HeyJaredThe Upload
🎙 The Upload is your daily download of creator economy news, hosted by Rob Balasabas—creator business strategist and industry insider. Start your day with bite-sized updates, platform changes, and fresh insights to help you grow a sustainable creator business.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 4, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 10, 2026
Latest episodes
The Creator AI Crash Is Coming (and Why That's Good) | Jim Louderback (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Jim Louderback, editor of Inside the Creator Economy and the former GM of VidCon, joins The Upload for a wide-ranging conversation about where this whole industry is actually heading. Few people have watched the creator economy longer or more clearly, and Jim doesn't hold back. We get into YouTube's big Partner Program overhaul and what it really means, why organic virality has stopped being a business model, and his four-quadrant "fast food" framework for the new YouTube (from the McDonald's of
What It Really Takes to Scale a Creator Business | Josh Mattingly (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Josh Mattingly, founder of Upright Media and the self-described "Operating Partner to the Creator Economy," joins The Upload to pull back the curtain on the business behind some of the biggest channels on the internet. After 16 years working with the likes of Maker Studios, Smosh, Donut Media and Preston, Josh has a clear point of view: the next generation of creator businesses won't win because of the most talented founder or the best creative, they'll win because they build the strongest team.
The Experimental Mindset That Separates Creators Who Last | Ant McCormack (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Ant McCormack, co-founder of Changer and one of the people building in the creator economy before the term even existed, joins The Upload to talk about what it actually takes to build a creator business that lasts. We get into his big theory that most creators, once they have an audience to protect, start operating from fear instead of the experimental mindset that got them there in the first place, and how the best creators build a framework to keep testing without betting the whole business. A
Follower Count Is Dying and Superfans Are the Future | Lia Haberman (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Lia Haberman, writer of the ICYMI newsletter and one of the most trusted voices tracking the creator economy, joins The Upload to unpack where things are actually heading. We get into why follower count matters less than everyone thinks, the rise of superfans and smaller, more loyal communities, and why audiences are craving offline experiences (and how creators and brands can meet them there). Lia explains the shift from making videos to making shows, the micro-drama boom, and why brands like C
The Creator Economy Math Nobody Posts About (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Gross is the number you screenshot. Net is the number that pays your rent. Why smaller creators out-earn bigger ones, and the one question that reveals your real business. No names, all the lessons.
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.