Kaya Yurieff’s Post

Funding for U.S. creator economy startups is continuing to rebound. In fact, in the first half of this year, U.S. creator economy startups raised roughly as much money as in **all of last year***, according to new data from The Information's Creator Economy Database. In the second quarter alone, U.S. creator startups raised $692.7 million, up 68% from a year earlier and more than double the amount raised in the first quarter. Globally, creator startups raised about $767.9 million during the period, an increase of roughly 49% year over year. “New creator platforms have the added advantage of being able to leverage AI to make what they do bigger and better,” said Lightspeed Venture Partners partner Michael Mignano, who has backed companies including Pika Labs, which generates video from text descriptions. “We still believe there’s going to be more opportunity there,” he said. But VC appetite for the sector still has a long way to go from its heyday. Read our full story here w/ Akash Pasricha: https://lnkd.in/ehCvaRz9

We are so back?! Two high-profile investors, Mary Meeker and Chamath Palihapitiya, are lately very bullish on the creator economy... adding to the sentiment I've been hearing since the first quarter of this year, when investor funding for creator startups rose for the first time following two years of steep declines. Last week, Meeker released the first edition of her widely-read internet report in more than four years. She focused on AI and education, but spilled quite a bit of ink on how a young generation of internet users want to pursue careers as creators. The investor—who is dubbed “The Queen of the Internet” and was an early investor in Pinterest, Spotify and Facebook—writes that the rise of creators and new rules allowing college athletes to earn money from their name, image and likeness have “changed the ways some young people think about financial opportunities.” “Younger people can clearly make real money, and increasingly want it,” she writes. Palihapitiya, meanwhile, dedicated more than 100 pages in a report last month on how creators are disrupting traditional media. He took readers through a brief history of broadcasting and cable and the shift in people’s attention from TV to online entertainment. “We are entering a new phase of media and consumption, where influencers are responsible for aggregating an audience to generate demand,” the early Facebook executive wrote. “Influencers can often aggregate audiences that are much larger than what is possible using the mainstream media.” More in my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e25XtwMy

I’m in LA this week ahead of VidCon! The organizers of the event, which last year drew 55,000 people, expect the biggest theme this year to be the creator economy’s “coming of age.” After the boom in venture funding for startups and hype around the sector dissipated, investments have rebounded. The big question is what comes next. “We’re starting to see content creators become entrepreneurs and build these sophisticated businesses,” said Jacques Keyser, director of programming at VidCon. And some creator-founded brands, like MrBeast’s chocolate bar company Feastables or Logan Paul’s and KSI’s energy drink Prime could be acquired in billion-dollar-plus deals, Keyser predicts. I’m excited to help unpack the boom and bust and what opportunities are ahead in a discussion with Megan Lightcap Lightcap, investor at Slow Ventures, and Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at eMarketer. Our session, titled “Follow The Money: Creator Economy Economics,” will take place on Thursday at 2 p.m. local time in the Ballroom AB in the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. Earlier that day, I will also sit down with Andrew Rea, creator of the “Babish Culinary Universe” YouTube channel, for a fireside chat at 10:40 a.m. We’ll dive into how he turned a YouTube cooking channel into a diversified business that includes physical products, books and some new upcoming ventures, including an Airbnb-like rental called Bed & Babish. AI will, of course, be another big topic, with panels about how to “responsibly” use the technology as well as AI’s impact on marketing and a workshop focused on how to use AI tools for foreign language translation. “We’ll be heavily diving into AI, how that’s reshaping the creator economy, not just from a business perspective, but actually fundamentally how content is created,” Keyser said. “We’re just started to see the tip of the iceberg with the power of AI.” VidCon is also hosting an invite-only Industry Leadership Summit on Wednesday, which will gather about 100 people for confidential discussions about hot issues impacting the creator economy, such as a potential TikTok ban in the U.S. VidCon first experimented with this format at its Baltimore event last fall. If you’re in town, let me know! Plus much more in today’s newsletter - including new startup funding, deals and updates on Alex Cooper, Corporate Natalie and more:

Big brands that we associate most with TV are pouring much more of their budgets into influencer marketing. Spending on linear TV is still huge, but data shows it's on the decline, while influencer marketing continues to grow double digits, according to forecasts from EMARKETER. If the brands now putting more of their chips on influencer marketing are successful, tens of billions of dollars in spending on TV advertising could be at stake. Another factor: Creators like Logan Paul, Emma Chamberlain and MrBeast are starting their own brands, forcing incumbent brands to step up their own influencer strategies. “Creators have changed what content we consume, as well as the products we buy,” said Jasmine Enberg, a principal analyst at research firm eMarketer. “We’re at a point where marketers who have been reluctant to turn to influencer marketing really don’t have much choice anymore.” Read the full story here, which has deets on just how much Coca-Cola brands like Fanta and Bodyarmor, and Jack in the Box, are allocating to social/influencer spend: https://lnkd.in/eDFxFV-M

I am sadly not going to be at Cannes Lions this year, but I have the lowdown for you about what to expect! This is the first time Cannes will have an official creator presence! While last year some top creators including Emma Chamberlain and Alex Cooper appeared on stage, this year's festival will have multiple days of creator programming and networking, plus a special lower-priced ticket for people in the creator economy. Cannes Lions invited creators and those working in the industry "in the hundreds" this year, as opposed to a small number last year The conference is linking up with influencer marketing agency Viral Nation for the creator events, which include an outdoor terrace with lighting and makeup provided by Elf Cosmetics for creators to shoot content. “The backdrop is probably one of the best views in Cannes,” said Thea Skelton, vice president of events at Cannes Lions. First-time attendees like Colin & Samir and Madeline Argy will join the crush of tech and Hollywood celebrities including Elon Musk, Will.i.am, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend. Marc Hustvedt from MrBeast’s team will also be in attendance, though MrBeast will NOT be there himself personally. Cannes’ embrace of creators is reflective of how times are changing for advertisers, which are following consumers to where they are spending time—watching creators on social media, podcasts and even some streaming services. “Creators are the ones who have people’s attention through the work that we do,” Ammar Kandil, who co-founded the YouTube channel and clothing brand Yes Theory. “Ultimately advertising is based on being able to monetize that attention.” Kandil will attend and speak for the first time. And it's a chance for creators to mingle with top ad execs who control how budgets are allocated. YouTuber Samir Chaudry is looking forward to. “Getting to sit down face to face with marketers is a rare opportunity,” he said. “Those are people making decisions to spend with us and learning the problems they are trying to solve teaches us a lot about our own business.” https://lnkd.in/eThKhPhD