Articles
The creator economy magazineAnalyses of the European creator economy from primary sources. Pick a topic and read.
Amazon trains AI on Twitch streams unless creators opt out
Twitch added a switch for Amazon's generative AI training and left it switched on by default. Creators who disagree have to find the switch themselves.
Brands don't understand Gen Z, and Gen Z wants them to build community
Fewer than a third of Gen Z think brands understand them. The strongest sense of community is built offline, where no brand is present. The Gen Z Pulse study also points to a way forward: half of young people want to build community with brands.
Steven Bartlett is hiring 100 people and has poached a product chief from Amazon
The podcaster is building its product and data teams the way a tech company does, and has hired the head of technology from Amazon. Steven.com shows how a creator becomes a company competing for the same people as big tech.
Brands are paying creators more and asking for expertise
An expert on Korea has more than 2,000 paying subscribers on Prague-based Herohero. Brands pay creators more than before, and a growing share goes to smaller, more expert accounts. Value is shifting from reach to trust.
AI will advise you, but creators are the ones who persuade you to buy
A Croud survey of 2,000 Britons found 56% would let AI buy for them, and 74% of AI users search with it before choosing a brand. People verify recommendations on YouTube (41%) and Instagram or TikTok (35%). Automated AI checkout is so far US only.
Creator investment falls as a single AI music company takes most of it
Creator economy companies raised about $497 million in the first seven months of 2026. More than four-fifths went to one round for AI music firm Suno, leaving about $97 million for the rest. Investors write small cheques, and big money concentrates.
YouTube doubles the entry thresholds for new creators
A small Czech channel that reached YouTube ad revenue after 4,000 watch hours in a year must now collect double. From 1 February 2027 the threshold for new applicants doubles. Existing creators are not affected, but the road to first payouts gets noticeably longer.
Mateřídouška and Ábíčko have the parental trust that streaming turns into children's hits
Mateřídouška has been published since 1945 and Ábíčko since 1957. Both have what streaming turns into hits: a recognisable name and parents' trust. What they lack is the step Ms. Rachel took, turning that trust into a show viewers come back to.
Spotify tests a way to skip ads in podcasts
Spotify is giving some Premium users a button that skips a whole ad break in a podcast with one tap. People manually skip less than a tenth of breaks today. Host-read and inserted ads, which networks and independent shows rely on, are affected, and it is still only a test.
Labels license music for AI, while stars such as Madonna refuse
Warner, Universal and Spotify have signed AI music deals in the past year, but Madonna and SZA refuse to consent to training. Spotify's remix tool is a paid add-on built entirely on opt-in, and without the stars’ consent it has nothing to build on.
Creator agencies are turning into studios as brands fund their shows
Agencies that represent creators are turning into production studios, and brands fund their shows as regular programming. One branded series grew to a million views per episode. As AI makes production cheaper, authorship stays expensive.
UK animation is squeezed by BBC cuts and a YouTube ban for children
The UK is cutting about £500 million from the BBC and banning under-16s from social media, including the main YouTube app, from spring 2027. YouTube Kids is exempt. Both measures hit children’s animation.