. Every time I write about them, open rates and LinkedIn views spike. No need to manufacture drama… they generate plenty on their own.

Predictions Matter
My December predictions and July recaps are consistently the most popular issues. I even grade myself annually. The average: I get 90–95% right. Maybe I’m good at this. Or maybe I just grade easy.

What’s Next
More meetups (starting with Web Summit in November), more video, maybe audio too. Casey Newton’s Platformer just turned five as well—his evolution is inspiring. My friend Ivan Zejlcovic has been pushing me to launch a paid WhatsApp community for real-time discussion. That’s on my radar. So are more live events.

THANK YOU

To the VidCon team who backed me early—especially Sarah Tortoreti and Jeannete Francia, my first editor.

To fellow newsletter writers I admire: Matt Navarra, Colin Rosenblum, Samir Chaudry, Lia Haberman, Lindsey Gamble, Kaya Yurieff, Jasmine Enberg, Phil Ranta, Avi Gandhi, Doug Shapiro, Evan Shapiro, Benedict Evans and so many more.  You should sub to all of them.

To the LinkedIn crew, past and present, from Cayman Rojas and Victoria Taylor to Dan Roth and others working to make B2B creator publishing thrive.

To my sponsors—starting with Everbloom, my longest supporter Whalar, and all the others who’ve backed me.

And most of all to you. This newsletter helps me clarify what’s really happening in the creator economy, and I couldn’t do it without your feedback, emails, and support. I'm not always right - but hopefully I always make you think.

This newsletter will always remain free. If you’d like to chip in, you can Buy me a coffee and say thanks. But mostly—thanks for riding along these last five years. Let’s see where the next five take us.

Here’s the Sora video I made featuring lots of fake - and some real - people congratulating me on 5 years! (More on Sora below).

SORA 2 CHANGES EVERYTHING

OpenAI releases Sora 2, which ups the social AI video market by letting you create deep fakes (called cameos) of yourself, your friends, or even light-fingered Pikachus, and then share them in an Instagram-like social media app.  It’s slowly being released (and only on IOS), which means you can’t really use it yourself today, unless you have a code. Want one?  I have three left, leave a message in the comments – I’ll give them to the first three that post!  

Initial Reactions were predictably shrill, with Vox calling it “an unholy abomination, and NPR saying we can now all “kiss reality goodbye”.  

Sora works not because it’s great tech but because it is such a fun and well-done product.  We are all the stars of our own personal movies, and Sora 2 amplifies our inherent narcissism. 

New head of product Fidji Simo is now as important to OpenAI as their top engineers. Every AI company now needs a product genius like her.

And now we know why Meta (Fidji’s old employer) rushed out its AI-powered Instagram clone “Vibe” last week. 

Will it replace TikTok in our dopamine-seeking free time?  Unclear, but TikTok’s forward value just dropped.  And as more of us replace the tired old Tok with the new Sora hotness it could drop even further.  

AI video is moving very quickly.  I don’t expect OpenAI’s annoying guardrails to last long, as other video models catch up.  The old adage of “who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes” just got a new answer, and it’s “No to Both”. Oh, and Sam Altman just became this year’s top Halloween costume in certain parts of Silicon Valley.  

If this is the AI version of Twitter’s early “what I had for breakfast” posts, I can’t wait until lunch.

(NPR, VOX, 404, OpenAI, My Best Video)

• RELATED: Sam Altman says OpenAI will tweak Sora after a weekend of explosive adoption.  I wonder how much cash they burned over the weekend (Sam Altman Blog)

• RELATED: Alex Kantrowitz thinks AI will disrupt some creators but not all of them.  Old media is more at risk.  (Big Technology)

ALL QUIET ON THE TIKTOK SALE FRONT

This is becoming a disturbing pattern.  President Trump extends the TikTok ban deadline by 90 days, and then announces a sale is imminent.  But after that?  Nothing.  

It was eerily quiet last week, as China never ratified the deal, the leaks dried up, and other news replaced the TikTok divestiture/ban.  

If the pattern holds, expect another extension, and another flurry of deal-making blather.  But with nothing of substance to show for it.

Oh, and remember that the divestiture covers more than just TikTok.  Bytedance also distributes Hypic, Lark, Lemon8 and Capcut in the US, and H.R.7521 covers them all.  Non TikTok downloads in aggregate, according to Apptopia, routinely outpace TikTok in the US.

TIKTOK LEADS KIDS TO PORN

The biggest TikTok news of the week reminded us once again about the unsafe nature of social video platforms, particularly for kids. A study by Global Witness found that (in the UK at least), the algorithm pushes porn on 13-year olds. (Global Witness)  

Also, Indonesia and TikTok are having another spat. (AP)

😎 SPONSOR

POSSIBLY YOU!

Inside the Creator Economy is open for business!  Interested in sponsoring this newsletter?  Drop me an email and check out our sponsorship information here.

💡 PLATFORMS

YOUTUBE:  Will reportedly pay Trump $24M for suspending his account.  (Axios)

YOUTUBE:  Strong-arms NBC into a long-term carriage deal; favorable terms now may make the next round tougher. Peacock gets ingested and loses. (THR, Lightshed)

YOUTUBE: New details on “Open Call,” YouTube’s new program inviting creators to make brand spots on spec. I’d love to see it as a creative apprenticeship… but it still feels uncomfortably close to free labor. (Creator Insider)

META: Common Sense Media starts a petition to force Meta to prevent kids under 18 from using its ChatBot (Common Sense)

META: Threads leans into communities (Meta)

💡 QUIBIS

OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY

IRL Is A-OK:  Reed Duchscher lauds the power of experiential in the age of AI and social fatigue.  Needless to say, I agree (Night Light)

But AI Isn’t?  Tilly Norwood just dethroned Lil Miquela as the new AI puppet spooking legacy media. Let’s save the panic for when she starts pulling her own strings. (tillynorwood, USA Today)

Disney Leans into Community:  Disney and Webtoon lean into digital comics and community.  Hopefully this isn’t Maker 2.0. (Variety)

Tates Great Together: CAA combines its digital and podcast team into a single entity – CAA Creators.  Super smart. (LinkedIn)

AI In Bio:  Following Linktree, Beacons adds AI enhancements to its Link-in-bio product, along with a new beaver mascot.  Oh, and I found out I’m a “Trailblazer”.  YES!  (Beacons)

Judge Not:  The Webby Awards are open, and I am, actually, a judge (Webby Awards)

Deal or No Deal:  Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw breaks down Dhar Mann’s bid to raise $300M at a 15x profit multiple. Shaw’s take: not likely. His analysis neatly captures the widening gap between traditional media valuations and YouTuber-led empires. (Bloomberg)

Replacing Attention: Abby Ho explains why, “affinity is the new currency”, while Adam Aleksic says it’s all about engagement.  (Fellow Kids, Entomology Nerd)

Teacher, Teacher:  Syracuse University opens the “Center for the Creator Economy”, bridging their School of Public Communications with the business school.  (Syracuse)

FAST Facts:  Mike Shields explains why creator-driven streaming channels might not always work. (Next in Media) 

The New Ad Currency:  How AI is reshaping B2B marketing, and why trusted voices and co-created stories are the new ad units. (MKTI)

Equity Arrives:  Good stuff from Jeff Frommer on launching a brand–creator matchmaking platform using equity instead of cash. Also worth a read: Scott van den Berg’s look at how creators are banding together to create shared equity pools. (OWM, HotStart)

Importance of Neurobranding: This one’s for experiential experts and creators hoping to build their own events – it’s all about the feels.  (Branding Mag)

CREATOR TECH – AI, AR, VR, MORE

Fat Wrappers: Hugo Amsellem explores a potential unbundling of ChatGPT (Intuition)

Just Say No: A look at the anti-adobe coalition adopting newer tools for better results. (Zakel Fassi)

📊 RESEARCH

Flawed Study, Worse Response: Influencer platform Heepsy claimed Facebook is the world’s most-banned app—but their data was a mess. They missed that TikTok’s banned in China, claimed it was in Indonesia, and said WhatsApp’s banned in the UAE, where it’s actually the backbone of communication (except for voice calls). When I asked for clarification and a working methodology link, they sent another partially broken one instead. Lazy, wrong, and clueless. (Useless Link,  Bad Data)

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.

Like this free newsletter?  Buy me a coffee and say thanks!  Or let’s do a meetup in your town.

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

Let me know what you think – email me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading and see you around the internet.