The price of creator platforms is going up, newsletters are shutting down, and creators are going to the Super Bowl!

Lots of things happened this week so let's jump right into it.

Going up and shutting down

The price of creator platforms is going up - As if the layoffs weren’t enough, Kaya Yurieff reported that Gumroad increased their cut from creator sales to 10% from previously 2.9-9%. Understandably, some Gumroad creators say that they’re already looking for alternatives. Teachable has also increased the price of their monthly subscription from $39 to $59. I think many creator platforms will follow suit as they try to get through the recession.

Newsletters are shutting down - Both Twitter and Meta announced they’re shutting down their newsletters, Revue, and Bulletin in 2023. It’s bad news for creators who’ve already built an audience on those platforms since that was an extra revenue stream. But it’s good news for other newsletter platforms like Substack and ConvertKit [archive] who have the chance to acquire those creators.?

Go creators!

The $2 billion NFL X Google partnership - the National Football League (NFL) has partnered with 谷歌 on a $2 billion 7-year deal to bring the NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube . Selected creators will even get the chance to attend the Super Bowl! Great news for creators as they’ll get even more opportunities to make and distribute exclusive content. Lindsey Gamble explained it perfectly. A win for the whole creator space!

The journey from creator to CEO - YouTube partnered with The Washington Post to bring a guide on how creators can become business owners, with examples from creators like Austin Evans, Liah Yoo , and Matt Ansini who have built and run their own companies. I love that it highlights creators who are focused on building a brand that is bigger than just their online persona.

Christmas fundraising & exits

Seems like companies chose to keep their funding announcements for Christmas.

Last week, gaming creator platform Oasys (undisclosed round) and AI image editing platform Imagen ($30M Series A) raised funds, while before that 8 creator companies raised a total of $226M. A great ending to the year!

Check out Ange Michael AHYI for all things funding in the creator economy.

The drama...

TikTok spied on Forbes’ journalists - TikTok ’s ban in the US might come sooner than we expected. Parent company 字节跳动 fired the 4 employees allegedly responsible for the incident. However, I have to agree with Phill Ranta’s opinion in his post. Firing 4 employees doesn’t solve the bigger issue the company has in the US.?

Twitter bans links to Linktree, Instagram, and others - I don’t care much about the Twitter drama but this is such a wrong move that I have to talk about it. Even if it was reversed shortly after (lol). Twitter banning external links to Linktree , Instagram , Facebook , and others is detrimental to creators and to the platform itself. Love what Alex Zaccaria said about this:

Banning creators from linking to other platforms like Linktree is at its very core anti-creator and antithetical to the open, free Internet on which Twitter was founded.

And just like that, you're done in a flash ?

Know someone interested in all things creator economy? Share this with them.

And don't forget to?subscribe!