Amazon’s soured MrBeast deal, Apple vs Patreon, industry winners and losers

Hi there! This is Amanda Perelli, and welcome to our weekly creator-economy newsletter, Business Insider Creators.

Here’s what to expect in this week’s edition:?

• How Amazon's massive TV deal with MrBeast turned sour

• Apple is making enemies among creators with Patreon tax

• The winners and losers of the creator economy's next phase

• And more, including Eventbrite is laying off 11% of its staff and read the pitch deck a comic-book startup used to raise $5 million.

How Amazon's massive TV deal with YouTube's top star turned sour

MrBeast’s Amazon show "Beast Games" has started to turn into a massive headache for the tech giant.?

The game show, which was announced in March, has recently been engulfed in controversy over accusations made about its filming process. The show was meant to boost Amazon's video ad sales with a $5 million prize.?

My colleague Lucia Moses spoke with Amazon insiders who said the show was risky from the start, with Amazon agreeing to give MrBeast creative control and approval over ad sponsors.

Read more here.

Apple is making enemies among creators by hitting Patreon with a 30% tax — but there's a loophole

Apple is coming after Patreon. It’s the latest creator economy app to be hit by Apple’s fees.

Apple is forcing the paywall platform to pay a 30% fee on all in-app purchases starting in November.

Sydney Bradley wrote about how creators are frustrated and confused with the change —?and about how there’s a loophole.

Read more here.

An M&A expert breaks down the winners and losers of the creator economy's next phase

Creator startups need to find a way to service a broader customer set.?

Dan Whateley and Sydney Bradley spoke with John Lambros of M&A advisory firm Houlihan Lokey about why influencers aren't the big growth opportunity in the creator economy.

He said companies that offer a variety of features, built for multiple platforms, are the best M&A targets.

Read more here.

More coverage from this week:

The business of being a creator

• Biden hosts first Creator Economy Conference for influencers to talk AI, privacy, and more (CNBC)

• How “deepfake Elon Musk” became the internet’s biggest scammer (NYTimes)

Social platforms and creator-economy startups

• Eventbrite is laying off 11% of its staff (Business Insider)

• A comic-book startup has raised $5 million to upend the industry's creator model (Business Insider)

• Read the pitch decks from these 36 creator-economy startups that helped them raise millions of dollars (Business Insider)

• The industry remembers YouTube’s former CEO Susan Wojcicki, who died after living with lung cancer (Business Insider)

• Replika lets you buy an AI girlfriend or boyfriend — and its average user age is surprising (Business Insider)

What’s happening in digital culture

• Instagram Reels show a lot of random videos people call "Mythical Reel Pulls" (Business Insider)

• Brooke Schofield apologized for her racist tweets. Black creators say it’s not enough. (NBC News)

• Biden tells creators they have something traditional media does not: “You’re trusted” (TechCrunch)

Thanks for reading! Send me your tips, comments, or questions: [email protected].