Creator News Roundup: 01/15/2024

Happy Monday!

Today I’ll talk about:

1. Latest partnerships creators are landing

2. The return of Abercrombie

3. X’s bet on video

4. A creator scam scandal

5. What makes creators successful in getting noticed

I hope you learn something interesting 🤓.

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Money Moves

Venture capital funds are flowing to creators.

Did you know venture capital firms are funding creators directly?

Slow Ventures is cutting checks from $500,000 to up to $2 million for creators looking to launch products for their communities.1 Some creators Slow Ventures has invested in so far:

• Marina Mogliko, a linguistics expert, to build a language-learning platform, Linguatrip

• John Fish, a book lover, to build a Goodreads competitor called Bookshelved

Creators are entrepreneurs and the products they’re building are resonating with their communities.

Like German TikToker Tim Shaecker, who launched CNDO, an app where creators and their fans complete social challenges.

The app raised $1M in pre-seed funding and launched with 820 active users and over 5,000 people on its waitlist. 2

Creator-driven digital series are more popular than ever

Would you watch your favorite show on TikTok? What about YouTube?

Crypt TV, a horror genre studio that got its start on YouTube and Facebook, was acquired by BratTV, a studio producing digital series airing on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.3 

Do you remember Bratz dolls?

The sassy dolls have an animated series on TikTok where 2.6M followers tune in.4 The brand is seizing the moment and signed a 5 year deal with Flickplay to create collectable digital Bratz dolls that travel with you across the internet.5

Studios are catching on to the trend and migrating their content to TikTok and YouTube.

Warner Bros. Discovery launched a TikTok account for The Sopranos with 25 second recaps of every episode for the show’s 25th anniversary. Full episodes are also being dropped on HBO Max’s YouTube channel.6 

Gotta meet the people where they’re at.

Creators in the Wild 🏝️🦜🌊 🦍🐒

Influencers be influencing… the law

How would you feel if you got scammed by an influencer? Probably not great 😭.

This happened to fans of Chiara Ferragni, a digital entrepreneur with over 29M followers on Instagram, when she partnered with Balocco to promote a Ferragni-branded Christmas cake.

All proceeds were promised to a children’s hospital in Italy. Ferragni earned over €1M from the campaign, but the hospital never received donations. Italy fined Ferragni and Balocco for misleading consumers.

The cake scam led to debates over the power influencers wield. Ferragni and Balocco are now being investigated for aggravated fraud. Ferragni also saw a hit to her community, losing 200,000 followers and her partnership with Coca Cola.

Italy also approved stricter rules to improve transparency in social media posts by people with more than 1 million followers. 7 

How are the most successful content creators getting our attention?

It’s all in the hook, baby.

Neal O’Grady analyzed hooks from tweets of 20 of the top female content creators and shared what made them interesting enough for users to click, read, and save.

Most hooks contained elements of curiosity, promising value, colorful writing, and bold statements.

Read the full analysis here and see the list of creators with most saved tweets here.

Trends 🔮

Abercrombie is entering its luxury era

Is anyone else shopping at Abercrombie again?

WallStreetBets is all over Abercrombie for how well its stock has been performing lately - the brand’s stock was up by more than 285%.8910 

I’ve noticed Abercrombie’s quiet rebrand into a go-to for classic quality basics.11 The stores have changed too. They are now brightly lit and minimalist. The designs match the tone with more sophisticated, classic pieces.

The operational lift behind this rebrand is huge, but what else is contributing to Abercrombie’s comeback?

My bet is on how the brand is tapping into the creator community to reach its target audience. Abercrombie has a Creator Suite, a program where creators with over 2,500 followers can apply for gifted items, first access to new pieces, and IRL events.12 

Creators are promoting the brand’s on-trend pieces and inclusive sizes with its popular Curve Love pants designed for curvier hourglass figures.13 

The promotion is working! Abercrombie is in.

Platforms competing with TikTok are promoting and betting on video content.

Is it too early to bail on X (Twitter)?

X is now a video-first platform, with video making an appearance in 8 out of 10 user sessions.14

X is also investing in partnerships with personalities like Don Lemon, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jim Rome to create original video series for its platform.15 

Some creators are noticing and doubling down on video content because when an algorithm determines who sees your posts, the content has to adapt to guarantee as much distribution as possible.

Content Diet 📚🥑🍴

1. Reading: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

2. Podcast: Protocols to Access Creative Energy and Process with Rick Rubin on Huberman Lab

3. Music: Pink Friday 2 by Nicki Minaj. Where my barbz at?

4. Watching: How to make your outfits better by Asia Jackson

I enjoyed reading‘s content diet in last Wednesday’s newsletter so I decided to share mine! What’s your content diet looking like this week? Share it in the comments below.