Creator Economy Scoop: Sensored chicken sandwich reviews and the quest for a quiet life

Quick numbers 💯

8 in 10 weekly Pinterest users turn to Pinterest when planning their summer escapades [1]  

YouTube Q1 ad revenue climbs 21% to $8.1 Billion [2]

Creators need 2-4 brand deals a month to have a sustainable income [3]

88% of influencers’ top concern is navigating changes in social media platform algorithms [4]

What you should know ☕

TikTok ban updates

• President Biden signed off on the “Peace Through Strength Act” on Wednesday

• ByteDance has about 9 months to sell TikTok or risk a US ban

• The U.S. accounted for about 25% of TikTok's overall revenues last year, said a separate source with direct knowledge

2nd annual creator economy trend report

• The creator economy is growing up, and creators are prioritizing strategic partnerships by "negotiating lucrative deals with longevity" 

• 50% of creators that the creator economy is positioned to help them become financially secure

Pinterest summer 2024 travel report

• “adventure activities” searches are up 45% YoY

• Searches for "quiet life" soaring by 530%

• Trending quiet life destinations
  • Okinawa, Japan +35%
  • English Countryside +31%

• Top Gen Z destination
  • Jasper, Canada +155%

How to engage Micro and Macro creator audiences

• Macro influencers, or those with more than 100,000 followers, a 10% increase in high-arousal language led to an 8.4% reduction in engagement

• Instead, they found that highly followed influencers who made their posts informative saw a 1.8% bump in engagement

• “Micro” influencers who have fewer than 100,000 followers saw a 5.4% increase in engagement when they increased high-arousal language by 10%

Brands vs Influencers—who holds more power?

• “Brands that are cool with a capital C don’t want your unboxing or a tag,” said Brenda Weischer, “They want to appear organically in your feed.”

• “The younger generation is like the first group of bloggers, they come with a bullshit filter,” said Camille Charriere. “Brands are in for a rude awakening because what they think works doesn’t anymore.”

TikTok has become a pseudo-shopping channel, and Gen Z has had enough

Social platforms 📲

Meta  📸

• Instagram said there are more than 2M+ active subscriptions to creators on the app

• Instagram is retiring its Flipside feature, effective May 24

• Threads now has more daily active users in the US than Twitter (X)

TikTok ⏰

• ByteDance has about 9 months to sell TikTok or risk a US ban

❌

• X launches a dedicated app for smart TVs

• Trending video algorithm, artificial intelligence-powered trending topics and cross-device compatibility

Notable partnerships 📓

Emma Chamberlain and Kendall Jenner team up on an espresso martini kit

• The collaboration aims to capitalize on the current popularity of espresso martinis and expand Chamberlain Coffee's reach to a slightly older audience while leveraging its strong Gen Z base

• NeilsonIQ data found that the drink was the fourth most popular cocktail consumed domestically in 2023

• The brands launched the activation portion of their partnership last weekend at Coachella and was one of the most requested drinks at the bar

Chick-Fil-A shuts down employee’s TikTok meal reviews

• Miri the Siren has been reviewing her employee meals for the past few months at Chick-fil-A, but the company has asked her to stop

• Not long after, she posted a collab video with Shake Shack