TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and Bluesky is wooing new users…on Threads. The app made its way to Meta’s youngest platform on Wednesday to shoot its shot as an alternative—and take a few shots at Zuckerberg in the process.

Today’s News

MARKETING MATCHUP

Whalar’s acquisition of Sixteenth brings more consolidation to creator management world

The announcement: Influencer marketing company Whalar has acquired Sixteenth, a seven-year-old U.K.-based talent management firm. As part of that integration, Whalar’s in-house management team (aka Whalar Talent) will unite with Sixteenth to form a talent firm encompassing 44 managers and 300 creators, including YouTuber Ali Abdaal and Doug The Pug.

That merged company will operate under the Sixteenth name, but will be led by Whalar Talent President Victoria Bachan (with COO Fan Jozsa, U.S. Director of Talent Amron Lopez, and U.K. Director of Talent Kiera Pérez serving as members of her executive team). Bachan will continue to report to Whalar Group Co-CEO and Co-Founder James Street. Sixteenth Founder Danny Lowney, meanwhile, will stay on through the integration period before taking an advisory role at Sixteenth.

The context: Whalar’s acquisition of Sixteenth is the latest example of the ongoing consolidation in the world of creator services.

Earlier this year, Wasserman acquired Long Haul Management and Loaded scooped up GG Talent Group; a few months prior, a merger between two agencies resulted in the 2023 launch of the Creator Society. There’s a reason those types of unions are becoming more common: the creator economy is shifting and growing at a rapid pace, and the consolidation of resources allows management companies to build competitive rosters while streamlining their interactions with creators and brands.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Looking to tap into the digital future? Claim your ticket to the ultimate expo for content creators.

Last year, 195 expert speakers gathered at the 1 Billion Followers Summit: an unparalleled three-day experience uniting 7,000+ attendees, creators, and industry pros.

From January 11-13, that highly-anticipated event will return to Dubai for the third year running under the theme “Content for Good”—and this time, the 1 Billion Followers Summit will be bigger, better, and more connected than ever before. 

5,000+ creators. 300+ industry-leading speakers. Unlimited opportunities.

With three tracks, three exclusive zones, and 100+ activities, the 1 Billion Followers Summit 2025 invites creators and industry professionals to explore the technological future, examine monetization strategies, master audience-building, and forge valuable connections. And that’s only the beginning.

Tickets offer access to a range of experiences, with VIP, Premium and Tracks packages available at www.1billionsummit.com. 

This year’s Summit will feature an initiative like no other: The 1 Billion Pitches competition.

The first-of-its-kind competition will empower a new generation of creators and entrepreneurs by providing two winning participants with invaluable mentorships, potential funding, and strategic partnerships. 

Twenty five creators will have the chance to pitch their most innovative business ideas at the 1 Billion Followers Summit. Submit your vision for a chance to take the stage. 

Applications are open from now until October 19.

Learn more → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Creator commerce platform LTK is souping up its gift guides to let partners consolidate all their product recommendations in a single location. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Meta appears to be experimenting with a new feature that would allow Instagram users to post Reels directly to Threads. (TechCrunch)
  ​

• Facebook usership among U.S. teens has "dropped from 71% to 33%” over the last ten years. Will a new redesign be enough to bring the cool kids back online? (Fast Company)
  ​

• TikTok parent company Bytedance is getting into the AI hardware game with the release of ear buds that connect to a generative AI assistant named Doubao. (Engadget)

SWITCHING GEARS

Advertisers don’t want to give X money—so it’s finding another way to pay creators

The update: X is changing the way it pays creators. Instead of calculating compensation based on ad revenue, the platform will now base payouts on the level of engagement generated by Premium users.

That’s a big switch-up: when X first launched creator monetization in summer 2023, only Premium subscribers were eligible, and they would only earn revenue from ad impressions generated by other Premium users. Now, those ad impressions are no longer enough. Premium users must actively engage with creators’ posts for them to earn money from it.

The revenue split: According to X, “up to” 25% of Premium subscriptions will be paid out as part of its monetization program. That’s a pretty meh split (YouTube offers 55% of ad revenue and Twitch usually gives partners 70%), but low payouts are nothing new for X. When the platform’s monetization program first launched, one creator calculated that she was being paid $8.52 per million impressions (a CPM of $0.0085 compared to YouTube‘s CPM of around seven bucks).

The motivation: In the two years following Elon Musk‘s buyout of Twitter, the platform-now-called-X has become absolutely infested with hateful content. And since most brands don’t want their ads running next to hate speech, a record number are planning to decrease marketing spend on X in 2025. The platform hasn’t taken kindly to that shift, especially since its overall revenue has reportedly dropped nearly $240 million year-over-year so far in 2024.

By changing the basis of its monetization program, X may be hoping to insulate creators from its worsening relationship with brands while simultaneously padding its own finances. The pool of revenue that comes from Premium subscriptions is likely much smaller than what X earns from ads, meaning the platform won’t be obligated to hand over as much revenue to creators.

STREAM ON

The Kamala Harris campaign let viewers watch World of Warcraft and a Tim Walz rally at the same time

The event: The Kamala Harris campaign is doing what it takes to appeal to young voters. Two months ago, the presidential candidate quietly launched her Twitch account ahead of her speech at the Democratic National Convention. The account has since served as an alternative distribution hub for Harris and VP nominee Tim Walz’s campaign stops—with the exception of one stream that went live earlier this week.

To make a Twitch broadcast of Walz’s Tuscon rally more exciting, the Harris campaign enlisted Preheat (a streamer sympathetic to the Democratic nominee) to play World of Warcraft on a split-screen alongside live footage of Walz’ speech. Preheat’s approach combined political commentary and in-game hijinks. Before an audience of around 5,000 viewers, the creator announced his intention to vote for Harris and criticized the Republican-backed Project 2025 while attempting to stay alive on-screen.

The context: This is one of the first times a U.S. political rally and a gameplay session have been combined in a split-screen format, but adding video games to long-form content is a time-honored tradition among creators. (In fact, MrBeast used the same editing style during his early years on YouTube.) The familiarity of that approach will likely appeal to online viewers, but the Harris campaign might want to choose a newer game than WoW next time—especially if it hopes to woo America’s youth during a campaign season that has been dubbed the “influencer election.”

WATCH THIS 📺

Hamlet is coming to Grand Theft Auto—and then to theaters throughout the U.S.

The masterpiece: Is there a better matchup than Shakespeare and Grand Theft Auto? The jury at this year’s SXSW didn’t think so—and based on Grand Theft Hamlet’s 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, critics seem to agree. Now, U.S. viewers will have a chance to see if the documentary—which follows two out-of-work actors as they piece together an entire production of Hamlet within Grand Theft Auto Online—can live up to Shakespeare’s vision.

According to Engadget, the US rights and global SVOD rights to Grand Theft Hamlet have been secured by streaming platform/production company Mubi, which says the film is “coming soon to US theaters + streaming globally.”

Check out a trailer for the doc here.

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

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

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