Creatorverse: Netflix's creator strategy looks like it's working

Hey Creatorverse readers,

After a year spent endlessly signing deals with creators, we finally have an idea about how creator content is doing on Netflix. Basically, if you're an established children's or family creator, you're doing well on the streamer.

Ms. Rachel once again emerged as the top creator on the streamer. Eight episodes of her show accumulated a staggering 69 million views during the first half of the year. She was followed by Mark Rober's "CrunchLabs" (36 million views across four seasons), Salish and Jordan Matter (29 million views two seasons) and Danny Go! (26 million views for one season). 

All four of these shows are collections of YouTube channels that have been repackaged for Netflix, so it's still unclear what the audience is for original, exclusive content from digital creators on Netflix. The only original creator program to appear in Netflix's viewership report was "Elmo and Mark Rober's Merry Giftmas," which scored 1.5 million views. But since it's a seasonal special, it's not really fair to make any major judgements from its performance. 

You know what else is unclear? How podcasts are performing on Netflix. Though Netflix has bragged about podcasting over-performing on mobile and daytime viewing, the streamer didn't include any of its 50+ video podcasts on the six-month report. Instead, all podcasts were lumped into the "Other Shows" category whether or not they received 50,000 views or not -- Netflix's typical cut off for determining what makes it into the data dump.

Podcasting is yesterday's news as Netflix has a new creator focus: food and cooking creators. In the last month, the streamer has licensed content from Mythical Kitchen (4.4 million YouTube subscribers), Nick DiGiovanni (43.6 million YouTube subscribers) and Wishbone Kitchen (2.3 million TikTok followers). And starting in 2027, Netflix will be creating originals with America's Test Kitchen and Dave Chang.

"The way I look at it, this doesn't take anything away from YouTube; in fact, it makes the pie bigger for everyone," DiGiovanni told my colleague Tess Patton.

By now, Netflix's creator content strategy is abundantly clear. The streamer isn't interested in lean-in content from creators but rather lean-back content. Children's shows, talk series and cooking programs are all cable mainstays, the type of television you play mindlessly in the background to fill the silence. Looking ahead, I would say that home improvement and DIY creators would be the next target on Netflix's list, a category it already experimented with Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin's "Get Organized with The Home Edit." 

That's great news is you're a creator in one of these cozy, somewhat evergreen categories. But if you're a creator more focused on scripted content, Netflix's interest seems less clear. 

Now onto the rest.

Kayla Cobb

Senior Reporter

[email protected]

What's New

YouTube creators contributed over $60 billion to the U.S. GDP last year

The YouTube creator ecosystem contributed over $60 billion to the U.S. economy last year, according to a new report released by the platform and Oxford Economics. The study also revealed that every state has at least 10 YouTube channels with over 1 million monthly views. We'll probably hear more about this during YouTube's second quarter earnings call later today.

That's not the only flex YouTube had this week. More than 1.7 billion unique viewers globally watched World Cup-related videos on YouTube, making FIFA World Cup 2026 the most-viewed World Cup in history. Total lifetime views for World Cup content on YouTube now surpasses 200 billion views, and FIFA's official YouTube channel crossed 34 million global subscribers. Additionally, YouTube's first-ever FIFA Creator Cup scored over 10 million live views globally and featured creators like IShowSpeed (59.4 million YouTube subscribers) and Celine Dept (65.4 million subscribers).

TikTok announces a global partnership with the NBA and WNBA, and boxer Amanda Serrano is coming to the platform in August

The NBA and WNBA struck a global partnership with TikTok last Thursday. As part of this new multi-year agreement, TikTok will give creators access to events, provide users with highlights and give advertisers more opportunities to collaborate with the platform and these leagues. Considering that nearly half of TikTok's 1 billion users follow basketball, it's a partnership that makes sense.  

Speaking of sports on TikTok, boxer Amanda Serrano will enter the ring as part of the platform's first-ever championship boxing event on TikTok Live. The match will take place in August. That's good timing for basketball and boxing fans in the White House since the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that employees can, in fact, download TikTok on their government devices.

France bans social media for kids under 15

France is the latest country to jump in on the wave of social media bans for children, voting to approve the measure on Tuesday. Children 15 years and younger will no longer be allowed to use social media, and mobile phones will be banned in schools. With this measure, France is now the first country in the European Union to pass a blanket ban on social media as concerns around child safety continue.

It's more strict than the U.K's current proposal. The country proposed a measure for 16 and 17-year-olds that would encourage but not require teens in this age group to stay off social media from midnight to 6 a.m. I promised my mom I'd do the same thing, and look where I am now -- a glorified blogger. 

Platform Updates

TikTok is testing an AI likeness detection tool for U.S. creators

TikTok has started testing a tool that will let creators know when someone is using their AI likeness without permission. Creators will be able to opt into this offering. YouTube already offers an AI likeness detection tool, but TikTok is where you really feel the need for it. It's not uncommon for spammy accounts to steal the likenesses of popular creators or viral moments to sell junk on TikTok Shop.

Roblox drops a mobile-first creation option

Roblox, the gaming platform that encourages users to build their own games, announced the mobile option Build on Thursday. The offering will be available within the Roblox app and will give creators a suite of  AI-powered tools, meaning that Roblox creators will soon be able to build games and make money from them straight from their phones. It's a pretty nifty tool considering how much computers cost these days. Roblox paid out more than $1.5 billion to creators last year, so it makes sense the company would want to encourage even more creation.

beehiiv rolls out new audience management and ad tools for creators

A new suite of tools for creators is coming to beehiiv, the newsletter platform that's becoming increasingly popular with journalists. Those will include a new AI operator that will help users manage and grow their audience, an offering that will giveusers more control over what ads appear on their newsletters and a new visual editor that better reflects what readers see. The goal of all these tools is to address user pain points so that they're less likely to leave the app or enlist third-party platforms.

Movers and Shakers

Kai Cent's Streamer U generated more than 53 million hours watched

Streamer U, Kai Cenat's (21.3 million Twitch subscribers) annual boot camp for creators interested in becoming livestreamers, generated more than 53 million hours watched in its second year, a 96% increase compared to last year's numbers. The number of concurrent views peaks at 1.2 million views -- up from last year's high of 700,000 views. Looking ahead, Cenat plans to bring his bootcamp to Europe.

More than 30 creators came to Washington D.C. as part of the first Creator Advocacy Day

Creators met with leaders from YouTube, TikTok, Adobe and the National Association of Broadcasters as part of the first-ever Creator Advocacy Day in Washington D.C. The goal of the event, which was organized by Shira Lazar's Creators 4 Mental Health, was to give creators a space to address hot-button topics like labor policies for creators, AI, healthcare, taxes and IP ownership with some of the biggest players in entertainment.

Amelia Dimoldenberg's "Passenger Princess" returns for Season 2, and YouTube partners with parenting expert Dr. Becky 

Amelia Dimoldenberg's (3.4 million YouTube subscribers) "Passenger Princess" returned for Season 2 on Tuesday. The YouTube series follows the "Chicken Shop Date" host as she interviews (and screams) alongside Formula 1 drivers. 

Speaking of new YouTube shows, the platform has partnered with parenting expert Dr. Becky. "Good Inside" will offer advice for parenting during the digital age, and its first two episodes are currently available.

Who to Watch

Kyle Gordon

After "The Book of Mormon," Kyle Gordon's (1.4 million YouTube subscribers) "Mr. Jambo" is perhaps the most scathing piece of satire about white saviors in Africa. Gordon has long been one of the funniest voices on the internet, but he's really exceeded expectations with his latest song. If you haven't heard it already, give it a listen. Also, Daniel Radcliffe will be narrating Gordon's third album, which is pretty neat.

Bonus Content

• Influencers Are Being Paid to Spread the Mormon Church's Gospel (via Bloomberg)
• A Teen Reporter Searched for His Community in the Epstein Files. Adults Freaked Out (via Wired)
• The Fake Influencers Selling Wellness on Your Feed (via New York Times)

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This report provides a weekly deep dive into the creator economy. It highlights key trends, political and technological developments, data points and industry leaders all with the goal of making you smarter about this constantly evolving space.

The post Creatorverse: Netflix's Creator Strategy Looks Like It's Working appeared first on TheWrap.