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- ESPN Creator Network: Everything We Know About It
- Brands are hiring TikTok influencers to run their accounts
- Duracell calls on tech geeks to energize new TikTok page
- The tension between video and photography on Instagram
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Great Reads
ESPN Creator Network: Everything We Know About It
In September 2022, ESPN announced the release of its own creator network, allowing developing influencers to gain access to a wide range of its intellectual properties. The ESPN Creator Network is expected to launch in October 2022 and is making use of just 10 influencers in its initial run.
The corporation is focusing mainly on TikTok, encouraging popular influencers to produce an abundance of short-form content that will promote the brand as well as attract new audiences. ESPN has also announced that it is teaming up with social-led content agency Blue Hour Studios to recruit some of the finest creators on the market.
The project is expected to run for just four months, giving ESPN enough time to experiment with the features found on TikTok and use them to their best abilities.
The influencers taking part in the ESPN Creator Network will be given priority access to a wide range of benefits, helping them to understand the core values of this monumental brand. Creators will be offered a range of educational courses as well as a collection of filming equipment.
It is suspected that these individuals will be asked to travel to various events to help produce content. Thus, ESPN is offering to pay a creator’s expenses for both their travel and tickets. Creators will also be allowed to use ESPN’s assortment of properties, aiding them in building comprehensive and cohesive content.
Despite these benefits, it was announced that ESPN will not financially compensate influencers for their work, leading to a lot of concern around the market. However, ESPN has promised to give these influencers a wide range of creative freedom and will elevate their content as much as possible.
Tracy Kiss - Life Coach, Mom, Personal Trainer
Tracy began sharing about mental health and body positivity online after having two children as a single parent. She experienced many sleepless nights and struggled with losing baby weight. Rather than hide this, she decided to share this experience with others online.
“I just showed a really open and honest blog about stretch marks and dark circles under your eyes, the ways to help children sleep better, and how to make baby food from scratch.”
At the time, these were uncommon topics for people to discuss online, and she quickly drew an audience who appreciated her openness and realness.
“We don’t have to pretend to be perfect. I think a lot of it wants to hold us against celebrities and magazines and to be able to say. You can look like this stick-thin supermodel who never had a spot on her face and sleeps for ten hours a night.”
She adds that we all wake up with frizzy hair, acne, and dark circles from time to time, especially mothers juggling so many things at once.
Tracy is also incredibly honest about aesthetics and surgery.
“I’ve actually had lots of different surgeries over the year and actually written and blogged and video diaried my journeys throughout… We shouldn’t feel ashamed of our bodies. We should love our bodies and be in touch with them, and know that if we do want to make changes, whether it’s dying our hair, wearing fake tan, having surgery, having filler or Botox, it’s our right to do so.”
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Campaign Insights
Brands are hiring TikTok influencers to run their accounts
“We know the tricks,” said Dion, of TikTok influencers. “We are always watching the trends because we need our page to go off.”
He now works for the brand part-time managing its TikTok account, where he comes up with content ideas and films them, featuring videos both with and without him speaking onscreen.
For brands looking to hire TikTok talent, the draw is obvious: Influencers have a proven track record in knowing how to create virality on the platform, a goal many brands have struggled to achieve.
“A big benefit of a brand hiring an employee with a following online is that usually these people know much more about social media, content creation and connecting with users than certain corporate social media managers,” said Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and co-founder of influencer agency The Influencer Marketing Factory.
Duracell calls on tech geeks to energize new TikTok page
Duracell is issuing an open call for tech geeks who wield social media savvy and a passion for hobby areas relevant to its battery products, whether those be science, engineering, gaming or outdoor adventuring. The company is taking a crowdsourced approach to developing its TikTok page, a route that’s become more common in marketing as older brands try to pop on an app that’s defined by its young audience and fast-moving viral trends.
Creators who are already embedded in TikTok might have a better sense of what viewers want to see from a newcomer brand. The temporary position being paid could also be a hook for aspiring influencers who want to make a living off of content creation, a crowded field where it can be tough to break out. To spread word of the program, Duracell enlisted TikTok personalities Muhtanya, Cameron Hughes, Kate Bacon, Big Weird World and Ryder Calm Down.
Ideal applicants are expected to be collaborative and inclined toward problem-solving, along with having knowledge of building gadgets and other devices. Winners will work together in a dedicated workshop experimenting with battery-powered products while documenting their endeavors.
ESPN, MSG Networks Amongst Sports Media Intensifying Its Influencer Interests
Days before ESPN’s announcement, MSG Networks revealed the hire of social media personality Jack Settleman as a new digital host. Settleman is known for being the founder of Snapback Sports, which since its inception in 2017 has become the world’s most-followed sports account on Snapchat, attracting more than 2.5 million followers and one billion views.
With MSG Networks, Settleman will be hosting and executive producing Settle Your Bet, a show which will give viewers an entertaining look into the latest sports betting news across the National Football League. Episodes will air on MSG Networks’ YouTube channel every Thursday during the 2022-2023 NFL season.
“Living in New York City, Madison Square Garden has always been the mecca of sports, media and entertainment. I’m so excited to partner with MSG Networks and deliver weekly sports betting content that will tap into the next generation of sports fans,” Settleman said in a statement. “This partnership is a major milestone for Snapback Sports and our whole community of fans across the world.”
Saudi Arabia is Paying Influencers to Vacation in the Kingdom
In the past few years, photos and videos of luxurious events and vacations in the country have become inescapable on social media. On Instagram, there are more than 150,000 posts with the tags #visitsaudi, #visitsaudiarabia, #welcometoarabia, and #explorearabia. In July, the popular YouTuber Christian LeBlanc posted a vlog about his second trip to Saudi Arabia, which was paid for by the Saudi Tourism Authority, the country’s tourism board. “I’ve realized [that] the world is not a scary place whatsoever and [that] Saudi Arabia is a beautiful country,” he says while waiting for his car and driver to take him to the Four Seasons in Riyadh.
“We’re going to the opening of Seasons, which is basically like a giant cultural festival,” LeBlanc says in his vlog. “It’s kind of like their way of letting the world know that the old Saudi Arabia is opening up and it’s letting in all of the modern culture.” His hotel was less than six miles away from the Ritz-Carlton, where Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained and allegedly tortured hundreds of powerful Saudis—including members of his own family—from 2017 to 2019 in an effort to seize total control over the kingdom.
LeBlanc is part of a larger push on the part of the Saudi government to rebrand from a conservative, oppressive regime to an emerging cultural hub aligned with the Western world. And what better way to make this happen than to pay influencers who either know nothing about the abuses or don’t care enough to turn down the money.
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Interesting People
Creator Albert Kennedy on the tension between video and photography on Instagram
“I would say about 90% of the clients that I do have come from social media. I do have a website, but that in itself [social media] helps a lot as far as self-marketing myself, and just sharing the content that I do have on there helps a lot just to pull in more individuals.”
Albert Kennedy shares that spending time posting and engaging with his followers on social media has helped him to grow. However, having real interactions, where he shares parts of himself on Instagram stories or hosts live and in-person meetups, has been far more helpful.
“This has helped a lot more because people when they actually are able to interact with you in person – they can connect with the individual that they see online… so having that interaction has a helped a lot more as far as the growth in itself for me.”
One of the challenges that Albert faces as a photographer on Instagram is that video content is heavily pushed on the platform.
“I think there’s kind of this back and forth between a lot of photographers on Instagram right now in the last couple of months, and there’s been a lot of changes with the hit of Instagram making this push for video. If you want to get more visibility, that’s sort of what you have to do.”
However, he shares, “There’s still a lot of enthusiasts and a lot of individuals that do like pictures. For me, the most viewed content, at least from the photography perspective, is portraits. Anything that showed a lot of movement and that showed a lot of environment.”
University of South Carolina Women’s Basketball Team Players to Each Receive the Opportunity for $25,000
Through the efforts of Bakari Sellers and a group of other prominent alumni, each member of the reigning national championship University of South Carolina Women’s Basketball team has been offered the opportunity to earn an average of $25,000 or more in name, image and likeness (NIL) deals over the course of the 2022-23 school year. Orchestrating the deals and deliverables are South Carolina NIL collective Garnet Trust and leading athlete sports marketing company NOCAP Sports.
“Consistently ranked as one of the top programs in the country, the University of South Carolina’s Women’s Basketball team includes some of the most sought-after influencers for leading brands when it comes to NIL opportunities,” said Jeremy Smith of Garnet Trust. “We hope this initiative serves as an example for future NIL commitments that help South Carolina’s student-athletes learn important business skills, including content marketing, financial planning and leadership. Thanks to the generous contributions of Bakari Sellers and other alums, each Women’s Basketball team member has the opportunity to set herself up for her future on and off the court.”
Each member of the University of South Carolina Women’s Basketball team will be responsible for various deliverables that involve community appearances, social media engagement, sponsored interviews, and other marketing and communications endeavors. Garnet Trust has been organizing deals for University of South Carolina student-athletes since the inception of NIL. Throughout the year, NOCAP Sports will engage national brands to offer opportunities for the Women’s Basketball team.
Home Inspector Austin Jenkins Is an Accidental TikTok Star
Austin Jenkins didn’t intend to go viral. The 34-year-old living in Johnson City, Tennessee started posting to 30 followers on TikTok about his job as a home inspector. Now, he’s known as Inspector AJ and has 1.7 million followers who look on as he humorously criticizes poorly built homes and points out what homeowners and renters should be looking out for.
Jenkins became a home inspector in 2018 after working as an engineer in the U.S. Army and holding various desk jobs. He began his TikTok in 2020. Jenkins’ content includes showing infractions on the new and recently sold homes he works on and commenting on other inspectors’ finds. He is sponsored by Inspection Certification Associates, a training school for inspectors widely known within the industry.
He represents a growing social media trend of authentic influencers with niche content, which Gen Z particularly gravitates toward. Jenkins told the Observer that he spends minimal time planning and editing his videos—his account acts more as a home inspector’s confessional than an influencer’s curated identity. And that’s what at least 1.7 million users want out of their TikTok experience.
What made you post your first video on TikTok?
When I first joined TikTok, I thought about posting aviation videos because I’m also a pilot. That didn’t really take off—pun intended—and I was like, “Well I’ll just post what I do for a living” and then kaboom.
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Industry News
Terms of Misuse?: Breaking Down the Data TikTok Collects on Its U.S. Users
Like other social media giants, TikTok gobbles up a lot of user information. To start, TikTok receives names, ages, phone numbers and emails when people sign up for the service. The app also knows users’ approximate locations and mobile device identifiers, such as IP addresses.
Germain told dot.LA the most valuable info may come from the way users interact with the video sharing app. TikTok is quite good at figuring out peoples’ interests based on the videos or accounts they’ve previously liked or followed. Those insights are useful for advertisers and—potentially—for spreading political messages, Germain noted.
“This vast trove of data that every social media company has—on what people are interested in, what makes them upset, what makes them happy—is incredibly valuable,” he said.
The company’s privacy policy permits TikTok to collect a wide range of additional data, from consumers’ keystroke patterns to biometric info. However, the company says it doesn’t necessarily take in or store all of this. For example, keystroke patterns may be used solely for anti-fraud and spam purposes, according to TikTok. Regarding biometrics, TikTok said editing features may automatically locate a person’s face to apply an effect, but those features do not uniquely identify individuals.
All Of The Details About Amazon Amp’s New Creator Fund
In March 2022, e-commerce giant Amazon launched its latest site, Amp. This platform allows users to produce their own live radio shows, essentially acting as their own DJ. Creators have access to a vast music library filled with licensed songs which they can stream to an engaged audience.
Amp encourages users to create extensive playlists for their shows which can be streamed as soon as they are ready to begin broadcasting. Users can also interact with listeners and other hosts in-real time, building a cohesive atmosphere with ease.
Like many other creator/curation platform, Amp has a launched a Creator Fund. The Amp Creator Fund operates on a monthly basis, rewarding users for their listener engagement rate and show performance. These rewards are also evaluated on a monthly basis, meaning that creators constantly have access to new benefits. The most popular shows in that month will also receive a bonus which they must also claim in a select time frame.
Amazon is yet to reveal how much creators can earn in a given month but has stated that rewards are likely to fluctuate throughout the coming months. This helps to build a sense of competitiveness across the platform and encourages users to produce higher-quality content.
Talent Management Vertical ‘CreatorsClout’ launched to empower Tier 2
SocioClout, announces the launch of its talent management vertical, ‘CreatorsClout’, to empower the vernacular creators and influencers across India. Presently, with 45 creators onboard, the vertical is to support influencers and creators in regional areas and build bridges between them and brands, thereby fueling their revenue and growth journeys.
CreatorsClout is onboarding Micro and Macro creators from multiple genres across different parts of India in the languages of Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Punjabi and many more. The Indian influencer marketing market is sized at approximately INR 9 bn, out of which 90% is said to be focused on creators from Tier 1 cities, mainly Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi. With the launch of CreatorsClout, SocioClout is set to tap into the untapped market and bridge the gap between vernacular creators and brands, leading to monetisation opportunities for creators through more mainstream, large brands.
CreatorsClout will be in charge of providing a variety of services to onboarded creators, including Talent Management, End-to-End Campaign Execution, Content Strategy, Mentorship Programs, Market Research, In-House Content Production, and Post Production.
Twitch announces ban on unlicensed gambling livestreams after backlash
Twitch said it is planning to ban the streaming of certain crypto gambling websites in an effort to protect users from potential harm.
The livestreaming platform, owned by Amazon.com Inc., announced the update to its gambling policies in a statement posted on Twitter Tuesday. The ban will prohibit streaming of sites including slots, roulette and dice websites that aren’t licensed in the U.S. or “other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection”. It said the ban takes effect Oct. 18.
The policy change comes after some of the platform’s top streamers threatened to stop using the platform if Twitch didn’t change its policy on gambling streams.
Twitch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gambling across the platform has long been controversial, with the company facing backlash from streamers and users for not reigning in popular gambling categories that could have harmful effects, particularly on young users.
Twitch said the ban applies to sites including Stake.com, Rollbit.com and Duelbits.com and that it “may identify others as we move forward.” The company added it would not ban sports betting, fantasy sports such as fantasy football or poker.
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Registration Required
Great Paywalled Content
Influencers Can't Get Brand Deals on Instagram's Creator Marketplace - Business Insider
Bethany Everett-Ratcliffe, a fashion creator with 70,000 Instagram followers, was one of many influencers disappointed to find out that Instagram was shutting down its affiliate marketing program.
The program was one of many initiatives aimed at helping creators make money and allowed them to earn a commission from in-app sales. In July, Instagram confirmed it was sunsetting the effort.
There was, however, a silver lining: Instagram would now focus on building out its creator-brand marketplace, a space where brands can discover and message influencers about paid partnerships and sponsored content.
"Campaigns are my biggest income," Everett-Ratcliffe told Insider last fall. "Being able to do that through Instagram would be huge."
Instagram's Creator Marketplace is currently invite only. Creators can see if they are eligible by checking their professional dashboard in the app. Screengrab/Instagram
For about a year, influencers waited in anticipation for the feature to drop. And in July, Instagram unveiled the program, inviting select creators, including Everett-Ratcliffe, to test out the feature.
But two months in, "I've got nothing," she said. And she's not alone.
Twitch Creator Chief Constance Knight Exits Amid Streamer Pay Controversy - Bloomberg
The senior vice president of global creators at Twitch told employees she is leaving the company on the same day it announced changes to how the video game streaming platform will pay top talent.
In a letter to employees Wednesday obtained by Bloomberg, Constance Knight said she is embarking on a “new adventure that provides exciting growth opportunities for me both professionally and personally” that is also “in the creator space.” Knight previously held similar positions at Instagram and YouTube.
Knight resigned after Amazon.com Inc.-owned Twitch announced that it’s reducing the amount of money its biggest streamers can earn from subscriptions. Online celebrities, like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, have been able to earn sometimes millions of dollars playing games and chatting with fans with an agreement that had offered them as much as 70% of revenue from fan’s subscriptions to their channels.
But in a move to boost profitability, Twitch President Dan Clancy said in a blog post that, starting next June, these top streamers will receive 70% of the revenue up to $100,000 earned, and then drop down to the standard 50/50 split. Bloomberg News reported on the planned changes to revenue sharing in April.
“We can’t run this service unless you make money,” Clancy said. “That’s not a drawback; it’s by design. This innate partnership is why we support all streamers’ careers and ambitions like they’re our own.” Clancy said the “vast majority” of Twitch streamers operate with the 50/50 revenue split. A lack of transparency and inconsistency in who gets what deals--and on what terms--prompted the need for a revamp of the policy, he said.
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