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Hello! Before we get into today’s column, we have some developing news.
Keep your eyes peeled on Wednesday for an announcement from President Trump about his plan to keep TikTok alive in the U.S. As I scooped earlier today, Trump plans to announce a proposal for a new company expected to be called TikTok America, which would be roughly 50% owned by new U.S. investors and license TikTok’s algorithm from its Chinese parent company ByteDance. Read the full story here.
Now on to the rest of the newsletter…
Good news if you’re a creator economy veteran: Companies are looking to staff up with experienced hires.
Over half of job listings posted this quarter by creator economy companies sought out candidates at an “experienced” level or higher, according to a new report from job board Creator Economy Jobs. Another 45% of open roles were for midlevel employees, while a measly 3% of tracked listings sought entry-level applicants.
Job listings for executive roles at creator economy companies rose 37% during the first three months of this year from the previous quarter, according to a report from job board Creator Economy Jobs. Listings for manager level positions increased by 52% in the same time period, and open roles for director level jobs more than doubled. The creator economy job market is the sweetest for engineers, judging by the number of listings, followed by roles in marketing and sales.
Chart by Shane Burke
The surge in listings seeking experienced hires far outpaced the 12% quarter-over-quarter growth overall in creator-related job postings. The report analyzed more than 1,400 open roles at more than 780 creator economy companies from job boards including Greenhouse, Lever and LinkedIn.
Prospects aren’t looking quite so rosy, however, for people that want to work full time from home. Listings for fully remote jobs fell 22% year-over-year, though they still made up nearly a quarter of all U.S. based roles.
Coda Payments, which facilitates payments for livestreaming, mobile games and music streaming, had the most job postings, with 73 open roles as of March. Marketing firm Impact had 67 openings, while Electrify Video Partners, a startup that takes majority stakes in YouTube channels, had 56 open positions.
Here’s what else is going on…
Deals & Debuts
See The Information’s Creator Economy Database for an exclusive list of private companies and their investors.
Netflix’s consumer packaged goods division developed a collection of eight food products with Meghan Markle, including lemon ginger tea, crepe mix and shortbread cookie mix.
QVC Group, which runs shopping channels QVC and HSN, is launching live shopping streams on TikTok in the U.S. Starting Wednesday, hosts from QVC’s TV networks will also appear on the app.
YouTube suspended two accounts from its partner program over AI-generated movie trailers that violated YouTube’s monetization policies, according to Deadline.
Patreon announced its first podcast network partnership program. It’s working with Sony Music and Wondery at launch, to expand select shows from each network to Patreon. The program will help podcast networks release exclusive content and offer new fan perks. Patreon said podcasters on its membership platform earned more than $472 million from over 6.7 million paid memberships last year.
Skylight, a startup trying to take on TikTok, launched its new app to the public after 10 weeks of development. The app, which is built on the same technology as Twitter alternative Blusky, is backed by investors including Mark Cuban.
GEN Agency, an influencer marketing firm, launched GEN NIL, a software tool focused on athlete influencers, including generating pitch decks, managing sponsorships and tracking revenue.
People on the Move
Joelle Pineau, head of Meta Platforms’ Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research lab, will leave the company in May.
Creator Corner
Haliey Welch, better known as the “Hawk Tuah” girl, is bringing back her podcast in April. Welch told TMZ last week that the SEC’s investigation into her controversial meme coin is over, and that she has been “cooperating with all the authorities.”
Jake Shane will appear in the fourth season of the comedy “Hacks” on Max on April 10. The podcaster and TikToker will play the role of “social media girlie,” according to Variety.
Thank you for reading the Creator Economy Newsletter! I’d love your feedback, ideas and tips: kaya@theinformation.com.
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