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Where I share information you should know.

Cloudflare, a cloud-based internet infrastructure provider, announced a new feature for its web hosting service that prevents AI crawlers from scraping content on hosted sites.

The idea is that big publishers like BuzzFeed and the Associated Press won’t have their content “stolen”, and will have more leverage to negotiate license fees for training data against big, bad AI companies like Perplexity and OpenAI.

A big counterargument: for the vast majority of smaller publishers - folks like you and me - this might hurt more than it helps, because we are too small to have any individual leverage in licensing negotiations, and AI optimization is the new search optimization.

In the same way that paywalling content means it won’t show up as high in Google search, if AI tools can’t see what we’re writing about, then we won't be recommended as resources by those same tools. Link

Where I share analysis of the business of Creators.

Major Hollywood studios still haven't figured out how to work with Creators, so a new crop of companies are rising up with the intent to take their place. Recently, we've seen announcements for a handful of companies all doing something similar:

Investing in individual Creator projects and channels as a way of incubating, co-owning, and monetizing new intellectual property.

Examples include:

Since I've been in this space for 15 years now, here's my take:

This is not the first time we have seen these types of companies form. It's closer to the 4th.

MCNs

In the early 2010s, the YouTube multi-channel networks started investing in big Creator projects as a means of top Creator acquisition and long-term revenue expansion.

A few were successful, like Studio71 (then called Collective Digital Studios) with shows like The Annoying Orange.

"Netflix for Gen Z"

In the mid-2010s, media companies like Verizon, Fullscreen and even YouTube got the idea that "premium" Creator-driven series would entice teenagers to pay for "Netflix for Gen Z" type subscription services.

Spoiler: it didn't work.

Short-form + Podcasting Boom

From 2019-2022, more than a billion dollars was spent on original and licensed premium Creator content. Cash-flush companies like Quibi and Spotify did huge deals with Creators of all sizes, pushing every other podcast network and short-form content platform to ramp up their own spending to compete.

While Quibi didn't work, there's a good argument to be made that they drove interest in the short-form space across Hollywood.

It's also inarguable that Spotify's strategy did work, with their stock price exploding over the last 5 years and their claiming 28.2% of podcast market share from dominant industry incumbent, Apple.

A lot has changed since those early cycles:

Legitimacy

Creators are now taken seriously as drivers of culture and commerce, as much or even more so than Hollywood - the last Presidential election and the multiple billion-dollar valuations of influencer brands has proved that.

The impact of this can't be overstated: money flows where there is impact; even more money flows where people understand and can measure the impact. 10 years ago, the Creator Economy had impact but it was unknown.

Today, it is known and more money continues to flow into the space each year.

Infrastructure

The last 3 original content cycles lacked meaningful infrastructure for distribution and monetization:

Streaming itself was still in its infancy, FAST channels didn't exist, Shopify was just a shadow of the platform it is today, American companies were still figuring out how to spin up turn-key products via Chinese manufacturing…I could go on.

Oh, and there's now a decade worth of human business talent who have seen the space rise, had a hand in making it happen, and continue to innovate as a way of moving their careers forward.

Revenue Models

There are over 15 revenue models for content Creators today, and even more ways to exploit IP - from virtual influencers to AI data licensing to 24-hour live channels to classics like touring, books, and merch.

That was not the case a decade ago - we were still putting the first Creators on tour and merch was limited to T-shirts and hoodies. Today:

There's money to be made everywhere you look!

I believe there's a good chance that we are going to see the rise of the next "major studio system" over the coming five years.

While the biggest Creators might be able to finance, produce, distribute, and monetize everything they do on their own, there are millions of talented Creators making great content who could have huge cultural and economic impact with some backing.

For those who are willing to take resources and build long-lasting partnerships, the opportunities are only going to increase.

Fresh links to events, articles, communities, and products that will help you build your business.

This week’s resources:

About: Creator Logic was founded by Avi Gandhi - award-winning Creator agent, producer, and executive - with the mission of helping 1 million people find freedom in the Creator Economy

Where I share some things I find interesting.

I built a social media site this past weekend, even though I've never coded anything in my life.

It took me 5-6 hours and I barely typed.

By dictating my vision using Wispr Flow, I had Claude write a Product Requirements Document (PRD) and prompt that I then pasted into Replit. Replit built the site in minutes, and then I spent a few hours testing features, tweaking designs, and fixing bugs.

It was ridiculously fun, and the first time I've ever been able to make a random software idea become a reality - for an all-in cost lower than the takeout I ordered. I'm not sure if I will ever release it, but I certainly broke the seal.

I'm already building my second thing - and this one I'm definitely going to share in the coming weeks!

The world is about to change big time, and if you haven't tried building software yourself, get on it now to stay ahead.

Reply to this email to let me know if you've built something with AI, or if you plan to in the future.