Why TikTok is the King of Social Video, Twitch Owns Monetization and Roblox Rules Time Itself

This Week: New per-post revenue analysis reveals the surprising state of creator earnings. Twitch is?the most lucrative, while Facebook sits at the bottom. A new study reveals that kids spend the most time on Roblox, followed by TikTok and then YouTube. Bing and Google enter the generative AI battle, but a new report reveals AI video is still a long way off. Also inside: updates from TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, the uneven Be Real trend and the rise of UGC 2.0.? It’s the middle of February and here’s what you need to know.

• The state of Creator Earnings Revealed:? Izea mines their creator data for a “state of influencer earning” report.? Interesting data points include average price per post across popular platforms.? The most expensive platform, Twitch ($4,373), comes in at almost 7x the cheapest, which is Facebook ($642).? Good news too for the middle-class, as mid/micro/nano creators saw big jumps in per-post revenue compared to a decline for the biggest influencers.? Those with under 10,000 followers saw their average smash the $1,000 ceiling for the first time too.? And in a related study Hashtag Pay Me also released a narrow report detailing what it learned in 2022 from 405 of its creators.? The report also calls out a “Low Mid-Tier” from 50-200k as a sweet spot for advertisers and creators.

• TikTok Bigger than YouTube but Roblox Rules them all:? That’s one of the takeaways from a kids research report from Quostidio.? The parental control software company mined its customer data to find that kids under 18 spend an hour or so a day on YouTube, more than an hour and a half on TikTok, but a whopping three hours daily on Roblox.? Doesn’t leave much time for anything else, does it?? Anyone who says the metaverse is dead is wrong – it’s just unevenly distributed. Like the research reports above, the data is directional, not projectible.

• Bing Bard-a Boom!? The generative AI battle has been joined.? Google announced its limited AI chatbot Bard and Microsoft joined the parade with a ChatGPT-powered version of its Bing search engine.? Lots of discussions and analysis and hilarity ensued even though both are still vaporware.? Despite imploring the entire company to test their new offering, Google’s Bard demo still got facts wrong during the unveiling – and its stock cratered.? Fast Company tech editor Harry McCracken found serious flaws in his Bing GenAi co-pilot first look.? For context, Forbes explores how Google lost its way in AI and the Verge lays out the battle lines between Google and Microsoft.? My take – once these products are actually usable by creators, we’ll enter a new world of productivity and capability.? But the hype is strong and the inevitable slide into the trough of despair looms.? One reason why – the lack of trust problem won’t be easily solved.

• AI Generated Video Isn’t Here Yet:? Lots of heat in the market around GenAI’s ability to create videos to rival the still images and search results.? But it’s just not going to happen as quickly as some might hope.? ? Paul Bakaus rounds up the three different types of AI video startups, highlighting some of the leaders.? Text to Video is still, alas, a long way off.? FWIW, I’ve been enjoying the AugXLabs beta, which is rudimentary but a decent step forward – and I expect much more when it launches later this year.??

QUIBIS:?

• Why do we believe everything we see on TikTok?
• And why didn’t Elon just build a “heating” button?
• I called this Super Bowl the first of many “Year of the Creator” bowls.? PR Week doesn’t necessarily agree.
• The podcasting crisis - and perhaps a silver lining.
• TikTok updates “Promote” to allow for geographic targeting, boosting other creators’ content and more.
• Facebook rolls out new content moderation tools for creators.
• What’s the ideal length for a TikTok?? TLDR – it depends.
• I have a lot of new favorites – loving TikTok’s first Black Visionaries list, launched in honor of Black History Month.
• Pinterest shows decent growth results in latest report.
• Why can’t I quit you?? Politicians are addicted to TikTok.
• The problems with creators becoming CEOs keep surfacing.
• India in the post TikTok era.
• Oh no.? Now Instagram is working on a paid verification program too.
• Brands and creators beware.? Music licensed to “UGC” creators doesn’t mean brands and promotional videos can use it as well.
• Congrats to YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou, who sold their first feature film “Talk to Me” at Sundance. And to Benjamin Grubbs for believing in them!
• Alas BeReal, we hardly knew ye.? Downloads are down, but apparently usage is still strong.
• The “Be Real” trend, though, is still strong.

CRYPTIS:?

• UGC 2.0: An argument for why “Social collectable content is the next big format which will enable true fandom” from a former TikTok exec.
• Samsung is building a VR device with Google and Qualcomm
• Hermes wins the first NFT trademark trial, MetaBirkin loses.

GENIES:

• Garbage Day predicts how traffic driving and SEO will change in the age of AI.
• AI powered advertising is becoming a thing.
• Top 50 GenAI startups to watch from Dealroom.
• Getty sues Stable Diffusion for copyright infringement.
• Connie Chan from a16z shares her excitement with “Everyday AI” across 7 key categories.

Tip of the Week: This tip of the week comes from me.? I’ve been increasingly using ChatGPT to help me write newsletters.? I’ll feed in the newsletter and ask for, say, 10 click-bait headlines in a Buzzfeed style.? But they still aren’t as good as the ones I find in the weekly “Creator Hooks” newsletter from Jake Thomas.? If you’re serious about writing great titles for YouTube, newsletters, or anything else, this is a weekly must read.

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What I’m Watching:?

• State Farm and Khaby Lame mashup for the Super Bowl is so good.? I guessed 42.
• Loving Coffeezilla’s Scamming the Scammer video.

Thanks so much for reading and see you around the internet.? Send me a note with your feedback or post in the comments!? Feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested, and if someone forwarded this to you, you can sign up?and subscribe on LinkedIn for free here!??

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