Hery Creatorverse readers,
After spending a week at Cannes Lions and taking off some time to explore France, I’m thrilled to be back in the good ole U-S-of-A. And for the last few days, there have been two questions on my mind:
- Is Cannes Lions worth it for creators?
- What does Cannes’ creator takeover mean for Hollywood?
The first question can be answered with a cautious “yes.” Cannes Lions is undoubtedly an expensive festival. The creator badge for the event cost €1,245 (more than $1,400) without accounting for the cost of flights, hotels, meals or fits (this is one place where you don’t want to look unfashionable).
As I’ve covered last week, everyone at Cannes Lions seemed eager to talk about the importance of collaborating with creators, but few companies seemed to really know what to do with the creators at the festival. But there were several platforms and organizations that worked hard to make the festival worth creators’ while, like YouTube, TikTok and Patreon. Plus, all of the creators I spoke to said they learned a lot from talking shop with other creators — a rare opportunity in this often-siloed industry. My hope is that Cannes Lions is only going to get more useful for creators as the festival evolves, like how it’s shifted from being more agency-focused to welcoming in more brands (shoutout to Adobe’s Meg Donovan for that insight).
Now, what does all of this sweating on branded beaches mean for Hollywood? From where I’m sitting, the TV and film industries should be panicking even more than I previously thought. Cannes Lions has long been known for trotting out big-name celebrities in a never-ending battle for corporate one-upsmanship. There was certainly elements of that this year as Oprah, Keke Palmer and Seth Meyers all walked down the Croisette at various points. But creators like Alex Cooper, Jay Shetty, Brittany Broski and Keith Lee were really who attendees seemed eager to see. You went to see Oprah to say you saw Oprah. You watched a Cooper panel to learn how to level up your brand.
There was also an overwhelming shift among both talent and professionals in the creator industry. Many of the creators I spoke to seemed as though they were in the midst of a professional reckoning as they were starting to think of their channels as part of a larger business and content strategy rather than as the end-all, be-all.
“Creators are now starting to think about their brand, media plan and business sooner than ever before,” Scott Sutton, CEO of the influencer marketing company Later, told me.
This wasn’t just a trend that was confined to Cannes Lions. At VidCon, Anaheim’s annual influencer convention, those connected to the creator industry seemed almost dismissive of Hollywood largely because creators don’t really need these larger institutions to build their audiences.
“I’m not in opposition of the industry, I’m not here to destroy all and take over,” Markiplier, the YouTuber with over 38 million subscribers who directed “Iron Lung,” told my colleague Tess Patton. “I just want more people to be able to make movies, and more people to be able to tell stories and more people to see cool stories.”
Markiplier, aka Mark Fischbach, isn’t currently talking to any executives in Hollywood and is instead working on new original ideas and bringing other digital-minded filmmakers up with him.
Kane Parsons, the creator and director behind “Backrooms,” feels the same way. When asked if he would be interested in directing a “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” movie, he quickly said no. “I’m not too interested in IP work. I pretty much entirely want to focus on original projects,” Parsons said.
The tide isn’t shifting; it has shifted. For anyone interested in partnering with this next era of entertainers, you need to start thinking about what resources and expertise can you provide to these emerging power players that they don’t already have.
Now onto the rest.
Kayla Cobb
Senior Reporter [email protected]
P.S. Creatorverse is taking next week off so that I can help cover Emmy nominations. Oh the joy of covering two major beats. I’ll be back on July 15.
What’s New
Child safety features on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube fail half the time
Child safety features on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube were found to fail 50% of the time, according to a study from researchers at New York University and Northeastern. The study tested 86 features across the four aforementioned platforms, and those features were only halfway successful when it came to vital protections like preventing adults from messaging children or stopping underage accounts from accessing harmful content.
It only gets worse on the child safety front. Yesterday, TikTok reached a settlement in its social media addiction lawsuit that was brought by a 15-year-old Florida plaintiff. That lawsuit alleges that TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Snap knowingly developed addictive algorithms. And on Monday, a judge rejected Meta’s plea to dismiss a lawsuit by 29 U.S. state attorneys general that accused Instagram and Facebook’s parent company of knowingly designing those apps to be addictive and hiding their potential harms from the public. The lawsuit also claims that Meta violated the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. If you’ve seen “Silicon Valley,” you know that’s really bad news.
Amazon plans to bring 500 creators to Fire TV by next year
Fire TV, Amazon’s smart TV option, plans to bring over 500 creators to its free ad-supported streaming product by next year. Not only that, but the company announced during Cannes Lions that it expects to hit 200 creators in July. The FAST space is becoming a major one when it comes to creator collaboration, especially since Fox — which already owns Tubi — recently announced its plans to acquire Roku. Since Roku is a major player in the FAST space with a history of partnering with creators, this move will likely impact the industry.
TikTok partners with Food Network on a new cooking show and Strava on a running creator fund
TikTok Live is partnering with Food Network on a new cooking-focused show. “TikTok LIVE x Food Network Presents: Tomato Season” will premiere on July 8 at 8 p.m. ET and will follow Chef Antonia Lofaso and creator Jose El Cook as they host an hourlong livestream full of recipes and tips from the Food Network Kitchen. TikTok is a major platform for cooking creators, and it partnered with the Food Network on The 2026 Hot List Creators earlier this year.
That’s not the only partnership TikTok announced. The social media platform and the running app Strava launched a €100,000 creator fund last week. The money will be used to help fund local clubs and communities and will give ad credits to 20 creator-ambassadors, such as Zahra Rose (5,500 TikTok followers) and Esther De Souza (325,000 followers).
Platform Updates
Snap launches a creator marketplace
Everyone is getting into creator marketplaces these days, a model that uses AI to let advertisers sort through creators for potential collaborations. Following TikTok and LinkedIn launching their marketplaces, Snap entered the fray with Snap Smart Assistant last week, an offering designed to give advertisers recommendations for campaign objectives, audience strategy and optimization settings.
Meta relaunches Facebook Creator Studio
As for Meta, the tech giant relaunched Facebook Creator Studio as an AI-powered app. The goal is to help Facebook creators grow on the platform and manage their engagement.
Beehiv partners with Cloudflare to give writers more control over how AI models use their work
Beehiv, the newsletter subscription platform, partnered with the internet infastructure company Cloudflare to give creators more control over how AI models use their work. The platform will integrate Cloudflare’s Crawl Control technology directly into the platform to give creators visibility about how these models are using their writing.
Movers and Shakers
MrBeast, Dhar Mann and Steven Bartlett top Forbes’ top earning creators list of 2026
The three highest earning creators of the year are MrBeast, Dhar Mann and Steven Bartlet, according to a Forbes roundup. The article ranks the 50 highest earning creators so far, but like with all of these lists, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Net worth lists for celebrities are always a little wonky.
Alex Cooper will star in a microdrama, and Jake Paul’s venture firm secures $100 million in funding
Alex Cooper will star in “Moving On,” an upcoming microseries that’s created in partnership with Unwell and Google Pixel. The 14-episode series also stars Emily VanCamp, Giacomo Gianniotti, Praneet Akilla and Yanic Truesdale and will poke fun at tropes you see in scripted shows.
Speaking of pivots from megacreators, Jake Paul’s venture firm Anti Fund secured $100 million in funding. The venture firm is backing companies like SpaceX and Helion as well as sectors like defense tech.
Haley Kalil, Jenny Hoyos, Zhong and more partner with YouTube to cover the World Cup
YouTube is partnering with eight creators to cover the World Cup, a collective that has more that 350 million followers. Those creators include TokaiOnAirRYO (905,000 YouTube subscribers), Zhong (74.6 million subscribers), Jenny Hoyos (12 million subscribers), Haley Kalil (8.2 million subscribers), Jeenie.Weenie (13.2 million subscribers), Jesser (46.1 million subscribers), Neagle (19.7 million subscribers) and Noor Stars (22.3 million subscribers).
@ahnestkitchen Full James Beard Award acceptance speech! We weren’t expecting our cookbook to be called — I had written this speech the morning of the ceremony. Before we left for the awards, I read it privately to Umma in Korean at our hotel room. That moment ended up meaning just as much as the award itself. She cried through most of it that morning haha, and later told me she was able to hold back tears during the actual speech (because I had already read it to her beforehand). Anywho, apologies for the sniffles and what not. Everything still feels surreal. We are forever grateful. #jamesbeard #koreanfood #award #cooking ♬ original sound – Sarah Ahn
Who to Watch
Sarah Ahn
Sarah Ahn (1.4 million TikTok followers) and her mother, Nam Soon Ahn, have more followers than I like to feature in this section. But considering that the duo won a James Beard Media Award for their book “Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes,” I’m OK with breaking my own rule. For years, Ahn has been dedicated to collecting, recreating and sharing her mother’s recipes, and the sweet yet often funny relationship she has with her mom is wholesome af. If you’re deciding what to make for your 4th of July potluck this weekend, consider one of Ahn’s recipes. What better way to celebrate the melting pot that is America?
Bonus Content
- Influencers: Turns Out, They’re Not So Influential at the Ballot Box (via Vanity Fair)
- Inside A Secret Clipping Discord That’s Making Undisclosed Ads And Faking Kalshi Results (via Garbage Day)
- YouTube Stars Breach Hollywood’s Most Gilded Gate (via New York Times)
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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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