It's Tuesday and Jutta Leerdam (aka Jake Paul’s fiancée) is officially a gold medalist. Leerdam broke an Olympic record in the women’s 1000-meter speed skating event, and Paul was in attendance to cheer on his lady. 

STREAMING BIG

The strategy: Netflix execs have spent years framing their platform as a cut above YouTube. Now, however, Google’s video hub commands the lion’s share of TV watch time in the U.S. and U.K.—and will continue to do so even if Netflix closes its ~$83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Clearly, Netflix needs a new strategy. So, it’s going big. The streamer has expanded into podcasting, signed expansive deals with YouTubers like Mark Rober, Alan Chikin Chow, and Salish Matter, and is now doubling down on live events.

The IRL installations: Last year, the streamer announced Netflix House, which it describes as a “year-round fan destination where you can explore, taste, play, and shop your favorite shows and movies IRL.” Locations are currently open in Dallas and Philadelphia, with installations themed around IPs like Stranger Things and Squid Game. A future location is planned for Las Vegas.

The livestreams: In addition to connecting with fans IRL, Netflix is hoping to keep viewers glued to their screens in real time. On January 25, the platform drew over 6 million viewers with a livestream of free solo climber Alex Honnold scaling Taipei 101 with zero safety gear.

That spectacle is the latest product of Netflix’s years-long push into live sports. In 2024, it signed a deal to pay $5 billion for 10 years of rights to WWE‘s Raw. Since then, Netflix has also picked up exclusive non-WWE events like last year’s Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua fight.

Outside of sports, the streaming service has embraced live talk shows (Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney), live talent shows (Star Search), and live podcast episodes (The Bill Simmons Podcast).

Chief Strategy Officer at adtech firm Nexxen, Kenneth Suh noted to eMarketer that these live events can “act as discovery engines,” driving more subscribers to Netflix and sending them looking for similar programming once the livestream wraps.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

BACK TO SCHOOL

The program: At the start of the 2025-26 school year, Syracuse University broke new ground by launching its Center for the Creator Economy.

Co-led by Syracuse’s famed Newhouse School of Public Communications and its Whitman School of Management, the Center opened up its physical space in January, with amenities like lighting equipment and recording pods serving students who hope to go pro on social media.

Now, as the Center enters its first spring semester, Syracuse is expanding its unprecedented program with the establishment of an academic minor track, the launch of an on-campus “Creator Crew” (which will “tell the story of Syracuse University” through social media content), and a web series called Inside the Creator Economy.

The context: As the creator economy balloons into a $37 billion annual business, creators are more numerous than ever before—but many are still struggling to secure basic professional services.

That gap presents an opportunity for the higher ed industry. Institutions are desperate to increase enrollment ahead of a demographic cliff, and the creator profession is a dream job for many Americans. Equipping aspiring creators with much-needed career support can be a win-win.

Some schools, like East Carolina University and Arizona State University, have sought to fill that gap by linking up with creators (MrBeast and the Vlogbrothers) to bring social media content into collegiate classrooms. Syracuse’s Center for the Creator Economy takes those partnerships to the next level—and it won’t be long before other institutions follow its example.

INDUSTRY BUZZ

The venture: Federal regulations and questionable practices have turned digital kids’ advertising into a murky space. Rules related to the industry tightened in 2020, when COPPA rules began prohibiting personalized ad targeting for children.

Since then, many agencies have shifted toward contextual placements, which do not rely on personalized data, but instead use AI and other pieces of ad tech to get family brands as close as possible to their target audience.

Now, Hasbro and Animaj are diving into that space. The two companies have joined forces to launch LUMEE, a joint venture that will provide ad solutions on YouTube and connected TVs by leveraging the properties on its founders’ respective rosters.

The process: LUMEE promises “contextual, COPPA-compliant precision placement on YouTube” with video-by-video visibility for advertisers. In-video signals (such as the presence of a truck in a video that runs a toy truck ad) will inform placements across a robust family-friendly content library.

Ad space will be roped off next to videos from properties like Peppa Pig and Transformers (which hail from the Hasbro side of the partnership), as well as Pocoyo and Maya the Bee (from the Animaj side).

A press release from LUMEE’s two founding companies noted that Hasbro and Animaj count 50 billion annual YouTube views across their respective content libraries. Thanks to the power of the pair’s new advertising solution—which operates similarly to YouTube Select by working within the “reservation media” ecosystem—those videos are about to become a coveted piece of advertising space among family-oriented buyers.

The episode: In a historic creator economy move, a digital-first company has acquired a legacy cable network.

On the latest installment of Creator Upload, hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper sit down with Law & Crime President Rachel Stockman to discuss how the YouTube channel came to buy its biggest rival—aka Court TV—and how the two companies finally buried the hatchet.

Check out the full episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify for more details.

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