u/Pitiful-Phrase4042

Hey,
I saw some data that I really want to talk about.

Podcast hosts have way more trust than most short form creators right now. The numbers are pretty nice...56% of people who listen to podcasts every week say the host matters most to them. That’s almost three times higher than what people say about regular social media influencers.

To make it stronger, 67% of podcast listeners have actually bought something because a host recommended it. And 85% have taken some kind of action after listening to a show.

It makes sense when you think about it. When someone listens to a podcast, they’re choosing to spend 30 minutes or even an hour with that voice. It’s not like scrolling through 15 second videos while waiting in line. They’re actually paying attention. That kind of time builds a much deeper level of trust.

This explains why long form audio is doing so well for building real connection and making sales right now.

Hey guys , lets talk about scams ..

Creator scams have gotten really good this year. Even experienced creators are getting fooled now.

Scammers used to be easy to spot with weird emails. Not anymore. AI lets them write perfect messages, copy a brand’s exact style, build real looking websites and make it all feel personal to you.

The most common scam is like: a “brand” reaches out with a nice offer. They send a professional contract. You make the content. Then they either disappear or ask you to pay for shipping or samples upfront.

Smaller creators get scammed the most because they reply fast when they’re excited.

Always check this to protect yourself :

Real brands email from their official company address, not Gmail.
Never pay any money upfront.
Don’t make the content until the payment is already in your account.

If something feels rushed or off, just walk away.Always check the red flags and connect the dots. But remember, not all of them are scams.

Hey,
For years, the easy way for creators to make money was simple. You learn something, turn it into a course or ebook and sell it. That worked great for a long time.But it’s changing fast.

Most people who buy those self-paced courses never finish them. The completion rate is usually between 5% and 15%. And now with AI, a lot of them don’t even start. They can just ask AI and get the info in seconds for free.

So, what changed is that information isn’t rare anymore. People used to pay because it was hard to find. In 2026, that’s not true anymore.

What’s working better now is cohort programs and community learning. These have completion rates between 70% and 90%. People aren’t just buying information anymore.They’re buying the experience of going through it with other people, with real accountability and the creator guiding them live.

So lets start moving away from one time courses. We should be running paid challenges, group programs and monthly communities instead. It takes more work and more of your time but you can charge more and people actually get results.But its not something you should do if you don't want to.

Basically, its when the brand decides that your behavior online or offline no longer aligns with their image.They can terminate the deal immediately. No negotiation and no warning.

The definitions are always written very broadly so it can cover everything from a controversial post to something that happened at a completely unrelated event. I saw a clause triggered because someone was filmed crowd surfing at a concert during a brand activation and the brand cited venue rule violations.

The power imbalance is big and heartbreaking. Brands come with legal teams and contracts written in their favor. Even big creators often face these one sided agreements where the brand decides what aligns with their values.

The good thing is that these clauses are often negotiable if you push back or have someone review the contract. You can ask for clearer definitions, shorter timeframes or just ask them to show the actual harm before terminating.

If you’re doing brand deals make sure you read the fine print, especially anything around termination or morality. Getting a quick review from someone who understands creator contracts can save you a lot of trouble down the line.

Hey,
I need to talk about something crazy that happened on Twitch.

Back in January, an AI VTuber named Neuro-sama hit number 1 in subscriptions. She got over 162,000 subs during a big event and passed every human streamer at the time. The guy in second place even went live and said, “This is the future, bro. I’m shocked.”

Neuro-sama is run by a programmer named Vedal. She uses multiple AIs so she can talk to chat, play games, sing and react in real time. She streams almost nonstop.

The moment that went viral was when she asked Vedal on stream, “Do I matter to you?” A lot of people felt that.

Here’s the thing though. This doesn’t mean AI is going to replace all human creators. Her numbers dropped a lot after the event. But it does show that audiences can actually feel connected to an AI personality now.

So what does this mean for us?Your real personality,messy opinions and your genuine reactions which are the things that only come from being a real human, is becoming more valuable, not less.

Hey,

So let's talk about something.

Private equity firms are buying popular YouTube channels. Not tiny ones. They’re buying channels that feel independent just like Veritasium, Fireship, Donut Media, Economics Explained, Dude Perfect and even CoComelon.

Big money is behind it, with billions of dollars from firms like Blackstone and SoftBank.

They also don’t have to tell viewers. The channel name stays the same. The host still shows up. Everything looks normal. But behind the scenes, things start changing. They push for more videos, safer topics and steady profits.

For example, after Veritasium got bought, they added new hosts so the whole channel doesn’t depend on just one guy. That’s good for the investors, but longtime fans can feel the difference.

This matters for us because it shows successful channels are real businesses with real value. But it also shows what happens when money becomes the main goal. The content can feel different even if it looks the same.

Hey guys,

So vine actually came back this month. They relaunched it under a new name called Divine.

If you missed the original Vine, it was a video app from 2012. It pretty much started the whole short video thing before Twitter shut it down in 2017.

Jack Dorsey, the same guy who killed the original Vine, funded the new one. They even restored a ton of old Vine videos from backups. Some early creators like Lele Pons are already posting on it.

The biggest difference is their rule on AI. No AI generated videos are allowed at all. Everything has to be shot inside the app or pass a human check.They’re basically saying that people are tired of all the fake AI stuff and want real human videos again.

It probably won’t replace TikTok or Instagram. The competition is way bigger now. But the fact that they went fully human says a lot about where things might be heading.

What do you think?

Okay this is about to drive me crazy. I post the same niche in content, same effort, same quality and even same posting style and time.Sometimes a video performs so well but the next time its struggling. I try to figure out the patterns but I can't anymore.

So lemme ask.. has your content been doing that? And when you change anything on the posts or how you post does the visibility improve ? Because now this is too much and am going crazy .

Hey, I read a Digiday article a few days ago and heres what I learned.

AI isn’t coming in the future anymore. It’s already deep in how a lot of us create now. The question now isn’t whether to use it. It’s how we use it.

YouTube’s CEO said they’re going after low-quality AI content. Right after that, a bunch of big AI spam channels got removed. Some had millions of subscribers.

A creative director at a big ad agency said something about that too. Audiences can spot generic AI stuff right away. The weird lighting, the fake feel, the lack of any real point of view. They might not be able to explain it, but they feel it.

Brands like AI influencers because they’re safe. No drama, no bad days, always available. But there’s a big difference between safe and trustworthy. People still buy more from real creators they actually trust.

For me, the clear line is using AI to help with research, scripting, editing or brainstorming is smart. It makes you faster. But when you let it replace your own voice, opinions and personality, the content starts feeling off. And platforms are already punishing that.

The real decision right now is where you draw that line.

Hey guys,
I read something last week about the creative world and I want to bring it here.

The writer was talking about a girl who posted a video of all seventeen failed attempts at a skateboard trick. Not the final success, just every single fail. That video got more engagement than anything she had ever posted.

The content that’s really connecting right now isn’t the perfect transformation or the flawless tutorial. It’s the middle part. The figuring it out stage. The uncertainty. Showing your real thinking process instead of just the clean final answer.

I see it in my own feed too. There’s a photographer I follow who posts her raw photos next to the AI edited versions, then explains which one she picked and why. People comment way more on those than on her finished shots.

It seems like we’ve all been burned by too much fake perfection. People don’t trust creators who always act like they have everything figured out. They relate to the ones who show the real work, the doubts and the actual decisions.

You don’t have to film yourself failing at everything. Just start showing more of the process behind what you do. Close the gap between what’s happening behind the scenes and what you actually post.

Sometimes that’s more than enough.

Hey ,
So most of us are undercharging and it has so little to do with not knowing our worth.

We talk about rates and brand deals, but we don’t talk about why we leave money on the table. The reason is simple. Influencer pricing has no clear standard like other parts of marketing. Brands come in with budgets, guidelines and people who negotiate for a living. Meanwhile, many of us pick a number based on what we think they will accept.

What i think is if every brand you pitch says yes right away with no pushback, no questions and no counter offer, that is a red flag. Negotiation is normal in business. When it does not happen, it often means your price was very comfortable for them. We take that quick yes as validation, but it can mean we could have asked for more.

Another issue is how we think about what we are selling. Many of us price the visible deliverable, like one Reel, one post or one video. But brands are really buying access to your audience’s trust, attention and buying behavior.

There are also things we often give away for free that are standard in traditional media. These include usage rights, exclusivity, rush fees and raw footage. Most of us include them without charging because no one told us we could.

You have built an audience that trusts you. That has real value and brands already know it. Sometimes the only person who forgets that value is you.

Hey guys, lets talk about the creator economy.

The creator economy is big. We see It’s worth hundreds of billions now, along with the huge brand deals and people quitting their jobs to build empires. And yes, all of that is real for a small group at the top. But the reality for most of us is very different.

Recent data shows that only about 4% of creators worldwide earn over $100,000 a year. Over 50% earn less than $15,000 annually and a large portion make under $1,000 to $5,000 per year. Even among full time creators, many are struggling to make a liveable income.
The platforms are the same. For example, YouTube paid out billions to creators, but when you divide that across millions of people, the median earnings are much lower. Similarly, TikTok and other platforms follow a similar pattern, where the money pools at the top while most creators grind with much smaller returns.

None of this is meant to discourage anyone. The opportunity is still amazing. However, it looks very different from the highlight reels we see online.

Creators building a stable income aren’t just chasing virality or a payout will change everything. Instead, they treat it like a real business early, they diversify their revenue, build direct relationships with their audience and they don’t compare themselves to the top 1%.

The creator economy is big. The money is nice. But it’s distributed unevenly, just like most economies. Therefore, understanding that early helps you make smarter decisions instead of burning out wondering why it’s not working as fast as the people with success stories tell us.

Basically, its when the brand decides that your behavior online or offline no longer aligns with their image.They can terminate the deal immediately. No negotiation and no warning.

The definitions are always written very broadly so it can cover everything from a controversial post to something that happened at a completely unrelated event. I saw a clause triggered because someone was filmed crowd surfing at a concert during a brand activation and the brand cited venue rule violations.

The power imbalance is big and heartbreaking. Brands come with legal teams and contracts written in their favor. Even big creators often face these one sided agreements where the brand decides what aligns with their values.

The good thing is that these clauses are often negotiable if you push back or have someone review the contract. You can ask for clearer definitions, shorter timeframes or just ask them to show the actual harm before terminating.

If you’re doing brand deals make sure you read the fine print, especially anything around termination or morality. Getting a quick review from someone who understands creator contracts can save you a lot of trouble down the line.

Hey,
I want to talk about virtual influencers .

Virtual influencers are not new. Lil Miquela has been around since 2016 with millions of followers and big brand deals like Prada and Calvin Klein. Aitana Lopez, a virtual model from a Spanish agency, was created specifically because human creators kept cancelling campaigns last minute. She reportedly earned over €10,000 a month in her first year. Others like Noonoouri and Imma have done campaigns with Versace, Dior, IKEA and Porsche.

From the brand side, the appeal is practical. Virtual influencers never cancel, never say something controversial and can be placed anywhere without logistics. That reliability is a real business advantage for certain campaigns.

But as human creators we are still good.Research shows a big chunk of people still feel uneasy about AI and virtual influencers. They can look polished and consistent but the audiences can sense when something is missing,opinions, experiences and personality that come from an actual person.

That gap between looking human and feeling human is still real. Brands experimenting with virtual influencers know this, and this is why many are using both. The virtual ones for aesthetics and human creators for anything where trust and authenticity drive buying decisions.

If your content could be made by a perfectly consistent digital character with no real point of view, you might face more competition. But if people follow you because of who you actually are, your perspective, your experiences and the way you show up as a human, that is something that is still very hard to replicate.

Your humanness is not a weakness in this situation.It is actually one of the strongest advantages we have.So don't you worry.

Hey guys,

We spend so much time focusing on content, algorithms, growth and consistency but the business side gets overlooked until something goes wrong.

A very common pov is this:

A brand slides into your DMs with an offer. You get excited, say yes, create the content and post it, but there is sometimes no proper written agreement. There are no clear deliverables, no payment timeline and no details on usage rights. When payment is late or they reuse your content without extra pay, you have nothing solid to fall back on.

This happens at every level not just beginners. The excitement of the opportunity makes it easy to skip the paperwork.

Two things that tend to bite creators the most are usage rights and exclusivity clauses. If you do not specify otherwise, a brand can often take the content you created and run it as their own ad for years without paying you extra. In 2026, the standard practice is to treat additional usage as a separate fee because you are creating an asset they will profit from long term.

Exclusivity clauses can also catch people off guard. Some contracts say you cannot work with competitors for a certain period. That might sound reasonable until a better offer comes along and you are locked out. It is always smart to read the fine print, negotiate the timeframe down and make sure competitor is clearly defined.

Brands usually come to the table with contracts drafted in their favor and legal teams behind them. That is just how business works so dont be scared. Matching that energy does not require being a lawyer, its just knowing your rates upfront, getting something in writing before you create the content and actually reading what you sign.

If you treat this like a real business early on,it tends to protect you better.

Hey,

I think a lot of us have been sleeping on how much Spotify is pushing video content now.

They made some changes to their Partner Program for video creators. They lowered the requirements to join so it’s now easier for smaller creators to start earning. You get two revenue streams at the same time, ad revenue from free listeners and premium revenue from Spotify subscribers watching without ads.

They’re also rolling out better sponsorship tools that let you update or replace sponsor segments in old episodes without re uploading anything. If you have evergreen content with expired brand deals, your back catalog can become a living income source again.

Another good one for creators who already host elsewhere is that..Spotify launched a Distribution API that lets you publish and monetize video directly on their platform through partners, without switching hosts or re uploading everything.

Video podcast consumption on Spotify has grown a lot in the last year and they’re clearly investing in making it a stronger for creators.

The audience for video content on Spotify is growing and the tools are getting better.

So Google search has changed in the last year, and the numbers are quite eye opening.

AI Overviews have become very common. Studies are showing that organic search traffic from Google to publishers dropped with smaller sites seeing even steeper declines. On many informational queries, people are getting their answer directly from the AI summary and never clicking through to the actual website.

The latest data puts zero click searches at around 58 to 65% of all searches. For queries that trigger an AI Overview, that number jumps higher.

The frustrating thing is that so much of the content feeding those AI summaries came from creators and publishers. We created the tutorials,recipes and guides that trained the system and now a lot of users are getting the answer without visiting our pages.

There's one positive signal in the data . When your content gets cited inside the AI Overview, you can actually see more clicks than uncited competitors on the same query. Being seen as an authoritative, specific source still matters.

For creators, this reinforces something important. Relying too heavily on Google search traffic has become riskier.

The smart thing right now seems to be building direct relationships, email lists, communities or YouTube channels where you own the connection with your audience. This is while also making your content more specific, well structured and genuinely useful so it has a better chance of being cited when AI answers questions.