What’s going on, creators and creator nerds!?

I hope everyone’s week is going swimmingly, how we feelin’?!

I’ve been loving hearing all the feedback from creators building their CreatorPad pages! Creators have been sharing their work, building out beautiful customized pages (like this sick one by Taz), and gearing up for the next iteration of what we roll out within the app.

Exciting things on the horizon, but in the meantime, I have some stories for y’all. Let’s dive into the latest in creator news! 👇️ 

We’re All Premium Down Here 🎈 

Guys, we did it! Almost all advertisers consider creator content to be “premium”! Ambiguous? You bet! Let’s break down the deets on how creators are commanding the ad space. 😎 

• Creators and their content are becoming increasingly popular among advertisers, with 92% considering it to be "premium". Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about, baby!

• Almost half of advertisers put budgets towards content from creators, and 44% plan to increase their creator ad spending in 2024.

• It’s no secret to us creators, but advertisers are finding out that creator content tends to generate higher loyalty, advocacy, and consideration compared to regular advertising. It’s almost like people relate to things and people they care about… Hmm... Go figure 🫠 

• Massive creators (like MrBeast, Emma Chamberlain, Khabi, etc.), are bringing more eyes to the creator space with their celebrity gaining outside of the creator space.

• This is my favorite point from this article, viewers are watching more creator content than ever before, with 39% reporting watching more than a year ago. 💪 

With creators breaking in deeper into the ad space, and advertisers seeing the value that creators can (and continue to) provide, hearing that almost all advertisers consider creator collabs to be key should be a massive signal for creators across the board.

No matter your niche, platform, or celebrity, the advertising space is waking up and jumping on the bandwagon. So start tapping in and paying closer attention to the brands that align with yours. Let’s make some great content, more collabs, and more money in 2024!! 👏 🤑 

Non-Exclusivity is the New Norm 🤔 

Creators have been breaking up with their previously exclusive platforms and beginning to flirt with new outlets for their content and audiences. Massive creators like podcasters Alex Cooper and Joe Rogan, and Pokimane have all recently decided to part ways with their main platforms and try their hand out elsewhere, namely, YouTube.

• Alex Cooper's popular podcast "Call Her Daddy" is no longer exclusive to Spotify, but videos will remain exclusive to Spotify.

  • Previous and future episodes are now available on all major audio platforms starting January 30, 2024.

• This move is a first step away from Spotify since her original signing with the platform in 2021.

• As one of the most popular pods in the game, with 233 million subscribers on Cooper's YouTube channel and over 2 billion monthly views, it’s no surprise that Cooper is (more than likely) headed over to collect that YouTube money. 💰️ 

While Alex Cooper takes her viral show away from exclusivity, other massive names in the space are doing the same as their exclusive contracts expire. Joe Rogan, for example, who, in 2020 signed an exclusive $200M contract with Spotify, is now taking away exclusivity.

• While Rogan takes away exclusivity, he still signed on with Spotify and made $50M more with this non-exclusive contract.

• Reportedly signed at $250M, this non-exclusive agreement doesn’t have specifics released just yet, but this move absolutely points to Rogan and co looking for platform differentiation.

• And where better to distribute than the place that rakes in literally billions of monthly views (on just one channel)

With two of the biggest podcasts in the space going non-exclusive, we can see this happening across other content types and platforms, too. Pokimane, one of Twitch’s largest streamers, just announced that she will be sunsetting her exclusivity with Twitch to explore other platforms (guess which one LOL).

• With over 9M followers on Twitch, Pokimane has announced that her contract expired and she’s out to explore platforms that give her more control over where, when, and what she streams.

• Her new show is set to be an unscripted competition series similar to her Twitch content, but she’s looking to diversify the platforms she pushes out to.

• There are definitely more details to come on this story, but I’d imagine YouTube will be the new streaming home for Poki as it allows for live streaming, clips, shorts, and even VOD posting after streams.

The trend of creators becoming non-exclusive is becoming the new norm. Although creators love a solid source of income, being tied to one platform can stunt your growth as a creator and limit the type of content you put out.

Creators want to be just that; creative. If platforms are limiting the creativity that their top talent wants to produce, they’re shooting themselves in the foot. Plain and simple.

Limiting resources, audiences, and outlets is a great way to get creators off of a platform, and YouTube seems to be doing just the opposite. As YouTube prioritizes creators earning money and being creatives, creators are making the push to places where they can be themselves and earn just as much money.

What do you think of the non-exclusivity trend? Would you sign a contract if it meant limiting what you’re allowed to create? Let me know by replying to this email!

It Me 👋 

Meet…. me?

I have a bunch of new readers in here, so I wanted to properly introduce myself! If you didn’t know, my name is Luke Himmelsbach and I’m the one pestering you in your inbox every Wednesday!

I have a background in traditional journalism, and upon graduating college and moving to NYC, I found that journalism wasn’t as lucrative as I’d hoped. Needing to pay bills and put food on the table, I decided to jump to lifestyle writing (aka fluff pieces 😅).

As I moved into this space, I started as an editorial assistant (shout out to the gremlins who are editorial assistants, I see you!), and slowly worked my way to being a managing editor of several different publications in 2020.

As the story goes, COVID came around and I was laid off. New apartment, new & expensive city, and no job. Yippee!

While at the time it sucked, this was genuinely the best thing to ever happen to me and is what led me to where I am today, writing for you fine folks.

I moved from writing into the pod space after realizing the 9-5 desk job wasn’t much for me, and this is where I was pushed head-first into the creator space.

I began producing pods for a new friend and now, my longtime mentor (shout out John Frye!!). As I tried on different hats in the pod world, I found that I loved producing, and so I kept exploring that world until John and I decided to start up a passion project: interviewing content creators on their life journeys and trajectories.

With this project, one of our first guests was none other than Colin & Samir (reply to this email if you want the EP 👀). This creator duo enjoyed our production value, so they approached us with an incredible opportunity to produce Season Two of the Yes Theory Podcast, where I headed up production for the awesome YouTube group.

But at this time, John jumped on an exclusive contract, and said to me, a first-time producer, to head up the Yes Theory project. So within a week, I started up an LLC, signed on with Headspace and Yes Theory, and produced S2 of their pod. It was so much fun to work so deeply with these creatives, and this show is actually what led me to meet my awesome co-founder, Dylan!

Want to hear the rest of the story about how Dylan and I met for the first time, how we started the initial thoughts for CreatorPad and even changed the company’s name?!

Reply to this email and let’s find some time to chat. I’d love to learn all about you and your journey, and fill you in on the remaining deets of mine! 💪 

 🗞️ In Other News

• Khaby Lame is getting a movie. It’s called ‘00Khaby’ and no I’m not joking. Does this mean that Khaby is this generation’s Mr. Bean?

• In other creator movie news, The Sidemen are set to launch a documentary all about their come-up. Dubbed The Sidemen Story, this doc will premiere on Feb 14 on Netflix.

• X is set to release a video addition to their Spaces, marking a potential live-streaming opportunity for X creators.

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

Did you build a page on CreatorPad yet?

If not, check mine out!

Learn a bit about my background, check out my other work, and most importantly, create your own customized page to showcase your content!

Once you build out that page here, be sure to link me so I can check ‘em out and give you a feature! Hundreds of fellow creators will see these profiles, so if you want to get your work in front of others, send ‘em over!

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️