I’ve never been a fan of ‘Drama Alert'-style content, but this one is wild. Rosanna Pansino transformed from a delightful food creator to a MrBeast truther, and she claims to have the receipts.

Also in this edition:

• 90% of brands are expanding creator budgets in 2025

• The NBA Gets an Assist From Creators

• Get Ready for Black Friday with Affiliates!

• Job ops from

• …and a dank creator economy meme by yours truly!

Let’s get into it.

NEWS:

Rosie the Riveting

Rosanna Pansino has been doing YouTube since 2011. Heck, I remember talking about her when Fullscreen was just a few people sitting around picnic tables in a small, smelly office. But I never expected her to get in the drama game.

Over the past three months she’s dedicated about a quarter of her content to exposing MrBeast, from treatment of contestants in his Amazon show, showing leaked documents from former employees, and now opening a Lunchly pack that appears to have mold.

She’s still doing Nerdy Nummies in between, but is this too much of a deviation from her core brand?

My hot take: No. This is the kind of ‘thought leadership’ people who have spent a decade in an industry should be doing.

I agree that based on her history with MrBeast, finding mold in a Lunchly pack feels a little too convenient. I really, really hope she didn’t fake that.

But she’s now been around long enough to be an aspirational creator.

New talent shouts her out all of the time.

And as a ‘role model,’ if she sees something she perceives as abuse in her industry, she should talk about it.

Plus getting her views back up to a million per day isn’t so bad either.

Brands Create More Creator Budgets

93% of brands are increasing creator budgets in 2025, and 41% of brands surveyed dedicate more than half of their marketing spend to creators.

Not too bad for a marketing industry projected to hit $25b this year!

So should we all start taking baths in Dom Perignon and crashing McLarens?

My hot take: Be careful. Look at how they are spending.

Creator spend is not just influencer marketing (pay up front for a branded piece of content).

And brands are getting smarter about how they spend.

I’ve seen a huge increase in scaled UGC campaigns, affiliate spend, bringing creators into more traditional advertising, and content boosting.

In other words, your TikTokker with 50m followers may not get more deals in 2025 unless they can prove their impact.

Is The NBA x Kai Cenat Deal a Slam Dunk?

This season of the NBA will be all-in on creators.

Not only will Kai Cenat be joining the TNT broadcasting crew for the Knicks/Celtics game, but the NBA also unveiled an entire calendar of creator initiatives throughout the season.

And creators will actually take to the court, with The Creator Cup joining All-Star Weekend with their own basketball game.

My hot take: Every single media brand should be paying attention.

You have to take care of your core fanbase. The basketball games themselves should handle that.

But creators collaborations are exceptionally effective at bringing new fans into the fold.

There are a lot of Kai Cenat fans who are unlikely to be watching cable television.

Most will watch basketball games as clips on TikTok.

But if Kai is announcing, they may tune in.

Then, if the product is good enough, they may be able to convert some Gen Z fans.

The WWE has always been masterful at this, culminating with their smart decision to cast Logan Paul.

Your move, MLB!

FAME & FORTUNE:

Is it too early to talk about Black Friday? Heck no! It’s only a month away! And leading into the holidays, where US online spend topped $220b last year, every creator should have an affiliate strategy.

TikTok Shop is pushing hard to capture holiday spend. They’re pitching their studios in LA, NYC, and Seattle hard, as well as their ‘Showcase’ areas. So if you haven’t already, hit that ‘Go Live’ button and see what it’s all about! Need any help? Let me know!

I’ve been a MagicLinks* user for a decade, and I’ve found it to be the easiest way to type in a product name or enter a product link, then get an affiliate link in return. Super useful if you mention a lot of products but you don’t want to sign up for 100 affiliate programs.

Don’t sleep on MLMs (multi-level marketing)! Their bad reputation generally comes from high upfront spend, but the digital world doesn’t require as much upfront spend. It’s just social commerce + referral percentages. My favorite in the space is DoubleJack* for iGaming due to exceptionally high commissions but in the retail space, classics like Amway and Mary Kay now have more of a digital skew.

I know Temu* doesn’t have a great reputation in the US, but they are driving billions in spend and I can’t imagine that will change during the holidays. And their affiliate program is gamified like crazy, just like their app. They also have a fantastic influencer program where you can get a ton of free stuff.

*Note: this is an affiliate link where I earn commission for actions.

INDUSTRY HIRING:

Chanced wants a Vice President of Marketing - iGaming/Social Casino. And here’s a tip: always bet on black.

Pave Studios is seeking a Podcast Marketing Manager, just use code ‘CREATOR’ to get your resume to the top of the pile.

Playboy Enterprises needs a Senior Director, Digital Growth and Acquisition and yes, everything in that job title can be a double entendre.

MEME ZONE:

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this edition, give it a share and if you get someone to sign up, I’ll send you my ‘10 Rep-Friendly Ways to Monetize Today!’ deck!

Until next time, protect yo rep.