Hey Creatorverse readers,
At first glance, “Girl Room” looks like another surprise social media success story. Though the account launched a little over three weeks ago, it organically has over 90,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram with its most watched video hitting over 5 million views. In reality, “Girl Room” is the product of something far more impressive than a social fluke: it’s proof that a shortform concept can be a franchise.
A spin-off of Gymnasium’s “Boy Room,” “Girl Room” stands as Amazon’s first co-created shortform series. Each episode, host Owen Thiele (“Adults”) walks into the bedroom of a messy lady and, after some light joking, promises to transform her disastrous space. Naturally, all of those organizational and decorative fixtures come from Amazon.
“I really think this is the future of how so many of these types of shows are going to be made — with brands acting as television networks themselves,” Adam Faze, head coach at Gymnasium, told me.
Amazon has been selling products through shows for years — hit pause on any Prime Video series and you may be hit with an ad to buy the exact clothes the character is wearing – but “Girl Room” is also part of Amazon’s evolving content strategy, which aims to make the company more “additive” to entertainment, Hannah Broadhurst, head of entertainment and content marketing at Amazon, told me.
“Boy Room” was never intended to be a home renovation show, but the more Gymnasium posted videos of these chaotic living spaces, the more commentators asked them to step in and help. That’s how Gymnasium’s partnership with Amazon started.
“At the end of the day, these platforms do not pay you anything. We generated over a billion views over the last few years, and we probably made $20,000 from creator funds,” Faze said. “It starts to make more sense to think about ‘What is the type of show you’d like to make, and who’s the right partner to bring it to life?’”
What “Boy Room” also taught the team was how to make a reality show for the Instagram and TikTok era. Though each episode only runs about two to three minutes, they take hours to film and typically involve 12 to 14 people on set. “Girl Room” also has its own writing room, which includes Gymnasium’s creative lead Damian Bucenec, Thiele and Elisa Kalani (“I Love You Forever”). Amanda Schultz, known for her work on Nathan Fielder’s “Nathan for You,” also serves as the show’s casting director who scours Craigslist and dating apps for potential subjects.
As for what’s next for Gymnasium’s “Room” universe, Faze is interested in expanding both shows into eight to 12 minute YouTube series with the goal of eventually making half-hour episodes.
“If ‘Girl Room’ was made for TV 20 years ago, it’d be a hit show. It just so happens that this is the right way to release the show today,” Faze said. “But that doesn’t mean that we should sacrifice any of the creativity that goes behind the scenes.”
Now onto the rest.
Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter [email protected]
What’s New
Cleo Abrams, “Las Culturistas” and Jordan Howlett are going to the Olympics
NBC is betting on creators to go for the gold. On Tuesday, the company announced it will be partnering with more than 25 creators for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, including Cleo Abram (7.1 million YouTube subscribers), “Las Culturistas” hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers (49,000 YouTube subscribers) and Jordan Howlett (16.5 million TikTok followers). NBC’s Creator Collective launched in 2024 with the Paris games, and it was a big success. That partnership led to nearly 300 million views across social media and a record-setting 6.55 billion impressions across NBC Sports’ social channels.
YouTube Shorts videos older than a month are underperforming
Mario Joos, a retention director who has worked with some of the biggest creators around including MrBeast, noticed an alarming trend for shortform creators. YouTube Shorts posts that are older than a month seem to be underperforming. While Joos assumes this algorithm change was likely implemented to increase posts on Shorts, since most creators depend on the performance of their past content, it’s a blow. Joos backed his claims with charts from seven of the biggest Shorts channels on YouTube (though he didn’t disclose who was who).
ByteDance’s valuation jumps to $480 billion
After Chinese investment firm Capital Today bought a block of ByteDance shares, it was revealed that the valuation for TikTok’s parent company has jumped to $480 billion. Before the competitive and price-raising deal, ByteDance was valued at $360 billion.
Remember: The latest deadline for TikTok’s U.S. ban is Dec. 16. So maybe — if we’re lucky — this saga will be over. But as history has taught us, chances are slim.
Year in Review
Joe Rogan, Steven Bartlett and Mel Robbins were the biggest podcasters on Spotify
For the sixth year in a row, Joe Rogan was the No. 1 podcaster on Spotify. That’s not really surprising. What is interesting is how many wellness creators appeared on Spotify’s Top 10 podcasts list, which includes “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” “Huberman Lab,” Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” and Chris Williamson’s “Modern Wisdom.”
As for Spotify’s annual Wrapped tradition, that’s already proving to be a massive winner with users. The 2025 recap was accessed by over 200 million users in its first day, the biggest launch the music streamer has ever seen. Guess everyone want to know their streaming age.
MrBeast, CaylusBlox and iShowSpeed lead YouTube’s top creators
YouTube’s biggest creators for the year weren’t exactly surprising, but it’s always good to know who’s on top. MrBeast (453 million YouTube subscribers) was once again No. 1 followed by Roblox creator CaylusBlox (7.2 million followers). Gaming is always massive on YouTube, but Roblox had an especially good year, becoming one of the most discussed YouTube topics of the year. Livestreamer and stunts-lover iShowSpeed (46 million followers) then came in third place. By the way, that ranking reflects the creators who received the most attention in 2025.
Twitch viewers streamed nearly 900 million hours in 2025
In 2025 alone, viewers streamed nearly 900 million hours on Twitch and sent over 45 billion chats. Those are just two shocking stats the platform released as part of its year-end roundup. Twitch also revealed that over 9 million streamers joined the platform this year, including Justin Bieber, Druski and Lizzo, and that Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 3 broke the Twitch world record for most active subscribers. Long story short? Livestreaming isn’t a fad going away anytime soon.
Movers and Shakers
MrBeast fans may get a chance to invest in his company
During the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold confirmed that the company eventually wants to IPO. Specifically, they want to give 1.4 billion people around the world who have watched MrBeast’s content in the last 90 days a chance to own part of the company. So press play.
On a more introspective note, MrBeast apologized to his fans for the lackluster quality of his 2025 content and promised, “Ya boy is going to go into ultra grind mode and make the greatest content of my life in 2026.” Don’t beat yourself up, Jimmy. You’ve been busy.
Katie Fang leads Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Media list
Lifestyle influencer Katie Fang (6.4 million TikTok followers) is the big name anchoring Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Media list. Pretty impressive considering she’s still attending NYU. Other creators on the list include shortform comedy creator Joe Mele (32 million TikTok followers), fitness creator Leana Deeb (11.4 TikTok followers) and comedy creator Jonathan Peter (12.7 million TikTok followers), who’s producing a movie with Jaime Foxx.
Speaking of notable creators, Alex Cooper, Kinigra Deon, Amelia Dimoldenberg and Whalar’s Jo Cronk all made TheWrap’s list of 51 Women Who Made a Difference in 2025 as part of the Power Women Summit.
“LonelyGirl15” co-creator joins CAA as agent in its creator division
Ready for a blast from the web’s past? Greg Goodfried, one of the co-creators of the 2006 YouTube and MySpace thriller series “LonelyGirl15,” is joining CAA as an agent in its creators division. He will represent both creators and podcasters. “LonelyGirl15” ran for two years and over 500 episodes as a series of blogs pretending to depict the real life of a girl mixed up with a dark, blood-harvesting organization. Its star Bree Avery (Jessica Lee Rose) is largely considered to be one of the internet’s first viral stars.
@boy.throb This was SO much fun!!
@Evan Papier @Anthony Key @Zachary @Darshan Magdum ♬ original sound – BOY THROB
Who to Watch
Boy Throb
In case you need a reminder that the internet is good sometimes, two satirical boy bands are battling on TikTok. You read that correctly. Boy Throb (1.1 million TikTok followers) debuted on TikTok in late October clad in pink velour tracksuits and with three goals: to gain 1 million followers, win a Grammy and score a U.S. visa for their fourth member Darshan, who is stuck in India.
Between protest dances outside the immigration office and a nursing home performance, Boy Throb did get their 1 million followers, but now they’re facing a new threat: Shadow Baddies (34,000 TikTok followers). The rival group appeared in late November and seems dead set on stealing Boy Throb’s thunder.
Is this whole thing a fever dream? A Tim Robinson sketch? Whatever it is, it’s funny as hell. Team Boy Throb for life.
Bonus Content
- The Age-Gated Internet Is Sweeping the US. Activists Are Fighting Back (via Wired)
- Someone Is Trying to ‘Hack’ People Through Apple Podcasts (via 404 Media)
- Patreon CEO: “I’m Building an Algorithm That Doesn’t Rot Your Brain” (via YouTube)
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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.
The post Creatorverse: How Brands Will Drive the Future of Shortform Shows appeared first on TheWrap.
