It's Monday and in 2026, The Mummy Returns…again. The 2001 sequel that shaped the minds of young Egyptology-loving millennials around the world will return to theaters this March.
Today’s News
🎬 Creator Camp launches an agency
💬 Blackpink breaks a record
🚴 A cycling team takes on YouTube
🎙️ This week on the podcast…
CREATOR COMMOTION
The arc of creators is long and it bends towards marketing and advertising.
Creator Camp is launching its own agency
The in-house agency: As the creator economy continues to grow, brands are itching to work with companies that offer direct access to cutting-edge digital talent. Creator Camp is perfectly positioned to foster those connections—so it’s launching an in-house agency wing.
After partnering with companies like Anthropic, Notion, and Spotify, the studio co-founded by Max Reisinger, Simon Kim, and Chris Duncan is ready to bring its growing number of brand campaigns under one roof.
“We believe creators are the future directors and storytellers. But…many need the reps of working with their first crew. So, we’re building a vertically integrated studio to bridge that gap: from finding the most talented creators on the internet, to giving them their first commercial projects, to working their way up to a feature film or show.”
The context: Agency work is becoming a popular endgame for creator-centric companies. Alex Cooper recently embraced the brand world by launching the Unwell Creative Agency, an offshoot of her podcast network Unwell. Many creator management firms, including Night, have undergone that same transition.
Now it’s Creator Camp’s turn to explore the advertising sphere. The media incubator started in 2021 as a support system for social media stars who wished to produce cinema-worthy projects but lacked Hollywood funding. Through multi-day retreats, Creator Camp offered a blend of networking opportunities, mentorship, and creative inspiration.
Eventually, Creator Camp’s co-founders discovered that brand partnerships could help them advance their mission. In 2024, for example, a team-up with the official Swiss tourism board brought 80 creators to the Alps to produce short films promoting alpine resorts.
Flash forward about a year, and creator content is as in-demand as it’s ever been. The theaters Creator Camp once circumvented now want a piece of the action, and brands are increasingly seeking creator voices to amplify their messaging.
HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰
YouTube’s latest centimillionaire.
Congratulations are in order. K-pop phenomenon Blackpink has become the first Official Artist Channel on YouTube to hit 100 million subscribers. (YouTube Official Blog)
Users on Threads can now share posts directly to their Instagram Stories without ever leaving the app. (TechCrunch)
According to data shared by OpenAI, ChatGPT users on the consumer tier are increasingly using the chatbot for personal queries rather than work tasks. (Axios)
Meta has reportedly cut staff stock options by 5%, “following a 10% reduction in the same bonus from the year before.” (Tom’s Hardware)
LIKE RIDING A BIKE
The Unibet Rose Rockets want you to watch them ride.
Could cycling be YouTube’s next sports craze? This team is betting on it.
The team: When the 2026 Giro d’Italia kicks off on May 8, one of the competing teams will embark on a unique journey through the Italian countryside.
In their magenta-and-blue jerseys, the Unibet Rose Rockets will give YouTube viewers an up-close (and brightly colored) view of the world’s second-most prestigious bicycle race by filming portions of their 2,150-mile adventure.
As the Rockets’ 100,000 YouTube subscribers already know, team members like Dylan Groenewegen, Wout Poels, and Victor Lafay have plenty of experience when it comes to winning big races—but this time, the Rockets’ hopes aren’t just fixed on prize money and medals. The upstart team is also betting that their joint YouTube channel can do for cycling what athletes like Livvy Dunne have done for sports like gymnastics.
The context: On platforms like YouTube, sports content has become too big to ignore. Soccer hubs regularly rank among YouTube’s 50 most-watched channels, and major matches like the Super Bowl and the World Cup Final have become creator spectacles.
Sports mania has hit streaming services, too. As live sporting events continue to pick up speed, streamers like Amazon, YouTube, and Netflix are primed to snag more exclusive broadcasts moving forward. In a video on the Unibet Rose Rockets YouTube channel, team owner Bas Tietema encouraged the team’s fans to watch the Giro d’Italia on HBO Max.
Cycling isn’t a bad bet for athletes hoping to leverage that hype to fuel creator-powered content brands. Sports with international appeal—such as tennis and golf—have become some of the most popular pastimes on platforms like YouTube. Cycling has a global reach of its own, and this spring, the Rockets will see just how far their bold kits, beloved videos, and big wheels can take them.
LISTEN UP 🎙️
Whatnot says the sellers who host daily streams average nearly $60,000 of earnings per month.
This week on the podcast…
"The $22B shopping spree”: On the latest installment of Creator Upload, hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper sit down with Whatnot VP of Categories and Expansion Armand Wilson to unpack one simple question: Is live-shopping the future of ecommerce?
Tune into the full episode to find out how Whatnot became the $10 billion live shopping phenomenon it is today, and explore how the app generated over $8 billion in gross merchandise value last year.
It’s all right here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.