It’s Wednesday and the man who invented the word “metaverse” has some advice for Meta: “People don’t like wearing things on their faces and don’t trust those who do.”

TIKTOK TALK

The takeover: TikTok used its NewFronts presentation to unveil several new ad products. The first of those is also the most unique: with “Logo Takeover,” advertisers will have the opportunity to place their branding directly next to the TikTok icon when users open the app. (Sort of like a branded take on the Google Doodle.)

Warner Bros. became the first Logo Takeover partner when it used the format to promote the trailer for Supergirl:

The tentpole products: Other new products support one of TikTok’s primary marketing missions. The app has presented itself as a powerful, culturally-centric platform for tentpole-based advertising, where events like Black Friday tend to bring millions of eyeballs to the For You Page.

After giving brands a calendar filled with the most important tentpole dates of 2026, TikTok is helping its partners put their ads next to those major cultural moments. A new format called Prime Time will let brands run at least three sequential ads over a 15-minute viewing session, while TopReach combines TikTok’s existing TopView and TopFeed placements to give brands a one-day boost by pushing ads to the top of the FYP.

TikTok isn’t ignoring its original tentpole ad format, either. Pulse has been a recurring topic of conversation during TikTok’s NewFronts pitches, and it is expanding once again in 2026. Pulse Mentions connects brands to people who are already talking about them, while Pulse Tastemakers pairs buyers with a curated selection of “reputable voices.”

INDUSTRY NEWS

The partnership: Many agencies would overlook a creator with only 10,000 followers—but boutique firm You Know Who isn’t swayed by numbers. 

In fact, co-founder Joanna Giunta sees signing creators who haven't yet solidified their personal brands as a chance to "mold them and see how much room they have to grow.” 

And to make sure the 17 creators on its roster have the resources to reach that potential, You Know Who is joining the wave of mergers and acquisitions that has swept the creator economy in recent months. Enter Reign Maker Group.

The "constellation" of creator-focused companies—which offers services across brand, media, marketing, and talent—is partnering with You Know Who, which Giunta co-founded alongside talent rep Olivia Doherty in 2025.

Giunta says the primary advantage of joining forces with Reign Maker Group is being able to “maintain that independent manager feeling” while providing “access to a big creative-level agency network.”

The context: That approach is becoming increasingly common in the creator economy, where a major uptick in mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships reshaped the agency space in 2025. Now, as a rising number of boutique agencies join larger talent groups, it looks like emerging creators could surface as the main benefactors. 

Check out our interview with Giunta and Doherty here to find out more.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

CREATOR COMMOTION

The creator push: Last week, Tubi announced that it was teaming up with TikTok to launch a “Creatorverse Incubator” program designed to surface creators from TikTok and help them develop series for Tubi.

Now, the Fox-owned streaming service has revealed plans for even more creator programming outside of that incubator. During its splashy NewFronts presentation—which was hosted by actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish—Tubi announced that it has signed deals for original sports programming from YouTubers Jesser and Deestroying.

According to its official description, Jesser’s series, called Jesser’s Ultimate Kickoff, is a Tubi-exclusive show that will follow “Jesser and friends as they take on fun and crazy soccer challenges ranging from scoring goals, jumping in mystery pools, winning prizes, and competing against increasingly more difficult defenders.”

Deestroying’s Tubi original/exclusive content, meanwhile, will “[blend] sports, competition, and creator-driven storytelling, capturing the energy of digital-first fandom and the crossover between athletes, creators, and culture.”

The strategy: Tubi’s motivations here aren’t too hard to decipher. CEO Anjali Sud said the platform is committing to creators because “the future of entertainment is built on fan passion.” Sports programming in particular has become a surefire winner in the realm of digital content, and Tubi likely hopes that programming from two top creators will appeal to Gen Z viewers—a demographic it’s also targeting with the release of two scripted shows, Game On and Remember Me.

The ad products: Outside of those content announcements, Tubi’s NewFronts presentation unveiled a flurry of interactive ad formats, including pause ads, connected TV ads that send ‘Buy Me!’ push notifications to users’ phones, and a “Scene Sense” overlay that “surfaces relevant details about what a viewer is watching, including casting, soundtrack, trivia, and more.”

WATCH THIS 👀

The K-drama hub: A South Asian YouTube channel is banking on Bangla speakers’ love for K-drama. RRR777’s top-performing Shorts are clips like this one, which pull content from K-dramas and other pieces of East Asian media.

When you consider how big Korean culture is on Shorts, the popularity of RRR77’s K-drama clips isn’t that surprising. The Bangladesh-based channel’s secret weapon, however, is its native language. Its Shorts are dubbed into Bangla, making them accessible for hundreds of millions of consumers in Bangladesh and beyond.

The context: The proliferation of YouTube’s auto-dubbing tools has made RRR777’s strategy possible. The rising accessibility of those tools also tells us why so many creators from another South Asian country—India—frequently top our YouTube Most-Viewed charts.

If each language opens a gateway that connects popular Korean media to local consumers, then the country with the most languages is going to have the most opportunities to reach untapped audiences. India has dozens of regional tongues, opening doors for creators to woo K-drama fans across the nation.

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