Can Creators and Podcasters Swing the Midterms?

Warner Bailey started Assistants vs. Agents as a meme account when he was an assistant at WME. He figured maybe five people would see it. Then Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel sent one of his memes to the entire company.During this special live episode of Scalable, recorded at CreatorIQ’s Connect conference in Los Angeles, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg sit down with Warner to talk about how AvA grew into a full-fledged business based around Hollywood assistants, including a weekly livestreamed show, newsletter, job board and events ranging from small dinners to a 450-person awards show.Warner explains how he built a business around an audience that makes an average of $45,000 a year, why he hasn’t raised outside funding and why he has no interest in chasing “empty views.” He also shares why he’s building Loyd, a new startup offering software to make assistants’ lives easier and how his earlier startup fought for the ticketing rights to the now infamous Fyre Festival.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we’re turning the mic over to you: Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg answer—and sometimes debate—your most-asked questions about the creator economy, including:Should brands and creators change their content to better show up in AI chatbots?How do you start making money fast on YouTube?Is influencer a dirty word?Are microdramas a fad or here to stay?Are people really going to watch 90 minute videos on Instagram now?This episode is brought to you by Central Talent Booking (CTB). Visit centraltalentbooking.comGot a question for us to answer in an upcoming episode? Send it to [email protected]. Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US midterm elections are just around the corner. In this week’s episode, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg discuss whether podcasters and social media creators actually influence how people show up to vote.They unpack three big questions:How influential will podcasts be in the midterms?How much are paid creator partnerships playing a role? Is mainstream media making a comeback? They also speak with the chief of staff and the communications director for California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, about their creator strategy and the issues their team is focused on this election cycle. Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg break down the green flags and red flags in brand-creator partnerships, with takeaways from leaders at Sephora, Gap, Google, PepsiCo, Adobe and Lego. They also share reactions from creator Warner Bailey, founder of Assistants vs. Agents, on common brand negotiation tactics, from four-page scripts to requests for AI voice clone rights. Later in the episode, Jasmine sits down with LTK co-founder and president Amber Venz Box and Northwestern University professor Frank Dudley to discuss their new research on how CMOs are changing their approach to influencer marketing in the age of AI. Spoiler alert: They want more creators and more content to help them cut through the noise and show up in LLMs.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

YouTube is 20 years old, yet many brands and big creators still haven’t figured it out. This week, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg look at why YouTube is so hard to crack and focus on one of the platform’s most debated topics: packaging, including thumbnails and titles. You’ll hear from Portal A’s Zach Blume on why thumbnails should be treated like movie posters, and Don Lemon on why he embraced clickbait on YouTube. The Chicago Bulls’ Luka Dukich shares how YouTube became one of the team’s top content priorities, and YouTube’s Kim Larson explains why the platform’s biggest creators are true students of the business. Kaya and Jasmine also share what they’ve learned in their first year on YouTube. Plus, YouTube strategist Hudson Matter unpacks why his consultancy, Next Wave Media, takes equity instead of retainers, and why he doesn't think exclusive streaming deals are worth it for most YouTubers. He also reveals the one change that tripled daily views on his dad Jordan Matter’s channel, which now has 38 million subscribers.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scalable just hit 50 episodes. To celebrate, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg went through the archives to pull the biggest lessons from a year of conversations with founders, creators and CMOs, along with what they've learned (often the hard way) building Scalable themselves. Founders warn that everything takes longer than you think, creators share why your followers aren’t really yours and CMOs make the case that creators can reinvent brands even though the fundamentals of marketing haven’t really changed. Plus, the funniest and most surprising moments of the year, from Don Lemon’s F-bomb to an uncooperative camel in Doha, Qatar.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More brands are giving creators a stake in their companies instead of just a paycheck, often trading equity for endorsements, advisory roles or long-term partnerships. It’s the latest sign of a bigger push toward ownership in the creator economy. Alix Earle’s lucrative Poppi deal showed how big the payoff could be, and increasingly, startups like Driptail and Vibes are also offering equity to smaller creators. This week, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg look at why creator equity deals are taking off, what the deals usually look like and the risks for both sides. Plus, Kaya sits down with Cat Goetze, the creator better known as CatGPT, and Josh Kaplan, CEO of management firm Smooth Media, which represents her. They discuss Cat’s recent equity stake in Smooth and their advice for brands and creators weighing similar equity arrangements. The episode is brought to you by Pop.Store. Visit https://get.pop.store/ to learn more and get 50% off your first month.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do creators actually need an agent or a manager? This week, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg dig into the world of creator representation, starting with how big Hollywood talent agencies like CAA and UTA are battling it out for top name creators, including Alex Cooper.They break down the difference between agents and managers, when it makes sense to bring someone on and share a bit about their own experience signing with CAA. We hear from Corporate Natalie on why she, in turn, decided to do it all in-house and Reza Izad, co-founder of Underscore Talent, on how the talent management landscape has changed.Kaya and Jasmine also sit down with Jack Goldburg of Jack’s Dining Room, who just landed a $25 million deal with 101 Studios, the company behind “Yellowstone” and projects from George Clooney. Goldburg discusses how the deal came together, the long-form shows he’s planning and whether he’d ever open his own restaurant.This episode was brought to you by Nomono. Visit nomono.co/scalable to learn more and get 15% off any product with code SCALABLE.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two decades-old internet brands are getting back into culture through creators. In this episode, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg sit down with Yahoo’s CMO Josh Line and Expedia’s Chief Communications Officer Laurie Metrose to talk about what it actually takes to be top of mind again.Metrose walks us through Expedia’s biggest creator bet yet: a year-long partnership with livestreamer iShowSpeed, built around three phases that combine livestreaming and shoppable storytelling. Yahoo’s Line discusses the company’s comeback strategies, such as a Cardi B campaign for Yahoo Mail that turned inbox anxiety into a viral moment, Kyle Cook becoming Yahoo Weather’s official “weather boy”, and the reply-guy moment that landed Yahoo millions of likes after the company had wiped its social feeds for a fresh start.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Netflix isn’t the only platform YouTube needs to worry about. From Disney to Tubi, more players are encroaching on YouTube’s turf as it tries to become the new “TV.” Some of them, like Twitch and Spotify, are even joining forces to take on the streaming giant.In this week’s episode, Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg discuss whether this is a sign of a larger shift in strategy for premium streamers and how worried YouTube should be.They also sit down with Twitch’s new CMO, Christine Cassis, to talk about how the platform is repositioning itself beyond gaming, chasing new revenue streams, and where livestreaming goes from here.Sign up for our newsletter for free at: https://scalablepod.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.