The Talent Brief · Vol. 1 · Issue 27 (Revised Review Draft)
Private Preview: The Talent Brief -- October 28, 2026
Tubi and TikTok have selected 12 creators for 10 original series, while Banijay is taking Don't Tell Comedy's stand-up library into streaming distribution. MrBeast's Mastercard partnership and Lego's first celebrity talent partnerships hire add two different buyers to the conversation. This revised draft also covers creator pay, holiday brand briefs and the contract risks behind the latest sports and music disputes.
MrBeast and Mastercard plan financial tools for creators
Mastercard has partnered with MrBeast's Beast Industries to develop co-branded programs for creators. Tubefilter reports that the planned work spans card programs and experiences, alongside business tools and education. The partners also plan to help creators with hiring, product development and audience engagement. Mastercard will contribute its payments network, while Beast Industries brings its creator audience and business operations. The announcement describes planned services rather than a broadly available creator financing program.
DMG says social-only briefs now supply 30% of New Media revenue
DMG Media's New Media director Nathan Aspell says social-only campaigns now account for 30% of the division's revenue. Those briefs exclude the group's print and website products. Aspell told Digiday that the social component of one cross-platform campaign signed this month was worth seven figures, but DMG has not disclosed the division's total revenue. The division employs 25 salaried creators, and the company owns the formats they develop. Aspell says creators appear in 90% of its branded content.
SharkNinja puts commission bands on its holiday creator push
SharkNinja's new Storytellers affiliate program pays everyday creators 8% to 10% commission, professional creators 8% to 12%, and invited VIPs 12% to 15%, Glossy reports. US applicants need at least 1,000 total followers. Professional creators can also access paid briefs and masterclasses, while a separate First Fans program recruits the company's employees. SharkNinja says its brand and creator content generated more than 19 billion impressions across more than 200,000 posts this year. It has not disclosed sales attributable to the new programs.
Lego hires its first celebrity talent partnerships head
Lego has hired Kelsey Gray Sherman as its first head of celebrity talent and brand first partnerships. Sherman joins from WME, where she was vice president of the Entertainment Marketing & Advisory group. She will work in Los Angeles and report to Jill Wilfert, Lego’s senior vice president of Entertainment, Partnerships & Content. Lego said Sherman will build relationships with entertainers and brands beyond traditional licensing and product collaborations. She also joins the division’s leadership team.
SBA guidance gives creators a clearer industry code, not automatic financing
Digiday's October 28 explainer examines the Small Business Administration's October 15 guidance for US creator businesses. The agency directs creators toward NAICS code 5121, Motion Picture and Video Industries, to reduce uncertainty on applications. Creators already qualified for support when they met the relevant program requirements, so the guidance does not create automatic loan eligibility. The SBA's 7(a) program has a $5 million maximum, while its microloan program offers loans of $50,000 or less. A separate proposed size-standard exception remains subject to a public comment period that closes November 20.
CAA signs Bloodline Banter after a fast live-show sellout
CAA has signed Nashville-based cousins Landon Mauk and Riley Mitchell, the comedy duo behind Bloodline Banter. Deadline reports that their first announced live show in Huntsville, Alabama, sold out in less than 10 minutes. The pair added two more shows at the same venue, which also sold out in that time. They are setting touring plans for 2027 and 2028 and want to expand beyond the podcast into merchandise and brand partnerships. Scripted television and pay-per-view content are also part of their plans.
Instagram tests 90-minute Features with select US creators
Instagram is extending its Features test to select US creators, with videos of up to 90 minutes. Adam Mosseri and product executive Tessa Lyons previewed the long-form options on October 26, according to Social Media Today. A related Clips as Reels test lets creators link up to eight clips back to a longer video. Both tests previously ran in Brazil, and broader access is planned over the coming months. The report does not identify a new guaranteed ad-revenue share for Features creators.
Meta moves disputed commercial terms deadline to November 20
Meta has delayed its updated Commercial Terms and Self-Serve Ad Terms from October 30 to November 20 after publisher objections, Digiday reports. The disputed language concerns websites associated with business accounts on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. Meta removed the word 'train' on October 16 and narrowed the stated use of scraped content to advertising and business products. Publisher groups say those revisions do not resolve their concerns about permission and compensation. Meta says the update does not change how it crawls content and that owners can still signal preferences through robots.txt.
Banijay takes Don't Tell Comedy's library into streaming distribution
Banijay America has partnered with Don’t Tell Comedy to expand the stand-up producer’s streaming distribution and develop longer-form programming. Deadline reports that the agreement covers 115 hours of stand-up content from a brand with 14 million followers. Banijay Rights will distribute the library across international AVOD, FAST and SVOD platforms, including Prime Video Direct. Banijay will also launch dedicated YouTube channels and support new projects, brand partnerships and financing opportunities. Don’t Tell produces more than 5,000 secret-location shows a year worldwide, according to the report.
Tubi and TikTok select 12 creators for 10 original series
Tubi and TikTok have selected 12 creators to develop 10 original series through their Creatorverse Incubator. The slate includes Sabrina Brier's Asking for a Friend, Allie Tran's Scare Tours and Marc Sebastian's A Great Australian Gay Sidequest. Other projects bring animation and scripted comedy to the Fox-owned streaming platform. TikTok helped identify the participants, and Tubi says the resulting series will run exclusively on its service. The companies have not disclosed creator compensation or release dates in the announcements reviewed.
Chicken Shop Date turns its final series into a cinema event
Amelia Dimoldenberg will bring the final Chicken Shop Date series to cinemas for one night on November 24, Variety reports. The event spans the UK, Ireland and Paris through a collaboration with YouTube's Cine Club. All six episodes will screen alongside exclusive new material, with the unreleased finale available before its November 27 YouTube debut. Invite-only premieres in London and New York will take place on November 16 and 17, with Dimoldenberg at Q&As. The screening closes a format she has made for 12 years.
Lush keeps paying creators while avoiding paid social ads
Lush still works with creators despite its withdrawal from paid advertising on major social platforms, North America marketing head Julia Hamfelt told Digiday. The beauty retailer directs money toward creator partnerships and events alongside its own customer channels. Hamfelt says its app has 2.8 million users and its global email list reaches more than 6 million people, but she did not disclose marketing spend. Lush reported 2025 revenue of £736.2 million, up from £672.7 million in 2024. Those results do not establish how much revenue creator partnerships generated, and Lush has not yet reported 2026 financials.
Bath & Body Works hires Zooey Deschanel for its holiday sales push
Bath & Body Works launched its Season of Wonder holiday campaign with Zooey Deschanel on October 26. The campaign will run on billboards in markets such as New York and Los Angeles, across streaming platforms, and on TikTok and Instagram, Glossy reports. Deschanel has also curated a gift guide of her favorite products. Executive vice president of merchandising Kristie Lewis says the holiday season drives roughly 40% of the retailer's overall business. The company is also extending holiday distribution through Ulta Beauty and Amazon as it works to reverse declining sales.
Neil Young seeks $10 million over political use of his song
Neil Young has sued Trump 47 Committee for $10 million over alleged unauthorized use of Rockin' in the Free World. Music Business Worldwide reports that Young filed the complaint in federal court in Virginia on October 26 after an October 12 rally in Youngstown, Ohio. The lawsuit concerns rights in the composition, and Donald Trump is not personally named as a defendant. Young also seeks an order to stop the committee from performing the song or other compositions he owns. The $10 million is a demand, not an award, and the filing does not explain how Young calculated it.
NBA licenses prediction-market rights to Kalshi and Polymarket
The NBA has named Kalshi and Polymarket its preferred prediction-market partners, Front Office Sports reports. Both companies receive NBA intellectual-property rights for their apps and marketing, plus official data through Sportradar. The parties did not disclose financial terms, and the WNBA is outside the commercial agreement unless it reaches separate deals. DraftKings is separately expanding its NBA agreement to include prediction markets and nationwide promotion. NBA players and league and team employees remain prohibited from trading NBA event contracts.
Chinese sponsors drop Mbappé after a resurfaced interview clip
Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground terminated sponsorship agreements with Kylian Mbappé after an interview clip resurfaced, Front Office Sports reports. In the clip, the Real Madrid star discussed a meme of himself and referred to Mao Zedong as a dictator. Mbappé apologized on Tuesday and said he understood that his comment had hurt people in China and Chinese communities abroad. The report says Chinese state television suspended LaLiga broadcasts and removed ads with Mbappé. LaLiga president Javier Tebas also apologized and said the league was working with its partners in China.
Podnews finds 1,778 podcast copies on Spreaker
Podnews says it identified 1,778 podcasts copied onto Spreaker through an analysis of Podcast Index data dated October 24. Its October 27 investigation found copies of shows from publishers such as PodcastOne, Vox Media and Goalhanger. Podnews also tested the import process and says Spreaker approved monetization of its test copy without a feed-ownership check. Spreaker told Podnews it does not condone unauthorized uploads, takes action against violations, and honors the podcast:locked tag. Podnews says copied feeds can divert listeners and advertising revenue from the original publishers.
Quick Hits
YouTube tests a $20 payout minimum
YouTube is testing a $20 payment threshold instead of its usual $100 minimum for selected creators in the US, India and Indonesia. The experiment applies from October payments and changes access to earned money, not the revenue share.
Social Media Today →Remove Podcorn's prefix before November 1
Podnews warns that shows still using Podcorn's analytics prefix could stop working when the service closes November 1. It counted 13,362 affected feeds. Check each client's feed and remove the prefix before the deadline.
Podnews →MeidasTouch adds a 24/7 television channel
MeidasTouch Network has launched a 24/7 news channel with Swerve TV on Amazon Prime Video and Fire TV, Podnews reports. Keep television distribution rights separate when negotiating podcast appearances or sponsorship extensions.
Podnews →Daylight Media signs Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg's show
Daylight Media has signed The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show, according to Podnews. McCarthy Wahlberg previously hosted The Jenny McCarthy Show on SiriusXM. The report does not disclose financial terms or representation scope.
Podnews →