Hey Creatorverse readers,
In 2024, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan made his first plea for the Emmys to consider creators. Back then, that call to action seemed ambitious. Now locking creators out of TV’s biggest awards doesn’t just seem shortsighted; it would be tone deaf.
YouTube has been actively campaigning for six creator-led shows — all of which have premiered new episodes on the platform throughout 2025 and 2026 — to be considered for an Emmy nomination this year:
Sean Evans’ “Hot Ones” for Outstanding Variety
Michelle Khare’s “Challenge Accepted” for Hosted Nonfiction
Brittany Broski’s “Royal Court” for Hosted Nonfiction
Cleo Abram’s “HUGE* If Tre” for Hosted Nonfiction
ADVERTISEMENTKareem Rahma’s “Subway Takes” for Shortform Comedy
Julian Shapiro-Barnum’s “Celebrity Substitute” for Shortform Nonfiction
And it’s not just members of YouTube’s curated list who are making this push. Dropout, the comedy channel with a devoted fan following, is campaigning for recognition in 11 categories, including “Very Important People” for Outstanding Variety Series and “Game Changer” for Outstanding Game Show. The host of “VIP,” Vic Michaelis (they/them), is also being submitted in the Lead Comedy Actress category.
For the past three years, YouTube’s content has been more widely watched than anything else on television, according to Nielsen metrics. This week, in fact, the UK-based media analytics company Digital i agency found that average daily viewership on YouTube jumped from 87.2 minutes in 2024 to 99.1 minutes in 2025. The same metric for Netflix dropped from 100.5 minutes to 93.4 minutes.
The audience is undoubtedly there. But for many in Hollywood, there’s a perception that the quality of creator-made content is still stuck in its 2010s Buzzfeed era when it’s evolved to be so much more than that. Khare’s “Challenge Accepted,” for example, released one of the most heartwarming and thrilling deep dives into human perseverance this year with her “I Ran 7 Marathons in 7 Days on 7 Continents” series. Abram’s “HUGE* If True” explored the depths of Antarctica last month and interviewed Sam Altman late last year.
Speaking of interviews, Kareem Rahma, Sean Evans, Brittany Broski and Julian Shapiro-Barnum have all pushed the limits of the talk show format in their own ways. Rahma’s embrace of random New Yorkers and Shapiro-Barnum’s kid-focused episodes have added a much-needed dose of humanity and delightful unpredictability to a format that’s felt cut and paste for years. As for Evans and Broski, both use silliness — either through hot wings or elaborate costumes and games — to disarm celebrity guests and produce richer, more entertaining interviews.
“If you look at the shows that are in consideration at the moment, they are humongous teams — tons of money, professional equipment, pre production, post production, regular production. We’re making independent television,” Rahma told my colleague Tess Patton during a YouTube FYC event last week. “Just because it’s not on a traditional network or streamer doesn’t mean that we should not be considered.”
“It’s a really important moment for creative work. The quality of work being made on YouTube is so insanely high it feels important to me that people are aware of that,” Abram told me. “Too often we have a conversation about TV and YouTube without understanding that YouTube is already TV, and some of the highest quality shows are already on YouTube.”
We’ll see if Emmy voters agree.
Now onto the rest.
Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter
[email protected]
Lizzie Freeman in “The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act” (Glitch)
What’s New
Glitch’s “The Amazing Digital Circus” finale grosses $20.2 million at the box office
Creator domination at the box office continues this week with the finale of “The Amazing Digital Circus,” a cult hit from Glitch. Limited event screenings for the ending of Gooseworx’s series netted $20.2 million. Because “The Amazing Digital Circus” is a one-time event, it can’t have the widespread reach of “Obsession” or “Backrooms,” which have so far earned $224 million and $212 million at the box office, respectively. But $20 million is nothing to laugh at, and if it helps Glitch make more indie animation, more power to them.
There is another creator who’s going to the movies. PrestonPlayz is releasing his movie “100 Hours Stranded” in select theaters. This one definitely looks more like a fans-only affair, but it does continue the creators-in-theaters trend.
TikTok and Sundance are hosting a microseries writing workshop for creators
TikTok and Sundance are teaming up to make a microseries writing program designed for creators. The four-week online course will focus on scriptwriting for microseres and offer guidance to develop serialized, story-driven shortform shows.
Quick clarifying note: Microdramas are microseries now. This is the new rebrand many are pushing, including yours truly. Basically, the term “microseries” better encapsulates the variety of genres that are emerging in this medium and puts some distance between higher quality shortform series and cheaper, pay-per-episode options.
Meta gives Facebook creators AI assistants and Instagram creators serialization options
Meta announced several platform changes this past week. On Facebook, creators will now have an AI assistant that’s designed to help them better understand their audience, engagement trends and performance. This is a bit similar to YouTube’s Ask Studio option for its creators. The offering will first roll out to creators in the U.S., Canada and India, and AI translations will be expanded to include Arabic, French and Vietnamese.
Meta is experimenting with a new Reels option that will let creators serialize their shortform videos. That means shortform series on Reels will be able to play episodes right after the other like on TV. TikTok has a similar feature.
Michelle Khare on “Challenge Accepted” (Photo Credit: YouTube)
By the Numbers
Creator content accounts for 44% of paid media creative
Nearly half (44%) of creator content accounted for paid media creative, according to a new report from CreatorIQ. The report also found that two-thirds of increases in influencer marketing budgets came directly from paid media budgets. In layman’s terms? Brands and companies are still investing heavily in creators.
Live streaming saw a 6% uptick in content in the first part of 2026
During the first quarter of the year, the total number of hours livestreamed increased by 6.2% compared to 2025, according to a new report from Streamlabs. That’s not all the report found. Just Chatting — a livestreaming option dedicated to lifestyle content rather than gaming or any particular niche — accounted for 668 million hours in the first quarter. Twitch remained the biggest livestreaming platform in terms of total hours watched and was followed by YouTube Gaming and Kick, the fastest growing livestreaming platform.
For the uninitiated, Kick has more lax standards than other platforms, so it’s not unusual for controversial creators like Clavicular to be booted from YouTube and find their new home on Kick. It’s like the X to Truth Social pipeline but for streamers.
Google will let creators with 100,000 followers or more customize how they show up in search
Creators are getting a major digital upgrade from Google. Now creators with 100,000 followers or more will be able to customize how they show up in Google search results. When someone searches a creator’s name, a visual snapshot of that creator will appear at the top of Google, and they will be able to pin their favorite posts and link their social media accounts. Google offers a similar visual overlay for traditional celebrities.
Judge Nick DiGiovanni on “100 Cooks” (Photo Credit: Food Network)
Movers and Shakers
Nick DiGiovanni premieres his cooking competition show “100 Cooks” on Food Network
Celebrity chef Nick DiGiovanni debuted his cooking competition show “100 Cooks” on Food Network Monday. The series follows 100 randomly selected home chefs who compete against each other for a $100,000 prize. DiGiovanni and Alex Guarnaschelli judge the show, which is hosted by Terry Crews.
Speaking of the intersection between traditional TV and this new era, sports media company Overtime has partnered with Fox One on a new shortform competition series. “Race to Glory” will follow two teams of shortform creators that will compete against each other. Rakai, Sketch, Rose Ruland and Tylil are just a few of the creators who will be part of this series.
Accenture Song acquires the creator and social agency Whalar
Accenture Song, the consulting company’s tech-powered marketing division, will be acquiring the creator and social agency Whalar from Whalar Group. The plan is for Accenture to use this acquisition to expand its reach in the creator economy and the influencer marketing arena. Whalar’s co-CEOs Emma Harman and Jo Cronk will continue in their roles and join Accenture Song through the acquisition as will Whalar’s team of over 170 employees. Whalar Group will still operate independently and manage Sixteenth, Foam, Moby Ventures, The Lighthouse and The Business of Creativity.
This is the latest strategic acquisition from Accenture after the company acquired Superdigital in 2025 and Unlimited in 2024.
“Rotten Mango” and “What Now? With Trevor Noah” are releasing episodes on Tubi
Several podcasts, including “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” “Rotten Mango,” “The School of Greatness,” “What Now? with Trevor Noah,” “Moral of the Story” and “The Deep 3 Podcast,” will be coming to Tubi as part of a collaboration with SiriusXM. The deal isn’t exclusive, meaning that these shows will still be available on YouTube as well as on other podcasting platforms.
Who to Watch
“The 1 Minute Talk Show”
If your favorite part of “Subway Takes” is when a random New Yorker has a wild opinion, then you’re going to love “The 1 Minute Talk Show” (1.3 million TikTok followers). The titular talk show is a desk and an armchair set up in an NYC park as the show’s two hosts, Aiden Wall and Sean Kane, and band leader MorrisCornCorn scream at and run down random passerbys for their weirdest stories. There’s a mania to this show that’s akin to something Eric Andre would produce. It’s a silly shot of adrenaline, and sometimes that’s really all that you need.
Bonus Content
Amazon Is Making an AI-Animated Good Advice Cupcake TV Show. Its Original Creator Is Furious (via Wired)
‘Unbelievable How Accurate’: How Paid Influencers Hype Polymarket’s Odds (via Politico)
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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.
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