52 billion — Minutes audiences spent watching long-form, episodic creator shows in 2025. (Spotter)
13.4% — YouTube's share of all U.S. TV viewing. More than Netflix. More than Hulu/Disney+. Up to half of that viewing now happens on a TV screen. (Agentio via Digiday)
$850 billion — Maximum penalties TikTok could face if the investor lawsuit prevails. (CBS News)
$450 million — Create Music Group's new raise. (MarketScreener)
$100 million+ — Paid out to creators by SideShift, 800,000+ creators on platform. (Business Insider)
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Curated by Isla Novak, Sundae Collective — creator marketing for high-expectation brands.
A busy week in creator marketing: brands rethinking how they structure creator programs, platforms competing harder for creator loyalty, a significant capital raise, and TikTok navigating its roughest stretch since the sale. Here’s what happened.
Long-form creator content hit 52 billion minutes last year
Digiday, March 9, 2026
Spotter held a showcase event in New York pitching for TV-sized ad budgets. The headline number: audiences spent 52 billion minutes in 2025 watching long-form, episodic creator shows. YouTube now accounts for 13.4% of all U.S. TV viewing — more than Netflix. Up to half of that viewing happens on a TV screen.
Sundae take: The numbers are compelling. Getting TV money released to creator content means a different buyer, a different measurement framework, a different approval path. Less creative argument, more procurement problem.
Urban Outfitters, American Eagle, and Express are all building the same thing
Digiday, March 5, 2026
Urban Outfitters launched ME@UO — a gamified micro-creator affiliate program. American Eagle has the AE Creator Community. Express has The Expressionists. Sephora has its own shoppable creator storefront. The through-line: brands building in-house creator ecosystems rather than routing through ShopMy or LTK.
Sundae take: A real strategic fork. In-house means ownership and control; third-party means reach and speed. The right answer depends on where a brand is in its creator marketing maturity.
TikTok had a rough week
TechCrunch / CBS News, March 3 & 5, 2026
A second Oracle outage hit U.S. creators on March 3. Then on March 5, investors filed a 33-page lawsuit arguing the ByteDance divestiture was incomplete — potentially exposing TikTok to $850 billion in penalties.
Sundae take: TikTok remains fully active. But platform diversification is now both good practice and a reasonable hedge.
X is making another run at the creator economy
TechCrunch, March 5, 2026
X launched exclusive threads for paid subscribers, a new earnings dashboard, and a Paid Partnership label. Its most coherent creator push yet.
Sundae take: The product improvements are real. Creator trust and adoption are the open questions.
$450 million just went into creator-side infrastructure
MarketScreener / The Wrap, March 4, 2026
Create Music Group raised $450M. Fixated acquired Elevate. Open World acquired Drope.me. SideShift — a UGC platform with 800K+ creators — has paid out $100M+.
Sundae take: Capital at this scale flowing into creator infrastructure is a leading indicator. The bets are on monetization tools, music rights, and AI workflow automation.
