Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. This week, a soccer-loving creator does some TV time, a TikTok deepfake does good business, and the “airport theory” does in tardy travelers.
Creator commotion
iShowSpeed pivots to sports punditry on UCL Today. Paramount+’s flagship studio show for its soccer coverage brought in a footie-loving creator for the Champions League Round of 16. Speed’s chaotic vibe made him a perfect fit with the UCL Today crew, even if his takes were easy to predict. Surprise, surprise: Speed thinks Ronaldo is the GOAT.
IanOnYouTube has his job back. 7-11 fired one of its most famous representatives, who shares dispatches from his job in short-form videos. At the time, we argued the personnel move was a bad idea — a few weeks later, 7-11 got the memo.
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HasanAbi went too far this time. The progressive political commentator channeled his inner Luigi when he told his Twitch followers that “If you cared about Medicaid fraud, you would kill [Senator] Rick Scott.” A ban soon followed, though Hasan is now back on his stream and apparently willing to tone down the rhetoric just a little bit.
The latest tech
The creator of TikTok’s Tom Cruise deepfake got the bag. VFX studio DNEG Group acquired Metaphysic, a company known for posting videos that feature an AI-generated Tom Cruise lookalike. Will the deal prove to be risky business? Either way, AI companies are perched on the edge of tomorrow.
Pinterest gets with the program with clearer AI labels. Platforms are developing tools that identify and point out AI-generated uploads. Pinterest is a little late to the party, and it took some criticism from users for the digital pin board to announce its improved labels.
YouTube’s CEO is the star of a new deepfake scam. If a robotic-looking facsimile of Neal Mohan asks you to share your personal information with him, don’t listen.
The ad world
e.l.f. Cosmetics brings branded telenovelas to TikTok and Instagram. A Mexico-based campaign invites users to “Discover the e.l.f. effect” through melodramatic storylines. It’s not the first time a brand has attempted to bring the time-honored Hispanic genre online.
Oscar ads went for $2 million a pop. The spots were so expensive that even Anora’s Russian oligarch boyfriend would have trouble affording them.
Gaming influencer marketing isn’t what it used to be. It’s getting harder for brands to locate gamers who they consider to be “brand-safe.” Do sponsors need to adjust their expectations, or is it time for the edgy gamers to grow up?
Platform headlines
Albania bans TikTok. The Mediterranean nation’s actions against the app began last year after the stabbing death of a teenager resulting from an altercation that allegedly began on TikTok. As a result, the Albanian version of TikTok is set to go dark for at least a year.
YouTube’s rivals aren’t happy about Australia’s “carveout” in its social media law. We wrote about how the Australian government fell down a slippery slope as it exempted YouTube from a law that limits underage access to social platforms. Companies subject to the law, such as TikTok, are now blasting the Australian government for permitting YouTube to gain a monopoly among under-18 social media users.
Instagram’s Edits app isn’t here yet — but it’s getting some more features. Instagram has delayed its version of ByteDance’s CapCut, but that hasn’t stopped the Meta-owned hub from previewing the tools that will be available once Edits hits virtual App Store shelves.
The internet is a strange place
You don’t have to miss your flight just because TikTok told you to. The app’s “airport theory” advises travelers to show up at the airport right before the doors to their flight close. Maybe you can sleep a little more if you cut it that close, but the airport theory adherents who missed their flights probably wish they had set earlier alarms.
Casey Anthony joins TikTok. Remember the woman who caused a media circus when she went on trial for the murder of her child more than 13 years ago? Casey Anthony faded into obscurity after she was acquitted, but she has resurfaced on TikTok to promote her newsletter. That gives “true crime content” a new meaning.
No, David Letterman’s YouTube channel didn’t kill Dave Chappelle. The YouTube hub affiliated with Letterman’s former late-night show has posted compilations featuring recently departed celebs like Roberta Flack and Gene Hackman. So when a Dave Chappelle compilation showed up on a channel, the comedian’s fans feared the worst. False alarm: Dave is alive and well, and the uploads behind Letterman’s YouTube channel need to think a little more about optics.
