Good morning, and welcome to our last newsletter of the year. Thank you so much for reading and making us part of your routine for all things creators in 2024. We’re so excited about what’s on deck in 2025—big stories, big events, and big ideas.

For this year’s final issue, we thought it was fitting to make it about you—with analysis from our recent reader survey on the creator trends taking us into 2025.

Read on, and we’ll see you again January 3. ✌️

— Hannah Doyle 

Stories We’re Watching

A couple interesting stories that broke over the holidays →

Some creators are calling this “the biggest scam in YouTube history.” Earlier this week, investigative creator MegaLag alleged that Honey, a browser extension tool and popular creator sponsor, has repeatedly committed advertising fraud. The video has racked up over 10 million views in five days.

• According to MegaLag, Honey (which is owned by PayPal) overrides affiliate links from influencers and replaces them with its own links to claim commission on sales.

• The story sparked a wave of responses from creators including MoistCr1TiKaL and Hank Green discussing ecommerce companies’ common loopholes.

• “The way the creator ecosystem of small businesses has been set up is ripe for exploitation,” Green said. “The affiliate system is a little bit weird where if I have an official brand deal with [a brand] and they tell me to say words, they are then responsible for those words [...] which Honey is and I think Honey should be sued for it.”

Linus Tech Tips (LTT) breaks down his revenue. The longtime tech creator shared on The Colin and Samir Show how LTT’s income has changed over the last four years.

• In 2020, AdSense made up 26% of LTT’s income and merch made up 15%. Today, merchandise brings in 6x more revenue than AdSense for LTT.

• In 2020, sponsored projects made up 17% of revenue, while in-video sponsored spots made up 27%. Now, those categories have swapped rankings.

Listen to the full episode to hear Linus breakdown more about his growing merchandise business. 

What Themes Defined 2024 for Creators?

2024 was a year marked by massive strides in AI, an increasing focus on TV viewership for creator content, and a convergence of our industry with traditional Hollywood.

Those were some of the biggest takeaways you, our Press readers, had in our end-of-year survey (check out our initial findings here). But there’s way more to unpack. Here’s your in-depth breakdown →

Advertising remained strong. 44% of advertisers planned to increase their creator spending in 2024, with an average increase of 25%, according to IAB. Our readers’ experience? 40% of full-time creators said they saw more interest from advertisers this year. 

Income varied widely. Among full-time creators, there wasn’t considerable consensus on what made up your largest income source. Many of you pointed to revenue streams like coaching and courses—and platform earnings ranked the second highest. 

The top concern among creators-turned-filmmakers? 60% say financial backing. “Its financial backing that leads to repeated profitability,” one reader told us. “But Hollywood has the same problems.”

Where creators see the most opportunity: social media, still. Nearly half (48%) want to build shows specifically for social platforms. 

…but there’s opportunity in niche avenues like books. 18% of you said you’re exploring authorship.

• “I used to upload more on YouTube and do freelance video editing. However, this year I've felt more creatively pulled to writing (Substack and self-publishing a book).”

• “I'm currently focused on working for someone else while writing my book.”

As for TikTok’s fate in the US, creators are fairly split. 45% said it won’t be gone by its January 19 deadline. 39% say it will be banned, while the rest are unsure.

Thank you for participating in our end-of-year survey. We appreciate you sharing more about your businesses. ✌️

🔥 Press Worthy

• YouTube says it will be tougher on clickbait, removing videos with titles and thumbnails that “don’t deliver” what they promise.

• Cody Ko returns to YouTube.

• Facebook is testing more prominent affiliate links on creator posts.

• Anthony Fantano joins the Amazon Teamsters strike in Connecticut.

• Howtown investigates: How hot are the Hot Ones sauces?

• Haliey Welch addresses her memecoin controversy.

📚️ Thank You For Pressing Publish

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.

• Read: What happens when an award-winning novelist applies his prose to Amazon reviews? Writer Oscar Schwartz uncovers Kevin Killian’s 2,000+ online product reviews.

• Watch: Shaffer Nickel writes and performs an essay exploring how algorithms affect our taste.

• Listen: The Ringer music writers Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard forecast which music artists will dominate 2025.