Three years after Epic Games launched the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), creator payouts associated with the product have reached ten-digit territory. At the Unreal Fest in Chicago, Epic Games Director of Fortnite Developer Relations Hannah Lowry revealed that UEFN creators have earned $1 billion since 2023.

Since launching UEFN, Epic Games has positioned the product as a viable alternative to Roblox and its empire of creator-built experiences. UEFN users can seamlessly upload their creations as Fortnite “Islands,” which are then inhabited by millions of players.

“For those of you who have been with us in UEFN, some since day one: thank you,” Lowry said. “Your feedback has really helped shape the tools, and your creativity has shifted how more than 75 million monthly active users experience Fortnite.”

By handing over 40% of Island revenue to developers, Epic Games built a strong base of Fortnite creators. Within a year of UEFN’s launch, payouts associated with it reached $320 million. Top earners from that program have deepened their ties to Fortnite by launching studios that develop custom Islands within the game. Typical Gamer, a popular member of the Fortnite YouTube community, has invested millions in Fortnite development through his studio JOGO.

As meteoric as UEFN’s rise has been, Roblox’s revenue has soared even higher. Payouts to creators who build Roblox experiences topped $1 billion in 2025 alone. Epic Games’ plan to close that gap involves in-game item sales, which have become a significant source of income for Island creators.

At Unreal Fest, Lowry shared a telling statistic: For about 3,000 Islands, in-game transactions generate more revenue than the preexisting UEFN payout model. “As of January, we’ve introduced more ways to monetize, opening up new genres and helping developers with smaller, engaged communities,” Lowry said.

It’s worth keeping in mind that a 1:1 comparison between Fortnite creator revenue and Roblox creator revenue is somewhat misleading. While the main Fortnite battle royale game still eats up a big chunk of the community’s play time, the vast majority of Roblox play time comes via creator experiences. Therefore, Epic Games’ archipelago of Islands is in a good place, even if layoffs are affecting Roblox’s parent company.

More details about the UEFN program can be found via the Fortnite Creator Program homepage.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

The British Film Institute is committing to the preservation of internet history, no matter how silly that history may be. Iconic viral clips like “Charlie Bit My Finger” and “Badgers” are part of a 430-video collection filled with culturally significant media.

The content of the archive is a mixed bag that spans more than three decades of web history. Entries include cooking video from Great British Bake Off contestant Chetna Makan, a video essay about queerbaiting from Rowan Ellis, a tabloid video making fun of former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, and my personal favorite inclusion, “I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This.”

The goal of the collection is to provide a layer of protection that isn’t offered by the internet’s biggest video hosting platforms. British Film Institute Curator Will Swinburne told The New York Times that companies like YouTube “make no promise to preserve and save the work” they distribute. The presence of an established archive ensures that notable videos will not be lost to history if the platforms hosting them shut down.

That threat is more palpable than it may seem. There was a chance, for example, that “Charlie Bit My Finger” would disappear from the public internet after the video was sold as an NFT in 2021. And an unknowable number of short-form treasures were lost when Twitter shut down Vine in early 2017.

“The videos have this almost scary ability to document so much of modern life,” Swinburne said. “If you imagine losing that, you would lose access to what life was like at this time and how people were expressing themselves.”

As those classics have endured more wear and tear, preservationists have sprang into motion. Another British institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum, recently acquired the video file for the first YouTube video — Jawed Karim’s “me at the zoo” — as part of an exhibit showcasing the history of design. VidCon’s Hall of Fame is another initiative that aims to enshrine individuals who played important roles in the development of creator culture.

While these efforts may not be intended as nostalgia trips, they also function that way. As more internet users find themselves caught in the thrall of endless, slop-filled social feeds, they are yearning for the era when discovery was not dictated by algorithms and platforms like Newgrounds captured the offbeat spirit of the internet. The BFI archive, which includes pre-YouTube favorites like “Badgers,” acknowledges how different websurfing used to be.

If you want to recall the carefree nature of Web 1.0, the BFI archive is a fun deep dive. It’s filled not just with iconic videos but also interviews with the people who made those clips so memorable. No matter what happens on YouTube over the next 35 years, these legends will live on.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Here in 2026, the global content creator economy is a $250 billion juggernaut that grows bigger each year, powered by millions of skilled creators who share their content across major platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

But a decade ago, things were different. “Creator” hadn’t quite been cemented as a profession, and the idea of a powerful, digital content-driven industry that not only influences but challenges legacy entertainment was still a strange one.

PJ Taei knew the day would come, though. That’s why, in 2014, he and Nikita Savrov founded Uscreen. The original plan was to offer a one-stop shop for video creators who wanted to host and stream their content online and sell DVDs of said content for viewers to watch on their home TVs (it really was a different time).

“We saw a need for helping creators have an all-in-one platform for streaming their videos,” Taei explains. “Most of the need was really people who were selling DVDs, physical DVDs, and we saw an opportunity to streamline that. Everything that existed [at the time] was pretty much ad hoc services: WordPress for your website, a separate billing provider such as PayPal. There were no really good subscription tools, and video streaming was all over the place. There was no app builder, nothing was straightforward. So the goal was to bring everything together.”

Knowing these services were what creators needed to put Uscreen very, very “early to the market,” Taei says. “The industry was not yet ready for what we had to offer.”

Most of the folks who would eventually become Uscreen’s future customers were just getting established on YouTube and beginning to experiment with things like merch and pay-per-view content. So Uscreen bade its time and continued to build out its stable of offerings.

Then COVID happened. TikTok dropped. And digital content production exploded.

The pandemic itself was obviously an unfortunate turn of events, but its impact on our industry was enormous. With lockdowns in place, more people than ever were watching digital content–and making it. Empathetic viewers, themselves cash-strapped by furloughs and layoffs, became keenly aware of how important it was to financially support art they wanted to see, and were willing to splash out on things like YouTube’s Channel Memberships and creators’ Patreons.

This was exactly the inflection point Uscreen had been preparing for.

COVID rapidly “accelerated the adoption of memberships and community,” Taei says. “In the last five years, the business began to snowball, because it was ready for what was required. We were looking so ahead […] and it really started to come to life.”

Through 2021 and 2022, Uscreen poured resources into further developing creator-fan connection and membership/paywall tools, as well as its app builder, which lets creators make their own branded content distribution and community engagement apps for mobile and TV platforms.

Now it’s reached a place where all creators have to do is bring their content, and Uscreen will do “everything else,” Taei says. It currently works with 4,000+ creators, many of them in fitness, educational, and entertainment niches.

But Uscreen isn’t done iterating. It just hit a major financial milestone: It’s helped creators bring in over $1 billion in revenue.

It also just launched memberships for Caleb Hammer‘s Hammer Elite, Theorist‘s TheoryVerse, and Keke Palmer‘s Practice by Palmer.

Why do these 4,000+ creators work with Uscreen? Both Taei and Allison Yazdian, Uscreen’s CEO, say it’s because Uscreen gives them more control over both their recurring revenue and their relationship with their audience.

Yazdian is the daughter of entrepreneurs, has a Stanford MBA, and started cultivating her skillset at Compass, a company that works with real estate agents. She then went on to spend two years as SVP of Creator for shopping platform LTK before joining Uscreen in June 2025. Uscreen’s business model taps into all the facets of her background.

“Content creators are entrepreneurs too,” she says. “At LTK, I ran various parts of their creator business, and creators have a very nuanced set of challenges, because they are very much building on rented land. They’re beholden to algorithms, they’re on these content treadmills. They’re very nervous about what the future holds and how to future-proof their businesses.”

She views Uscreen as the path to that future-proofing.

“[Creators] have to own the data, own the revenue, own the destination, and really figure out how to build sustainable revenue,” she says. “So when I started conversations with Uscreen, I was like, this is such an incredible solution for content creators who have built these amazing followings and communities on various social platforms, who have this incredible video catalog, for them to give their community more of what they want.”

Yazdian acknowledges that Uscreen’s offerings can compete with on-platform tools like the aforementioned YouTube Channel Memberships, but emphasizes that Uscreen doesn’t view YouTube, TikTok, or any other social platform as competitors.

“We love YouTube,” she says. “It’s our top of funnel. Platforms like YouTube let entrepreneurs build trust and community before they build a business. That’s what makes them so powerful. All you need is a phone and an internet connection and you can reach a global audience. I think there are a lot of people who have super niche content and, without these social platforms, would never be able to build sustainable businesses. These social platforms have a very important, critical place.”

But once creators have established their content, audience, and businesses, they need more support, she says. “Our mission and our vision is really about helping these entrepreneurs, these video businesses scale their impact and be able to drive connection.”

Taei and Yazdian each point to the creator-fan connection as the linchpin of not just Uscreen as a company, but of our entire industry.

“When you talk to our customers, they care so deeply about their community, and they want to build something really special for them,” Yazdian says. She pitches Uscreen’s creator hubs as blends of Netflix-quality UX for watching VOD and livestream content, plus a community discussion space that feels like “Facebook plus Discord.”

That space is “where the subscribers can actually start to connect with each other, and it feels more like a walled garden. It’s like-minded people who really want to be there. There’s no trolls, and people can be comfortable,” she explains. “We’ve seen these incredible situations happening where people are meeting up all over the country because they’re building these bonds.”

That’s Uscreen’s front end. The back end, where creators manage everything, is a “whole operating system,” Yazdian adds. “They can set up their content, but also their subscriptions, their packages, they can set up marketing campaigns…In the last year, we’ve built out a full people management, marketing, and automation CRM tool. Creators are collecting a lot of rich data around their viewership, and the CRM lets them trigger activations and segment their audience.”

Yazdian also points out that Uscreen differentiates itself by keeping close to creators. Instead of just handing them tools and saying good luck, “there’s a whole coaching and consulting layer,” she says. “We help them develop the strategies to be successful.”

Those strategies can include figuring out how to price subscriptions, designing a free entry point that catches potential subscribers’ attention, fleshing out Uscreen-specific content and marketing strategies, and figuring out how membership programs should add value for established communities without non-subscribed viewers feeling like something is being taken from them.

The end goal: helping creators build a “thriving, sustainable revenue business,” Yazdian says.

Want more details on exactly how Uscreen looks from a creator standpoint? In the coming weeks, we’ll be chatting with Caleb Hammer (whose membership program Hammer Elite is one of YouTube’s largest paid communities) about how he’s bringing his content to the platform, and using its tools to connect with his already thriving audience.

Stay tuned.

Uscreen is a Tubefilter partner.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

YouTube has taken some steps to reduce the volume of AI slop on its platform, but for AI skeptics, TikTok‘s For You Page leaves a lot to be desired. A new report from Kapwing found that new TikTok accounts receive a high volume of AI-generated recommendations. As Kapwing puts it: “TikTok has a slop problem.”

To conduct its study, Kapwing built a list of popular categories and manually analyzed tags within those categories. Any AI slop videos with those tags were noted. Then, Kapwing registered new TikTok accounts and recorded the number of slop videos served on the For You Page.

The results were troubling. 59% of the TikToks served to the new accounts were categorized as AI slop, and the frequency of those recommendations appeared to increase deeper into the For You Page. In certain categories, AI slop proved inescapable. For the tag #CartoonKids, a whopping 97% of videos were categorized as AI slop. For kids’ videos in general, 57% of the studied videos qualified as AI slop.

Given these findings, TikTok is due for admonition from the same child safety watchdogs who went after YouTube and its library of AI slop. Put simply, TikTok has same problematic relationship with AI that YouTube does. It’s hard to argue that you’re cracking down on slop when you also invest heavily in generative AI.

YouTube’s solution has involved crackdowns on slop channels and tools that let users limit their exposure to low-effort, AI-generated content. Kapwing noted that effort in a previous report, and its latest release claims that TikTok accounts get three times as many AI recs as YouTube accounts do.

TikTok, like YouTube, has tried to put power in users’ hands by giving them the option to see less AI content on the For You Page. Kapwing’s report reveals that one effort is probably not going to be enough to stem the slop tide. If TikTok really wants to solve the problem Kapwing describes, more active moderation will be necessary.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Twitch users can obtain badges to identify themselves in chat or celebrate certain games. Now, there’s a new type of badge available on Twitch: It tells advertisers which creators are “certified” for brand partnerships on the popular streaming platform.

The Creator Certification, as the new credential is known, is one of several new features unveiled at the 2026 TwitchCon Europe gathering in Rotterdam. TwitchCon attendees learned about new ways to stream and reach wider audiences, and the platform’s creator community got some monetization upgrades, too. Streamers who complete certification requirements will gain access to perks that are not available to other Partners and Affiliates.

The certification program takes the form of a new Creator Camp course that takes about 15 minutes to complete. The lessons cover some “Sponsorships 101” best practices before moving on to share some tips for “Creating Brand Suitable Content.” The course can be found within Twitch’s Sponsorship Portal.

Streamers who complete the course are rewarded with a profile badge that displays their certified status. On its own, the badge has some utility, since it helps brands identify creators who possess sponsorship know-how. There are, however, some tangible rewards for certified creators as well. They will get 12 hours of early access to Open Invite campaigns and training that will help them maximize long-term sponsorship opportunities.

The certification program’s arrival coincides with the launch of several exciting sponsorship opportunities on Twitch. A Minecraft Tiny Takeover broke new ground by opening sponsored campaigns to Affiliate-level partners. And in the world of esports, Riot Games is hosting summertime streaming events for games like 2XKO, Valorant, and League of Legends.

Creators who complete their certification courses will be best equipped to take advantage of those opportunities. But for everyone else, there are still plenty of revenue streams available on Twitch. New types of ad breaks, gifting updates, and live shopping experiments are all on the way, so the monetization faucet will keep flowing.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

The U.K. is the latest country attempting to keep kids and teens off of their social media accounts. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a bold piece of legislation that, when it goes into effect next year, will restrict youth access to most major social platforms.

Ten platforms — TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Threads, Twitch, Kick, and Reddit — are expected to be covered by the incoming ban. Children under 16 will be barred from those platforms, though the U.K. must still figure out the nuts and bolts of its legislation. Starmer indicated that regulations could pass as soon as Christmas, with enforcement set to start in 2027.

“It is clear to me a full ban is the right choice,” Starmer said. “This will make our children safer, will make our children happier, will give them more time, more security, more freedom to grow up.”

Australia set the tone for the rest of the world when it passed a law that banned under-18s on major platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Detractors included Amnesty International, which described the ban as an “ineffective quick fix.” Lawsuits soon followed, with both Reddit and individual teenagers launching legal challenges against the Australian government.

Despite widespread criticisms of the ban, other countries soon indicated that they planned to follow Australia’s lead. The U.K. is the latest nation to add its name to that list, and Starmer wants to up the ante. He said that the U.K. will go “further than any country in the world” to protect young citizens from the mental health harms they encounter online.

Even if Starmer wasn’t planning to make the U.K. ban even more severe than the Australian version, the measure was destined for unpopularity. A Livity report conducted in the U.K. found that 95% of local teens believe that watching videos helps them with their schoolwork. Now, they could lose access to that resource.

Representatives for companies like YouTube and Meta were quick to claim that the planned U.K. regulations would not make kids feel safer. YouTube’s rep said that “blanket bans push kids out of curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services.” Meta’s rep took a similar line by noting that “isolating teens from online communities and information” directs them toward “unregulated alternatives that lack built-in protections and parental controls.”

Encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal will be excluded from the U.K. ban, so teens will still have a few apps available for safe interactions. At the same time, the exclusion of Roblox from the ban could play into predators’ hands.

“It is not yet clear how they will treat gaming sites,” Internet Law Professor Lorna Woods, who teaches at Essex University, told the BBC. “Though if they follow the Australian approach, these will lie outside the Australian ban.”

The U.K. must also figure out how to stop kids from sidestepping enforcement by using VPNs to access restricted platforms. If these issues are not fully considered before next year, the U.K. could end up validating Big Tech’s fears about a ban that does more harm than good.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

During a recent call with investors, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch delivered some major news. Murdoch revealed that his company will acquire Roku in a deal that values the streaming company at $22 billion.

The cash-and-stock transaction will turn Fox into a streaming titan. In addition to Fox-branded apps like Fox Nation and Fox One, the media corporation also controls Tubi, a top app among cost-conscious consumers. Adding Roku to the Fox portfolio creates an empire that excels across multiple streaming formats. Whether your preferred acronym is SVOD, AVOD, or FAST, Fox has you covered.

Unpacking those acronyms is key to understanding the differences between Tubi and Roku, which — according to Murdoch — Fox plans to keep separate. Tubi describes itself as an ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) hub, which is distinct from the cable-style model known as free, ad-supported television (FAST). The Roku Channel utilizes an AVOD model, but Roku has also become a discovery engine for FAST channels as well.

When you add in the limited overlap between the Tubi and Roku user bases, their continued separation makes plenty of strategic sense. “If you look at Tubi and the Roku channel together, they are incredibly complementary services,” Murdoch said during the investor call. “There’s about a third overlap between the audience, between the two of them, so that they’re not identical audiences. Bringing the two of them together, you know, effectively, triples the reach of the combined service.”

While the differences between AVOD and FAST can sometimes be quite subtle, both models differ significantly from subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), the prevailing model for services like Netflix and HBO Max. While SVOD platforms often struggle under the weight of bloated, big-budget originals (which sometimes have disappointing endings), the economics of AVOD platforms encourage companies like Fox to place smaller, safer bets.

That’s why, when Fox brought a slate of creator-led programs to Tubi, it cast a wide net by working with a diverse array of partners. The continuation of the Tubi for Creators program shows that Fox’s dealmaking has unlocked palpable opportunities for social media standouts.

Other Tubi experiments have included social shopping programs and lower-cost Super Bowl ads. By acquiring Roku, Fox can bring new dimensions to its streaming strategy. If Murdoch wants, he can work some FAST initiatives into the gameplan, too.

One thing’s for sure: Whether through Tubi or Roku or both, Fox has big plans for its streaming future. In past editions of its quarterly earnings calls, Fox has highlighted Tubi’s profitability and stated its intention to bring more programming to that app. Something tells me that The Roku Channel is due for a wave of fresh originals, too.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

As if the 2026 FIFA World Cup needed more hype, TikTok is adding some limited-edition collectibles to the mix. In partnership with 65-year-old trading card company Panini, TikTok is issuing a set of World Cup trading cards that will feature the nations, players, and legends who define the culture of international soccer.

According to a Newsroom post, the trading cards will live within the “Fan Experience Hub” that serves as the epicenter of TikTok’s World Cup coverage. In total, the set includes three cards for each of the 48 World Cup participants, for a total of 144 cards. Each nation will have a “Country Emblem,” a card that represents a current “Star Player,” and an “Icon Card” that depicts a legendary football from that nation’s history.

So how do TikTok users get these cards? The short answer is “in-app activity.” By following certain accounts or commenting on posts, users will unlock cards. Duplicates can be traded to other accounts. To quote TikTok: “The more cards fans collect, the more rewards they will unlock.”

“Panini has shaped soccer collecting culture for generations, and this partnership brings that tradition to a social platform for the first time,” said TikTok Global Head of Sport Rollo Goldstaub in a statement. “Together, we’re giving fans something they already love, collecting and supporting their teams, and making it feel native to TikTok by creating moments that deepen connection and drive fandom.”

TikTok is currently hosting a vast array of World Cup-themed activations. A squad of Creator Correspondents is covering the tournament on TikTok’s behalf, offering videos that link soccer to national identity and worldwide culture.

So why add digital trading cards to the equation? Whatnot‘s sales figures from 2025 provide a partial answer. The live-streaming auction platform generated $8 billion of gross merchandise value from live sales last year, and trading cards were its biggest category. As TikTok looks to add to a live shopping economy that already thousands of jobs, it is debuting collectibles that should be in high demand (especially the cards that have Messi and Ronaldo’s faces on them).

The concept of digital collectibles that have intrinsic value may remind you of a certain blockchain fad from a few years ago, but TikTok stressed to Social Media Today that its World Cup cards are not NFTs. Instead, this partnership brings a legacy trading card company into the social media age while adding fuel to the World Cup fire that burning across North America this June and July.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Between its massive music video archive and its extensive festival coverage, YouTube is a go-to platform for popheads. A new series of live events will add even more material to the YouTube Music library. So-called YouTube Music Nights will feature a mix of established and rising acts as they perform at notable concert venues around the world.

A blog post describes YouTube Music Nights as “a series of exclusive live concerts designed for dedicated fans.” By linking up with artists for tour stops, release parties, and one-off shows, YouTube is highlighting exciting venues and providing free coverage of in-demand acts.

A set of three performances shows off the scope and diversity of the Music Nights initiative. The blog post refers to concerts that take place in “unique destinations with a special meaning to artists.” For example, New Jersey-bred band Bleachers performed at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park, while country star Kacey Musgraves celebrated the release of her album Middle of Nowhere in New Braunfels, Texas.

The concert that rounds out the current trio of Music Nights is a bit different. Jazz musician Isaiah Rashad doesn’t have as large a following as Musgraves or Bleachers do, but he nevertheless got his own Music Night in L.A.

YouTube notes that Rashad’s lifetime viewership on its platform totals 234 million views. That stat helps explain why YouTube is putting on its Music Night events, even though it already offers a comprehensive slate of music programming. Some of its rivals, especially TikTok and Spotify, have touted their value as promotional tools for rising artists.

For TikTok, efforts to support A-list and up-and-coming artists are part of the In The Mix brand, which has evolved from a concert series into a podcast co-hosted by artists. Spotify, meanwhile, has sought its own festival coverage as it highlights deals with pop royalty like Le Sserafim.

Amid a creator marketing meta centered around tentpole events, YouTube is incentivized to keep pace with its competitors by underscoring its own recording industry cred. Music Nights are the vehicle for that effort, and they won’t just offer access to popular acts. They’ll also remind viewers that YouTube holds a powerful position with regard to music distribution and marketing.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Between Iron Lung, Backrooms, and The Amazing Digital Circus, we’ve spent a lot of time lately talking about how our $250+ billion creator industry is becoming increasingly intertwined with legacy entertainment.

But there’s another sector seeing an influx of creator power: politics.

When MatPat stepped down from hosting Theorist content after 13 years in front of the camera, his next major project was becoming an official lobbyist for content creators. In 2025, after a year of personal lobbying, he and wife Stephanie Patrick joined the Congressional Creators Caucus, a bipartisan effort to educate perhaps-slightly-less-than-tech-savvy politicians about the world of digital content, creators’ power, and their resulting need to be considered for things like tax laws and internet regulations.

Some politicians, however, already know how the internet works, and how important creators are.

VidCon is bringing one of them in for its 2026 programming.

Pete Buttigieg, former South Bend, Indiana mayor and Secretary of Transportation under the Biden Administration, will join yoga YouTuber/founder of Yoga with Adriene Adriene Mishler for a fireside chat exploring “the growing overlap between the political world and the creator economy and how creators and public leaders can foster meaningful connections and inspire action, both online and offline,” VidCon tells Tubefilter.

Buttigieg is known for his no-B.S., direct-to-constituents use of social media messaging, and has dipped into our space with appearances on podcasts like Flagrant and Barstool Sports‘ Pardon My Take. Most recently, he sat down for an hour-and-a-half-long chat with Doctor Mike, YouTube’s resident mythbusting physician.

As for VidCon, the long-running creator con has welcomed a couple political guests to previous events: In 2025, it brought U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna to Anaheim for a fireside chat with TikToker and activist Tiffany Cianci; and in 2023, it brought Christian Tom, former Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Digital Strategy, to VidCon Baltimore.

For its 2026 Anaheim convention, VidCon was “looking to incorporate some relevant political voices in our programming,” it says. Organizers selected Buttigieg because he “brings a rare combination of policy depth and digital fluency to the VidCon stage.”

Buttigieg and Mishler (who has nearly 14 million subscribers on YouTube) will discuss a range of topics including AI regulation, platform accountability, small business policy, and “what’s actually at stake in Washington for the people building online.”

As a yoga expert and transportation director, respectively, it might seem like the only thing Mishler and Buttigieg have in common is motion. But VidCon paired them deliberately because Mishler “has spent her career building one of the most inclusive and connected communities in the digital world, making her the perfect partner to join Secretary Buttigieg in a discussion about trust, belonging, burnout, and how leaders and creators alike can inspire meaningful action.”

Buttigieg tells Tubefilter that he decided to join VidCon because “[m]y approach to politics has always been guided by the belief that you can’t blame someone for not agreeing with you if you haven’t gone to the trouble of reaching them in the first place. That means being ready to step into spaces that are off the standard political circuit.”

He draws comparisons between him going to VidCon and Nixon and Kennedy debating on television, Bill Clinton making an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, and Barack Obama’s spot on Between Two Ferns.

“Reaching people where they actually are–where they go to get their information, their entertainment, and increasingly their sense of community and belonging–matters more now than ever,” he says. “It’s especially true at a moment like this where creators have become trusted voices for so many people.”

Mishler adds that Buttigieg “brings a unique perspective on leadership, service, and communication, and I’m looking forward to a thoughtful conversation about what helps us stay connected to ourselves and each other–and how those connections can help bridge divides as we aim to move forward together.”

Buttigieg and Mishler’s talk will be part of VidCon’s Industry Track, alongside programming from nearly 140 other speakers and panelists. You can see a complete list here. VidCon 2026 runs June 25-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center in SoCal.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

2026 marked the third year of NAB Show‘s Creator Lab, its dedicated space and programming track for digital content creators.

And this was Creator Lab’s most attended year yet: 1,025 creators took part, a 138% jump from the Lab’s 2025 attendance.

Robin Raskin, founder of Virtual Events Group (which collaborated with NAB Show to develop the Creator Lab), says that jump is a sign that “overall, NAB Show’s positioning with storytelling works and is attracting the right audience.”

Storytelling is always a focus for the National Association of Broadcasters, but this year, organizers put a special focus on making Creator Lab and NAB Show as a whole a place where two distinct sectors of storytellers–creators and legacy entertainment entities–could meet and mingle.

Prior to the event, which ran April 18-22 in Las Vegas and attracted over 58,000 registered attendees total, Karen Chupka (the National Association of Broadcasters’ EVP of Global Connections and Events) told us that the “unique thing about NAB Show is whether you’re telling stories on TikTok, TV, or the big screen, the show is for you.”

Judging by Creator Lab’s attendance, it’s clear creators got the message. Folks who attended the Lab this year (sponsored by Adobe and BlackMagic Design) had access to three full days of programming, including sessions featuring experts like:

• longtime creators MatPat, Dylan Huey, AtomicMari, and Tayllor Lloyd
• Rene Ritchie, YouTube’s Head of Editorial & Creator Liaison
• Jesser/Bucketsquad’s Director of Strategy and Operations Ben Harris
• CrunchLabs’ Creative Director Pojo Riegert
• Toni Gray, Head of Production at Dhar Mann Studios
• Opus Clip’s Product Marketing Manager Sachin Kumar
• and Eric Iverson, Partner & Chief Technology Officer at United Talent Agency

Attendees also saw nearly a dozen exhibitors and could join intimate workshops in Adobe’s sponsored classroom.

Raskin says that particular space, new for this year’s show, was a “huge success, crowded all the time.” It allowed for more hands-on development sessions where creators could get real-time, more personalized advice for sharpening their craft, while the Lab’s main stage offered broader thought leadership and discussion, she adds.

And though the Creator Lab may have concluded, another new addition will keep creators tied into the NAB ecosystem year round.

A few weeks before the 2026 event, NAB Show unveiled its Content Creator VIP Program. The program’s tentpole perk is a free, two-year pass to NAB Show, but joining creators also get business benefits like:

• up to four other virtual networking/educational events per year
• media liability insurance
• rental car discounts
• UPS shipping discounts
• and (soon) discounts on hotels, movie tickets, and theme park visits

So far, around 60 creators have joined the program. NAB will benefit from it too–namely, it’ll meet with these VIP creators throughout the year and “listen to their concerns and try to meet them where they are,” Raskin says. Their input will help shape future Creator Lab programming.

As for what else lies in Creator Lab’s future, Raskin says the space will be even larger in 2027, and that creators’ footprint at broadcasting’s largest event of the year will “continue to grow.”

NAB Show is a Tubefilter partner.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

This week, a creator finds a fitting way to promote his candy company, a Pinterest vet heads to the world of public radio, and the most-subscribed YouTube creator adds to his total.

Creator commotion

Ryan Trahan is looking for the state with the biggest sweet tooth. Trahan loves a coast-to-coast challenge, so he gave a boost to his candy company Joyride by visiting all 50 states in search of confection-crazed fans. The stunt will conclude with Joyride Day, a live-streamed celebration that will include Guinness World Record attempts and a whole lot of sour candy.

Julian Shapiro-Barnum is going Outside Tonight to bring late-night TV to YouTube. Through shows like Recess Therapy and Celebrity Substitute, Shapiro-Barnum has proven that he’s an expert when it comes to kid interviews. Now, with his take on the late-night format, he will show that he has some adult interview skills, too.

Ben Azelart gave it the ol’ college try on American Ninja Warrior. In his YouTube Shorts videos, Azelart sometimes draws on his extreme sports background to help him through challenges. That experience was helpful for him when he took on the Ninja Warrior gauntlet, but after conquering a few obstacles, he sank faster than a video that has been deranked in the algorithm.

Movers and shakers

YouTube vet Nadine Zylstra goes from Pinterest to NPR. After serving as YouTube’s Global Head of Originals, Zylstra occupied a similar role at Pinterest. Her next move will put her in charge of a team of 600 journalists and storytellers. As NPR’s Chief Content Officer, Zylstra will cook up content initiatives that are capable of thrilling well-to-do liberal boomers wherever they listen.

Snap’s Wearables whisperer comes to Meta. While at Snap, Jim Shepherd negotiated relationships with celebrities and other high-profile partners. He’ll occupy a similar role at Meta, with a specific eye toward wearable products. If you start seeing more cool and fashionable people clad in Meta Ray-Bans or other similar products, you can credit Shepherd with that development.

The biz

At 500 million subscribers, MrBeast isn’t slowing down. Jimmy Donaldson’s main YouTube channel is the first YouTube hub to reach a half-billion fans. If you thought such a major milestone would slow Donaldson down, then you don’t know MrBeast. His latest venture is a board game published alongside Moose Games, which also worked with Donaldson on his toy line.

Just Ameerah is sliming up the toy aisle with a new product line. Speaking of creators who are finding their way to retail shelves, Just Ameerah has teamed up with WeCool Toys. The partnership will beget the Compound Kings range, which will bring Ameerah’s slime-making adventures to the masses. On YouTube, her primary channel reaches more than 5.5 million subscribers.

Kareem Rahma brings interviewees into The Pit Stop for a Toyota-branded series. Fresh off YouTube hits like Subway Takes and Keep The Meter Running, Rahma is now bringing his conversational skills to the world of branded content. His Toyota team-up takes interviews with race car drivers like Bubba Wallace and filters them through the cringe comedy lens pioneered by the likes of Eric Andre and Zach Galifianakis.

Agency dealings

GameSquare signs SypherPK to Click Management. Through acqusitions of companies like FaZe Clan, GameSquare has become a sprawling gaming and entertainment network that caters to esports fans. In that niche, GameSquare’s Click Management firm has added a powerful new client: For years, SypherPK has been one of the top ambassadors for the Fortnite community.

Underscore Talent goes full speed ahead with 20 new hires. Across categories like comedy, sports, and fashion, Underscore is deepening its Partner roster while also breaking into new territory. For example, an “experts” category will align Underscore with influencers who possess specialized knowledge in particular areas.

Pop culture minute

Obsession star Inde Navarrete has a fun Twitch archive. The horror hit has made creator-turned-director Curry Barker into a hot commodity, but he’s not the only one benefiting from the film’s success. Lead actress Inde Navarrete streamed on Twitch for years before breaking out in Obsession. Now that she’s a household name, her old The Last of Us playthroughs are getting thousands of fresh views.

KevOnStage doubles down on Tubi with multi-year deal. Kevin Fredricks was one of the people Tubi turned to when the Fox-owned service wanted to increase its library of creator content. The man known as KevOnStage liked working with Tubi so much that he’s now committing to multiple new projects that will be released on the platform. That allotment includes two upcoming feature films set to drop in 2027 and 2028.

Lyrical Lemonade and Whalar Group’s Lighthouse have new shows on deck. For years, Lyrical Lemonade’s social channels have been dependable channels for music fans. To up the ante, the company’s programming arm is now working with Whalar Group. Six new original shows are on the Lyrical Lemonade docket, and viewers can expect to explore categories like comedy, music, interviews, and internet culture.

The internet is a strange place

Airrack is auctioning off a bunch of stuff he stole from other creators. Airrack challenged himself to steal from top creators like Jake Paul, FaZe Rug, and Salish Matter, and it turns out that he’s pretty good at theft. After completing his string of five-finger discounts, he is now auctioning off the contraband at a ten-lot sale. If you want to bid, watch out: The YouTubers Airrack stole from definitely have enough money in the bank to outbid you (on their own stuff).

The Japanese Coast Guard is using VTubers as a recruiting tactic. The line between fan service and military service has never been blurrier.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.