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Good morning. If you ever feel like doomscrolling has shrunk your vocabulary, Merriam Webster is on your side. |
The dictionary site just added 1,400 new words to its database, including “lookmaxxing” and “rickroll.” |
Click here to see the full list of words added. |
— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen |
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Today’s lineup: |
YouTube rolls out 30+ new creator features Why some political creators might owe $5K soon Assistants vs. Agents is giving you an assistant
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YouTube Gives Creators More Ways to Test and Earn |
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YouTube shares platform updates and new features at Made On YouTube / YouTube |
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This morning, YouTube is hosting its annual fall event, Made On YouTube, where it’s unveiling new creator tools and platform priorities for the next year. |
Ahead of the event, YouTube gave us an inside look at some of the new features. Here are the ones creators should know about → |
For testing and analytics: |
Starting next year, creators will be able to A/B test parts of their videos, uploading up to three cuts of a long-form video to test different hooks, pacing, or storylines. Later this year, YouTube is rolling out dynamic thumbnails, which will let creators upload up to three different thumbnails for specific viewer segments on new videos or videos from their back catalog.
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For Shorts: |
Shorts Series lets creators structure short-form videos into episodes with custom thumbnails and sequential playback. The feature is available globally now, and could make YouTube a bigger home for microdramas, which surpassed 6.5B views on the platform in the first half of this year.
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For shopping, brand deals, and livestreams: |
Starting today, YouTube will automatically localize tagged products in videos for international viewers. Creators will earn commission on resulting sales. Brands can now offer creators exclusive commission rates through Affiliate Campaigns, and YouTube’s AI agent Ask Studio will soon help creators respond to brand briefs and build pitches. The platform is testing an auto-dubbing feature across livestreams, with plans to roll out to English- and Spanish-language streams by the end of next year.
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Zoom out: YouTube is making it easier for creators to reach international markets, while building more revenue streams beyond AdSense. According to the platform, more than 40% of livestream watch time comes from international audiences, and shopping sales have grown 13X in two years. Tools like livestream dubbing and localized shopping could help creators turn that global reach into a bigger business, while new testing features give them more ways to optimize what works. |
FYI: Colin and Samir are at Made On YouTube and will host a show afterward. We’ll be following along and return Friday with any other news out of the event. |
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California Creators Face Fines for Undisclosed Political Ads |
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California joins Texas as states to fine creators for undisclosed political ads / Illustration by Moy Zhong |
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California creators who don’t disclose paid political content on social media will now be fined up to $5K under legislation Governor Gavin Newsom signed over the weekend. |
Why it matters: There are currently no federal laws requiring creators to disclose paid political endorsements on social media, so viewers often can’t tell whether a post was funded by a campaign. That ambiguity matters more as creators play a growing role in local and national elections heading into the midterms. |
California joins Texas as the only states implementing political disclosure rules, but other states like New York have considered similar legislation. |
One possible reason for the new legislation? An influx of paid UGC creators posting fake testimonials to promote political organizations. |
“Young people don't know if they should trust anything they see online and these types of campaigns make that dynamic worse,” news creator Rachel Janfaza said on X. |
By implementing and enforcing disclosure requirements on political content, California is taking the first step toward more widespread clarity in the election cycle. |
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Sponsored by The Lighthouse |
The Lighthouse + Whalar Group Look Back and Ahead |
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The Lighthouse Venice welcomes Whalar Group Co-founders & Co-CEOS Neil Waller and James Street for its next (IN) Focus on September 29, looking back on ten years of building Whalar Group and what those lessons can tell us about what comes next. |
(IN) Focus is The Lighthouse’s flagship conversation series, bringing creators into closer contact with the founders, creators, and cultural leaders shaping the future of media, culture, technology, and creativity. |
Ten years ago, Whalar Group bet on creators before the Creator Economy became the force it is today. A decade later, Neil and James will reflect on what they got right, what they would do differently, and what they’ve learned from building a company designed to evolve alongside an industry that rarely stands still. |
At the center of the conversation is a question that feels increasingly relevant for anyone building a creative career: How do you keep learning quickly enough to build for what’s next? |
As technology, platforms, business models, and creative careers continue to evolve, learning has to become part of how we work. That idea is also shaping what’s ahead at The Lighthouse this fall, with programming designed to bring creators closer to new skills, perspectives, industries, and one another. |
As a special invitation for Publish Press readers, RSVP for the September 29 conversation using Access Code: LHVENICE26, and spend the day at The Lighthouse Venice. Come work from campus, explore the space, and experience The Campus for Creators firsthand before (IN) Focus that evening. |
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Assistants vs. Agents Launches Admin Platform |
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Warner Bailey (left) launches AI workplace platform loyd (right) / Warner Bailey, loyd |
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Yesterday, Assistants vs. Agents founder Warner Bailey launched loyd—an AI workplace platform designed to help creators and Hollywood assistants with admin tasks. |
“I struggled in the last decade building my own company because I didn't have a platform that was built for how the creator economy flows, which is very similar to how traditional Hollywood and entertainment operates,” Bailey told us. |
Behind the platform: |
Bailey co-founded loyd with CTO Ryan McCaffery and CEO Vince Morales, both of whom have worked across tech, Hollywood, and venture capital. Bailey said the company is backed by investors from venture capital, tech, and entertainment, but declined to disclose names or how much it has raised. Loyd prioritizes three areas: deal tracking, relationship management, and scheduling. He compared the new platform to Harvey and Rogo, AI platforms used by the legal and finance industries respectively.
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Zoom out: Over the past year, several creators have launched their own platforms to make up for missing pieces in the creator economy—like Steven Bartlett’s podcast analytics platform Flightcast and Zander Small’s deepfake removal company Fanlock. Rather than just optimizing for existing platforms, creators are increasingly building the tech to solve problems they’ve experienced themselves. |
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🔥 Press Worthy |
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PS —If you clicked the link in our top blurb, congratulations, now you know exactly what “rickroll” means. Here’s the actual list. |
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