TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and Netflix is adding yet another dystopian twist to the Squid Game franchise: a celebrity reality show. At this point, we’re starting to wonder if the decision makers here have actually watched Squid Game.

CLOSING THE GAP

The service: Spending roughly a year as Lead Video Editor for MrBeast’s company brought Rachel Kisela “a lot of purpose”—but it also showed her that female video editors are rarer than they should be. Data from career site Zippia shows that approximately three-quarters of professional video editors are men.

That disparity inspired Kisela to launch EditHers, a digital resource that connects female video editors to representatives for big-name creators, including Airrack, Smosh, and, of course, MrBeast. Kisela told Business Insider that EditHers—which operates through a Discord server—has grown to include 200 editors and around 100 creators since its 2024 launch.

The context: The video editor gender gap is one example of the systemic issues that affect women in the creator economy. Analysis of influencer marketing deals has shown that men earn more per sponsored post (although women do land more deals overall). Female creators also deal with disproportionate abuse, especially in male-dominated categories like science and gaming. Some of those women are compelled to pay for private security, and even that isn’t always enough (as we saw when Emiru was assaulted at TwitchCon 2025).

The end product of all that imbalance is a male-dominated industry. In our most recent ranking of the 50 most-subscribed channels of the week on YouTube, 12 of the top 20 channels belong to individual creators. All 12 of those individuals are men.

That’s why EditHers is more than just a service for editors. It’s also a meeting space where women can seek advice about pay gaps, sexist encounters, and other pervasive issues.

Agent Opus Story Mode is the fastest way to create AI videos—and OpusClip is giving away $10,000 to prove it.

Agent Opus Story Mode is the latest and most consistent AI video technology for creators, making it possible to generate full-length videos with the same style carried through every scene. 

Upload your own custom style, turn audio into video, or choose from a preset style to create polished content in seconds. It’s that easy. 

Your Story Mode video could win $1,000.

OpusClip is giving away $10,000 to 10 creators who channel their creativity through Story Mode. From now until March 6th, creators can enter to win simply by creating and posting one original video made with Story Mode.

Here’s how to enter the Agent Opus Story Mode Challenge:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

MONEY MOVES

The acquisition: Fixated is moving forward with its $50 million plan to assemble “the Avengers” of the digital content space.

Launched in 2024 by former FaZe Clan President/COO Zach Katz and longtime content creator Jason Wilhelm, Fixated snagged a $50 million investment last December. At the time, it told us it aimed to use a chunk of that money for “targeted” mergers and acquisitions.

Now it’s putting that plan into action. In January, Fixated bought Ellify, a Canada-based digital talent management company that reps nearly 200 creators, mostly across gaming niches.

Fixated’s latest purchase focuses on another sector of our industry: subscription businesses, where creators turn their audience members into recurring revenue. The firm is acquiring Elevate, a management and creator monetization company that Fixated says specializes in community growth and brand-safe direct-to-fan revenue models.

Elevate was founded in 2023 by Kai Plunk—who previously worked as a Creative Producer for MrBeast—and currently reps 35+ creator clients, including Taalia Vess, CrazyJamJam, and MaisieLynnie. That roster will gain access to Fixated’s talent management, brand partnerships, content services, and distribution arms.

As part of the acquisition, Plunk will co-lead Fixated’s Community division alongside Chris Michael, Fixated’s Head of Community.

The context: Fixated’s M&A binge is central to its goal of building a new kind of agency for today’s creators. It’s one that understands the full stack of their business, including marketing, production, distribution, monetization, and (now) deep audience engagement.

The acquisitions are also part overarching wave of consolidation across the entire creator industry. There was a noticeable uptick in creator economy mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2025 (52, as compared to 30 in the first half of 2024). We’re not surprised to see that trend continue into 2026, especially as firms like Fixated continue to scoop up significant VC funding.

FOOTBALL FRENZY

The report: The Super Bowl has come and gone, and that means YouTube is shifting its focus from U.S. football to…well, the other kind of football. In a new report, the platform’s Culture and Trends team explains just how big creator-led soccer content has become in Latin America.

The report cites a study performed by Google and SmithGeiger, which asked Latin American soccer fans how they feel about creator content. The results were clear: 82% of Brazilian sports fans said they visit YouTube at least once a month to take in match coverage shared by fans. And in Mexico, 66% of sports fans between the ages of 14 and 49 said they engage with commentary from creators or fans on a weekly basis.

The context: YouTube is not the first entity to take note of the growing impact of soccer content. Brazilian soccer creator CazéTV has nabbed the broadcast rights for the upcoming World Cup, while brands like Home Depot are keeping footy in mind as they build up in-house creator programs.

Top footballers like Jude Bellingham and Cristiano Ronaldo have also joined a growing class of pro athletes-turned-YouTube stars, and our rankings of the most-viewed YouTube channels have recently been filled with hubs that are set on the pitch. Even Fortnite is picking up a piece of the action.

The result of all that activity, YouTube says, is a “football revolution.” Through a process it describes as “fandomification,” soccer creators have become go-to sources for live match coverage, interviews with Ronaldo-level stars, and collabs that pit amateurs against pros. That fan-powered frenzy will undoubtedly continue to pick up steam as the World Cup draws nearer.

WATCH THIS 👀

The brand: Red Bull is giving risk-taking creators their wings—and some much-needed funding.

The energy drink company uploaded its first video to YouTube in 2006 and went on to set a record for the platform in 2012, when it sponsored (and livestreamed) Felix Baumgartner‘s stratosphere skydive. The jump was a lifetime achievement for Baumgartner, and helped solidify Red Bull’s unique approach to its partnerships with nearly 1,000 athletes and creators.

What is that approach, you ask? Simple: it lets those athletes and creators use its money to do whatever the hell they want.

The tournament: Nowhere was that more apparent than at the Red Bull Legends Inn, conceptualized and hosted by longtime Apex Legends pros and content creators ImperialHal and iiTzTimmy. With Red Bull’s support, Hal and Timmy rented out multiple floors of Chicago’s sleek Godfrey Hotel, transforming it into a full-scale Apex-themed destination. 

Each of the tournament’s 19 two-player teams got their own Apex-decorated hotel room (complete, of course, with fully stocked Red Bull minifridges). Instead of having competitors play Apex‘s standard battle royale mode, the tourney threw them into rounds with challenging and playful modifiers, giving the event a casual, community-friendly feel.

Check out a VOD of the Red Bull Legends Inn here. 

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter.

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