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It's Tuesday and according to a new study, people aren’t just becoming more dependent on ChatGPT—we’re actually starting to talk like the bot, too.

Today’s News

THE BIZ

A monetization gap is emerging in the creator economy

The theory: According to the latest Creator Earnings Report from influencer marketing agency NeoReach, the creator economy has grown about 19% since the start of 2025, with a total of over 127 million active creators. But despite those healthy topline numbers, NeoReach’s report proposes a troubling “new theory”:

NeoReach surveyed more than 3,000 creators, and found that over 50% make under $15,000 per year. Meanwhile, the cohort of creators earning over $200,000 annually adds up to just 5%.

The causes: Some of the factors informing that perceived gap are pretty straightforward. More beginners are entering the creator economy, and those newcomers naturally earn less than their veteran counterparts. For creators with less than one year of experience, for instance, the average annual earnings came in under $20,000. Vets with at least four years of experience collectively quintupled that haul, with more than $100,000 in average yearly earnings. Creators under management also make three times more than creators who lack representation, and creators who own a brand (45% of respondents) take in twice as much as those who don’t.

Other causes of income inequality are more concerning. NeoReach noted that creators who work in labor-intensive content categories struggle to keep up with platform algorithms. That’s one reason why, on NeoReach’s list of genres ranked by relative revenue generation, art content wound up close to the bottom. 

Demographic disparities like race and gender may play a role in the monetization gap, too. After surveying an equal number of men and women, NeoReach found that the average male creator makes about $8,500 more per year than the average female creator.

🔆 PRESENTED BY ARTLIST 🔆

Applications for Artlist’s $100K Fund are now open. Are you ready to bring your idea to life?

We all have that one idea we’ve always wanted to create, but the opportunity to make it happen rarely comes along. 

Until now.

As part of their mission to empower brands and creators, Artlist is relaunching its biggest creator fund ever—a once-in-a-lifetime grant that offers one creator $100,000 to take that one  idea they’ve been sitting on for years from dream to reality.

The fund’s first-ever winner, Sent Into Space, conquered outer space by filming the Northern Lights from 100,000 feet above Earth. What could you create with $100K?

It only takes 3 steps to find out:

1. Show us your idea. Post a video (no longer than 90 seconds) on your social media platforms showcasing your concept. Make sure to tag @artlist.io and use the hashtag #Artlist100kFund.
   
   

2. Put your vision into words. Fill out the application form on the website.
   
   

3. Submit your application for a chance to make your dreams a reality.

Applications are open to all video creators and creative teams worldwide. Hit the link below to get started:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• The latest stop on iShowSpeed’s global tour sent his viewership stats soaring. During a stream in Turkey, the 20-year-old creator topped the live viewership charts on both Twitch and YouTube. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• In the wake of YouTube's crackdown on spam, Facebook says it’s “introducing stronger measures to reduce unoriginal content.” (Facebook)
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• Threads recently passed 350 million monthly users—but according to Similarweb, Meta’s X competitor isn’t generating much off-platform traffic for creators. (Engadget)
  
  

• TikTok parent Bytedance is reportedly developing its next big product: mixed reality goggles designed to compete with Meta’s upcoming AR/VR wearables. (Engadget)

GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top Branded Videos: Chicken and tech climb the charts

Tech is one of the most popular categories on YouTube, so we’re never surprised to see videos focused on nifty gadgets hit the top of the branded charts—especially when Prime Day rolls around. With Amazon’s 2025 promotion racking up an estimated $24 billion, it only makes sense that this week’s Gospel Stats Brand Report is a little tech-heavy.

🥇 #1. Mrwhosetheboss x Incogni: Nothing Phone (3) - What have you done?! (4.2M views)
When it comes to phones, most consumers go with major producers like Apple and Samsung. But there are other options out there, and one of them is Nothing. The company’s latest model is Nothing 3—and, according to Mrwhosetheboss, it’s probably not worth the $800 price tag. Unsurprisingly, that less-than-stellar review wasn’t sponsored by Nothing; instead, it was backed by data protection service Incogni.

🥈 #2. Foodwithbearhands x Sanderson Farms: #ad Bacon Wrapped Chicken Lollipops @SandersonFarms TV (3.2M views)
If anything can stir up as much attention as hot new tech, it’s controversy. This week, a channel with just 146,000 subscribers managed to snag a spot at #2. Given the size of his following, Foodwithbearhands’ chicken recipe probably isn’t the source of the vid’s virality. Instead, commenters seem focused on sponsor Sanderson Farms, which has faced lawsuits over everything from suppressing worker pay to price fixing.

🎰 #1,133. Standard Story Company x SmallRig: Criminally Fast Filmmaking w/ Smallrig’s Prime Day Deals (62.1K views)
Now, back to tech. In the lead-up to Prime Day, brands like film equipment company SmallRig splashed out on YouTube advertising in the hopes that their products would get snapped up in the four-day shopathon. As you might expect, this vid—which is both focused on and sponsored by SmallRig—was a bit more complimentary than Mrwhosetheboss’s Nothing review.

Check out the full branded ranking here and head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

GAME ON

Indie game creators are making millions selling Roblox worlds

The trend: Up until late last year, it was against Roblox’s Terms of Service to sell in-platform games. Sure, sales still happened; but they weren’t really allowed, so there was always a risk that a newly-acquired game could get banned.

Then, in December 2024, Roblox added a function that lets developers transfer ownership of games—effectively giving the go-ahead for these sales. The impact was immediate: in the last six months, Bloomberg says midsize game development companies have been acquiring top-performing games from independent (and often anonymous) developers for millions of dollars apiece. These companies are effectively becoming the EA of Roblox, snapping up already-popular games and then building future updates.

That process can be life-changing for indie devs. Take the anonymous 19-year-old behind Blue Lock: Rivals: the creator produced his soccer game (which currently has around 50,000 live players) in just three months. When Blue Lock took off—at times attracting over 1 million concurrent players and generating $5 million/month in in-game purchases—its creator received a $3 million sale offer from DoBig Studios.

The financial terms of most Roblox acquisitions are not made public, but we’re guessing other creators have received similar offers. Aside from Blue Lock, recent deals include DoBig’s May purchase of Grow a Garden and Voldex’s acquisitions of Welcome to Bloxburg and Brookhaven RP.

The context: As for why more acquisitions are happening now: aside from updating its TOS to allow game sales, Roblox has hit a natural growth stage, with big brands paying for ads and more non-gamers becoming aware of its existence.

With all that attention rolling in, the handful of companies that are already established in this space are anxious to grab valuable acquisitions while they still can. Thanks to that gold rush, we expect to see this EA-esque pipeline become further established over the next year.

WATCH THIS

AI is blowing up YouTube’s fake news problem

The trend: Viewership of online news content has been steadily rising for years, and 2025 events like the conflict between India and Pakistan have turned YouTube-based coverage into a full-blown phenomenon. At first glance, Daily Paw News might seem like just another channel hoping to ride that wave—but there’s one big problem. The “news” covered in the hub’s viral Shorts never happened.

The stats: With AI-generated videos becoming more and more convincing, the growing flood of fake news is a major concern—especially given that Daily Paw News needed just seven days to score 523.6 million views. YouTube recently changed its monetization policy to prevent channels from turning repetitive slop into revenue, but it’s unclear yet whether that change will be impactful enough to discourage creators like the owner(s) behind Daily Paw News. In the meantime, fake headlines like this one will continue to draw millions of views in a matter of days.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.