The Creator Rep
Agents, managers, and business-savvy creators! This newsletter will give you the top news, strategies, and interviews relevant to creator representatives from Phil Ranta, who has been a 'creator manager manager' for over a decade!
Featured Posts
How to Help Los Angeles
A lot is going on in the digital industry, but, to be honest, as a proud resident of Los Angeles who just saw a large portion of my city burn, it just doesn't seem like the right week. I'll talk about the TikTok ban in next week's edition (which is also a day after the ban will go into effect).
60 Best New(ish) Creator Economy Platforms
Creator economy start ups are springing up left and right these days, and, as any creator or rep can tell you, there's no way to properly vet every single one. So I went ahead and did it for you! From updates on the obvious to new entrants, here's the top 100 on my mind, not including any that don't have products you can sign up to right now (for example, we all know services companies are cool but not exactly something you can hop on and use right now). Please also note: I'm sure I'll miss plenty so if you work at a platform I missed, I mean no offense!
Archive
60 Best New(ish) Creator Economy Platforms
Creator economy start ups are springing up left and right these days, and, as any creator or rep can tell you, there's no way to properly vet every single one. So I went ahead and did it for you! From updates on the obvious to new entrants, here's the top 100 on my mind, not including any that don't have products you can sign up to right now (for example, we all know services companies are cool but not exactly something you can hop on and use right now). Please also note: I'm sure I'll miss plenty so if you work at a platform I missed, I mean no offense!
India's $1 Billion Creator Fund 🇮🇳🤑
Unless you're a colossal internet wonk, most Americans don't know how dominant Indian content is on social networks. Of the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels, according to Tubefilter, twenty-three are from India with the United States in second place with eight. And India is cementing that dominance with a $1 billion government creator fund.
The Business of Stories-Telling 💰
Facebook announced a makeover to their confusing past creator monetization product to include all feed-based media types, not just videos. It's still in beta, but they have now announced Stories will also be monetized as part of the program. Game changer for creators or just another short-term swing to bring Gen Z back?
TikTok Won't Slow Down 🏃🏽
Announcements are dropping from TikTok US fast and furious, from massive financial projections to new features leagues ahead of their competitors. And now with President Trump signaling that he will yet again "extend the shutdown deadline" we all have to ask: was this ever a national security threat or do we just not care anymore?
CoComelon Knocks Out Paul v Tyson 🥊
The Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight on Netflix was, without a doubt, the highest profile creator event of 2024 with 148 million total views. But Netflix just shared a bi-annual viewership report that showed something all of us with kids under five already know: CoComelon is the true SVOD heavyweight with 231.1 million views in 2024.
China May Pull TikTok's Plug 🔌
With all of the talk about TikTok's extension around U.S. political support, whether it can pass the judiciary, and what eccentric billionaire will buy it, we haven't spent enough time asking whether ByteDance, or the Chinese Communist Party, even wants a sale? It sounds like that's not a foregone conclusion.
10 Platforms Battling TikTok ⏰
TikTok isn't saved. It has yet another ticking clock, with 67 days left to divest or be shut down in the US entirely. It's already delisted from the Google Play and Apple's App Stores, given the murky legality of Trump's word he won't go after them. And competitors are counting on it. Here are 10 that may benefit.
TikTok Unbanned 🤷🏻
We spent months preparing creators for the TikTok ban only to have the app return 12 hours later. Yay? Maybe? Let's talk about why I think this could be a nightmare scenario, and why the success of Red Book signals that banning TikTok in the first place was a terrible, terrible idea.
How to Help Los Angeles
A lot is going on in the digital industry, but, to be honest, as a proud resident of Los Angeles who just saw a large portion of my city burn, it just doesn't seem like the right week. I'll talk about the TikTok ban in next week's edition (which is also a day after the ban will go into effect).
Tick... Tock... Tick... 🕐
In 13 days, TikTok may be banned in the US. But lifelines exist! The Supreme Court will hear their case on January 10. There is still a possibility that a story could be told that it was sufficiently 'sold.' And others believe the new presidential administration in the White House as of January 20 could work some magic. So, where does this leave creators?