Creator Economy: 01/22/2024

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Money Moves

X is juicing its creator platform

MrBeast is testing out monetization on X and is surprised by the results.

He made over $250,000 in ad revenue from his first video ever posted on X.

You know what they say. If it’s too good to be true, is it…true?

Sounds like even MrBeast is skeptical and thinks this post could be an outlier from the attention the video was already getting.

He’s not alone in his skepticism.

X users felt MrBeast’s video post was forced into their feed multiple times a day as an unlabeled ad.1

What gives?

MrBeast originally told Elon Musk his videos cost millions to produce and even a billion views on X wouldn’t fund a fraction of that production cost.

Is the bump in MrBeast’s video post all part of Musk’s plan to court MrBeast?

If Musk could woo MrBeast to post his videos on X, it would be huge win for Elon’s video initiative on the platform.

And, it looks like it’s working. MrBeast is enticing his followers to join him on X with the promise of giving away $25,000 to 10 random people who repost and follow him on the platform.

In more MrBeast news, he’s doing really, really well

MrBeast is reportedly very close to closing a $100 million TV show deal with Amazon Studios.

Rumor has it the show is an unscripted competition series where the winner will walk away with a cash prize.

In hopes of luring MrBeast fans to Amazon Prime, the first episode will air on his YouTube channel before switching over to the Prime platform. 2 

Amazon Studios has not confirmed any of this.

Creators in the Wild 🏝️🦜🌊 🦍🐒

What are you? 🥪

Would you watch creators compete to get personally insulted by Gordon Ramsay?

I might.

In a new YouTube show, Idiot Sandwich, Gordon Ramsay judges a sandwich competition. The twist?

All the contents are popular influencers and creators, like Rhett & Link, Zach King, and Lexi Hensler.

Ramsay is producing the show in partnership with Fox through Studio Ramsay Global. This is another example of studios leaning on creators and their communities to drive viewership on digital channels.

Trends 🔮

Vertical video is out

Horizontal video is in.

Why?

TikTok is asking creators to embrace longer videos to make more money and have more time to connect with their audience.

Creators who post videos longer than a minute see five times more growth in followers on TikTok compared to creators who post short videos. 3

Apple may make these longer videos easier to film with its iPhone 16.

With the iPhone 16, Apple is testing a horizontal camera button. The mechanical button can help users zoom, focus, and activate the shutter.4 

A worker’s movement is brewing in the creator economy

Content creators are working overtime.

They drive most of the value for social media platforms and the brands they partner with, but how they get paid can vary so wildly.

A brand may gift a product to a creator to create content about it while paying another $2,000 for the same work.5

Creators are pushing back with resources to give themselves more transparency and leverage in their negotiations with brands.

Here’s some of those resources:

• Fuck You Pay Me, a database of what brands have paid creators

• creators.org, a nonprofit acting as a united voice for creators

• Creators Guild of America, a guild promoting and protecting the financial interests of digital creators

Content Diet 📚🥑🍴

1. Reading: Magnum Streetwise, The Ultimate Collection of Street Photography by Stephen McLaren

2. Music: Cozy Living Room Set by Flavour Trip

3. Watching: Plan out your content for the rest of the year by Modern Millie