Creators are landing TV deals—and keeping the rights

Hello. Creators are cashing in on advertiser anxiety and cutting TV deals without selling their souls.

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THE LATEST

Creator economy moves

• Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, now has 400 million subscribers on YouTube.

• Twitch announced several updates at its TwitchCon event in Europe, including vertical livestreaming for mobile viewers and testing higher quality streams for more creators.

• Starbucks is hiring two "Global Coffee Creators" to travel the world posting content about coffee. One position goes to a current employee, the other to an outsider. Applications close June 13.

• Instagram just added new transitions, better clip trimming, and a volume apply-all option to its Edits app—part of its push to rival CapCut.

• Reddit is rolling out revamped profiles with new activity summaries and more control over what parts of your subreddit history are visible to others.

• Instagram is testing a built-in teleprompter for its Edits app, letting creators read scripts on-screen for smoother video takes.

• TikTok is rolling out global controls to manage how often you see topics like sports or dance on your For You page, plus expanding AI-powered keyword filters.

Creators are turning ad uncertainty into opportunity

The Trump administration's tariff programs have advertisers spooked about spending. But at The Information's Future of Influence conference this week, creators are seeing this as their moment.

Dude Perfect CEO Andrew Yaffe put it best: "We can turn content around in sometimes as little as 48 or 72 hours." While traditional agencies fumble with months-long campaigns, creators can pivot in days.

The math is simple. Nervous advertisers want quick, cheap, effective content. Creators deliver all three.

AI is becoming the secret weapon
Facebook is testing real-time lip syncing so creators can instantly translate content into multiple languages. Spotify's chopping up podcast episodes with AI for social media promotion.

But the real money move? Licensing your content to train AI models. Think Steve Harvey's deal with AI startup Vermillio. Instead of getting scraped for free, creators are getting paid.

The podcast clipping gold rush
Creator Victoria Garrick Browne has cracked the code: find the most "relatable, compelling, sharable" moment from your podcast, clip it for TikTok, then drive people to the full episode.

Her genius move? She brands her microphones. "When a random account posts a clip from my show, at least our name is there." Smart creators aren't just making content—they're building discovery engines.

The takeaway from the conference was clear: while everyone else is panicking about the economy, creators are building the future of advertising. One 48-hour turnaround at a time.

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Creators are licensing content to TV — but keeping the rights

Here's what's happening: creators are finally making it to actual television. But they're doing it their way.

Samsung TV Plus just cut deals with YouTubers Dhar Mann and Mark Rober to run their content 24/7. Roku signed Alan Chikin Chow, bringing his "Alan's Universe" series to TV for the first time. These aren't one-off experiments anymore.

"It feels even a bit silly to say they're the future because they are television now for so many consumers, especially younger audiences," says Sarah Nelson from Samsung TV Plus. She's not wrong. When your biggest stars are people making videos in their garages, maybe it's time to admit where the audience actually is.

The smart play: licensing, not selling
Here's where creators are getting savvy. Unlike the old Hollywood playbook where you sell your soul for a check, creators are licensing their content while keeping ownership.

"You want to be in a position where the buyer is paying you enough money to make [content], but that you're licensing it to them so you retain ownership," explains Chris Williams from Pocket.watch, which works with 13-year-old millionaire Ryan Kaji.

Think Taylor Swift buying back her masters, but for YouTube creators. They get new revenue streams and access to Roku's 145 million viewers without killing their YouTube channels or losing control of what they built.

It's a power move that would've been impossible five years ago. Now? Creators have enough leverage to dictate terms. And they're using it.