It's Monday and Spotify is giving music superfans a chance to skip the line with a feature called “Reserve by Spotify.”

THE BIZ

The signings: In January 2025, Fox Entertainment launched Fox Creator Studios, a digital-first division dedicated to working with established content creators.

A year later, it unveiled deals with a handful of food-focused creators, including Rosanna Pansino, Theorist, Little Remy Food, Jolly, and Sorted Food. Now, Fox Creator Studios has announced another fleet of signings, including (but not limited to)…

The process: To get an inside look at how the division works, Tubefilter’s very own Joshua Cohen and his Creator Upload co-host Lauren Schnipper sat down with Fox Creator Studios’ head Billy Parks. So, what is Fox looking to accomplish with its latest wave of signings?

According to Parks, “the long and short of it is…We want to partner on those great ideas creators have and then help with our ad sales team and our distribution team to get things monetized.”

When it comes to creative direction, Fox is relatively hands-off. As Parks put it, “it’s like, here’s the capital. Go make it.” (As for whether Fox Creator Studios provides production support, not so much. Parks said the company is “looking for creators that want to execute their vision on their platforms and generally they know how to do it.”)

From there, Fox and the creator “split the IP together,” Parks said. The shows then go out for distribution on social platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and/or on the growing number of microdrama platforms.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

GOSPEL STATS 📈

More and more companies are branching into AI—and, unsurprisingly, they’ve decided to tap the marketing force of YouTubers to spread their message. But will online audiences take the bait?

Based on Gospel Stats’ latest Weekly Brand Report, millions of viewers don’t seem to mind the presence of a little AI advertising (at least, not when it’s tied to their favorite YouTube stars).

🥇 #1. Nick DiGiovanni x Higgsfield AI: Which YouTuber Is The Best Chef? (18M views)
Nick DiGiovanni is a certified pro di cuisine, but this time around, the MasterChef vet put YouTube’s other top stars to the test. Ryan Trahan, MrBeast, Airrack, Jesser, and Dude Perfect all took a turn in the kitchen—and while most of their creations didn’t turn out picture-perfect, DiGiovanni wasn’t sweating it. Instead, he took the opportunity to show off Higgsfield AI’s power to transform both photos and videos of wayward dishes.

🥈 #2. Three Amigos Fishing x Fish AI: I can’t believe this happened while fishing @fishai_app (14M views)
Fishing drama is now an entire subsection of YouTube Shorts, and this clip from Three Amigos Fishing is one of the juiciest of the bunch. Luckily for Fish AI, a confrontation with a Karen and the cops wasn’t enough to keep the amigos from namedropping the app, which says it can give you customized places to cast your line.

🎰 #2921. Journey with the Hintons and Genspark Products & Guides x Genspark: Watch This If You Want To Get Paid Just To Exist / Genspark AI (46K views)
This week’s wildcard similarly snagged financial backing from the depths of the AI bubble. Journey with the Hintons got straight to the point, advising that anyone looking for extra income try out Genspark, a self-proclaimed “all-in-one AI workspace.”

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

BRING THE DRAMA

The ad campaign: From Crocs to JCPenney, brands across the retail industry have left their mark on the microseries boom. Now, Albertsons and Procter & Gamble are bringing the drama directly to grocery stores.

Earlier this year, P&G launched The Golden Pear Affair, a 55-episode romance that pays homage to one of microseries’ top genres. That show spotlighted the company’s personal care brand Native and aired on a dedicated website where viewers had to unlock episodes by watching ads or outright paying.

Its new series, Rico’s Tacos, advertises a variety of P&G products throughout different parts of Albertsons’ supermarkets. 15-second teasers of the show—which follows a small family as they run a taco stand—are played within high-traffic and long-wait areas like entrances, deli counters, checkouts, and gas stations (per The Wall Street Journal).

The goal: According to P&G VP of User Growth Acceleration Lela Coffey, the goal of showing short clips (plus a QR code for further exploration) is to get shoppers to go to the Albertsons app, where they’ll “theoretically watch the [full] episode and do their shopping.” That’s the point where consumers will have to choose Rico’s Tacos over the smorgasbord of other content in their phones.

Brian Monahan, SVP of Albertsons Media Collective, told WSJ the concept of a “retail media network” isn’t novel, but that existing networks (launched by brands like Walmart and Dollar Tree) have been limited to the usual search and digital display ads.

With the launch of Rico’s Tacos, Albertsons aims to do development work on bigger productions that serve as both entertainment and ad (per Monahan).

The episode: As we mentioned earlier, Fox Creator Studios Head Billy Parks hit the latest episode of Creator Upload to offer an inside look at Fox’s recent wave of creator signings—but he wasn’t the only industry expert to make an appearance.

Hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper also headed to France for a sit-down with Cannes Lions Chief Growth Officer Ed Davidson, who provided insights into the festival’s treatment of creators as serious business professionals.

Tune into the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to explore Cannes Creator Beach, Secret Suppers, and more.

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