Hello!

I spent Tuesday afternoon at the White House's holiday party for influencers. It was packed: more than 500 attendees mingled over spiked eggnog and cocktail shrimp, including hip-hop artist Flava Flav, comedian Keegan-Michael Key, reality TV star turned podcaster Harry Jowsey—and of course, the Bidens. 

Tuesday's party, the second year the Biden administration's Office of Digital Strategy hosted a holiday fest for creators and others working in the industry, was a fitting last hurrah for the most creator-focused administration to date. I expect the Trump administration, which heavily embraced podcasters on the campaign trail, to be even more aggressive in their efforts to further their message through influencers.

But I doubt it will look like the Biden White House's approach, which closely mirrored how they and other administrations had hosted traditional media in years past. Social media personalities came for briefings on the war in Ukraine and attended the 146-year-old presidential Easter Egg Roll. The White House even held its first-ever creator economy conference in August. Creators were also a key part of Biden's reelection campaign, though that strategy ran into hiccups at times, with some influencers arguing with the president about the Israel-Hamas war.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday made a short appearance alongside First Lady Jill Biden, giving a toast and offering a few last words about the growing importance of creators. 

"You use your influence and the platform you have to do everything that needs to be done, providing news and information in a way that is unvarnished," Biden said to a packed room adorned with garlands and giant Christmas trees. "You're empowering people to feel seen and heard, which they don't feel very much these days." 

He called the rise of the creator economy an "inflection point." 

"There is a fundamental change in the way the press works and the way communications work. You all are the folks speaking straight to the American people. They listen to you. It matters a lot," Biden said. 

In that way, Biden and the next president agree. Trump, who expertly has wielded his own social media presence to gain fans and voters, understood how streamers and other online personalities have supplanted traditional media and entertainment for young people. I'd expect Trump to continue appearing on creators' podcasts as president—a very 2025 version of NBC's Meet the Press—and he may even put together his own trusted group of creators, especially as a way to engage with young people.   

Despite that convergence in views, there was no mistaking that this was a party led by the Bidens—not the Trumps. 

At one point Harry Daniels, a TikTok creator with 1.7 million followers who rose to fame on the app for serenading celebrities, sang "American Teenager" by Ethel Cain. The recipient of the serenade? Hunter Biden, freshly pardoned of gun and tax evasion charges by his father.

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.

YouTube announced a partnership with Creative Artists Agency to offer celebrities and influential figures new technology to identify and manage content using their AI-generated likenesses on the video-sharing site. (Read more about the Hollywood talent agency's CAA Vault initiative to create AI clones of their top clients.)

Facebook said it's making the appearance of affiliate links more prominent to encourage more users to purchase products through creators' unique links.

Flipboard, the social magazine app, launched a new app called Surf to create custom feeds combining posts from platforms including YouTube, Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky. Currently there is a waitlist to download it. 

Squad, an influencer marketing company, launched a sponsor button on Famous Birthdays, a Wikipedia-like database of creators and celebrities. Through the sponsor button, advertisers can reach out to creators for deals or see suggestions for alternative talent options at different price points.

Threads added a new feature for resharing photos and videos from posts on Threads without including the original post. The username of the person who originally posted the photo or video will appear in the top left corner as a way to still give them credit. 

Creator Corner

Logan Paul announced he will box on Netflix on Jan. 6 as part of a live special. (Netflix has been pushing more into live events, but some, such as Paul's brother Jake fighting Mike Tyson, have been plagued with technical glitches.) 

Skibidi Toilet, a YouTube series from creator Alexey "Boom" Gerasimov, now has its own collection of skins, or digital outfits, on Fortnite. 

Offbrand, a company co-founded by top streamer Ludwig Ahgren, announced it failed to make its events business "sustainable," so it will shut down that part of the business. Offbrand will focus on video game publishing rather than producing events with creators. 

Kia worked with eight TikTok creators to produce a series of videos focused on its compact sedan, the Kia K4, including various customization options and features. 

Kajabi, a provider of online course software and other tools for creators, released a list of the top 24 "knowledge creators" of 2024, who focus on teaching audiences about topics ranging from gardening to space science. 

Creators on the list include Kat Norton, also known as Miss Excel, whose courses around office work have generated more than $20 million, and Humphrey Yang, who simplifies the mechanics of financial markets to his more than 61,000 newsletter subscribers.

Big Number: 50%

Instagram will soon make up half of parent company Meta Platforms' advertising revenue in the U.S., according to a forecast from research firm Emarketer. 

In 2025, Instagram is expected to generate $32 billion in U.S. advertising revenue, an increase of 24% from this year, according to the data. 

Thank you for reading the Creator Economy Newsletter! I'd love your feedback, ideas and tips: kaya@theinformation.com. 

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