YouTube Is Cleaning House in 2026 (AI Strikes & New Rules)

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Well, so here's the thing that people have to realize. Being on YouTube is a privilege. It's not the government. They don't need to do anything they don't want to. You are a tenant on YouTube's land, and they can kick you or evict you at any point.

[00:00:14]>> YouTube just deleted over 4.7 billion views worth of AI slot videos.

[00:00:19]>> YouTube declares war on deep fakes.

[00:00:21]>> I've actually stopped taking on channel terminations because I can't get the channels back.

[00:00:26]>> 12.4 24 million channels were terminated in the last 9 months of 2025 alone.

[00:00:33]>> Mhm.

[00:00:34]>> What's happening?

[00:00:34]>> YouTube is doing major cleaning house right now. We'll see it more play out, I guess, as more creators get hit with this. It's sort of a black box. YouTube doesn't show like this is how we decide certain things.

[00:00:48]>> All right, we're back on the Think Media podcast with the creators attorney, Tyler Chow.

[00:00:52]>> Hi, Sean. It's good to be here in person.

[00:00:55]>> Good to be here in person. for this episode. We have so much to talk about.

[00:00:58]There's a lot of legal news. There's a lot of relevant news for creators. Last time we talked though, you said one wrong move and your whole channel could disappear overnight. Since then, have things gotten worse or better?

[00:01:09]>> I think they've gotten worse because YouTube and you know, my focus is always YouTube because I I think if you want to build a media company, you need to build on YouTube. But it this applies to all the platforms. I think all the platforms are using AI to detect violations or AI content and AI as we know is not perfect. They make mistakes. So I'm seeing a lot of creators come to me losing their channels because of violations that aren't right. You know, are not it's not correct.

[00:01:40]>> And what kind of violations at least what are they being told?

[00:01:43]>> Well, so we've seen in the news where AI is detecting AI made content, but it's not really AI made content. So, that's an issue. Um, we've talked about on YouTube how community violations, violations of the terms of service are um, really on an uptick. I think YouTube is doing major cleaning house right now.

[00:02:06]They're trying to get rid of kind of slop content. They want their audience to have a good experience when they come on YouTube. So, they want to make sure that the quality of content is high so that you stay on the platform. That's the always the goal.

[00:02:20]>> And would that be closely linked with they want advertisers to also keep paying them?

[00:02:24]>> Sure. They want advertisers to have clean content, safe content, safe creators to put their, you know, run their ads through.

[00:02:33]>> What do you say to creators that are maybe curious about you can be within community guidelines? Even if your content is still more adult or has more cursing in it or things like that, you could still be okay. I mean, look, there's content that does curse and and they do find and there's a certain audience for that that loves it. But I know more and more creators who are, you know, maturing as a business. I I I know we're going to dig into that, but a lot of creators who are treating their YouTube channel as a business and they want to be brand safe. They want to make sure brands will work with them. So, they're cursing less >> and they're becoming a little more buttoned up and more adults in the room.

[00:03:15]Are you seeing that?

[00:03:16]>> I know it makes sense. I mean, if you want to be brand safe, you make a conscious decision to either are you going to die in the sword of, you know, more adult content or the sort of being broader appeal. And I suppose there's always a place because you could still get advertising on adult content. It's maybe the HBO >> sure >> side of YouTube that's leans that way.

[00:03:39]Whereas if you're broadest appeal possible, >> you know, familyfriendly or just Yeah.

[00:03:44]brand safe as you said you'd have the most financial opportunity I would imagine >> and your CPMs might be higher too.

[00:03:50]>> Yeah, that's fascinating. So going a little bit deeper into things are worse right now. There does seem to be a ton of buzz over deleted channels, demonetized channels. 12.4 million channels were terminated in the last nine months of 2025 alone.

[00:04:07]>> What's happening? Why are channels being deleted and demonetized? Again, I think this is YouTube wanting to just take away the headaches because the content that's out there that's, let's say, not safe or they're scammy or they potentially might trick the audiences and and I'm thinking about, you know, gambling or a lot of sweep stakes and giveaways. A lot of channels are trying to buy, you know, views and and subscribers by by giving away things.

[00:04:40]And I think YouTube is really doing away with those because the more that happens, the more complaints they get. And the more complaints they get, it's like more manhour that YouTube has to put into um policing these channels. So why not just get rid of them and allow healthy channel that really is is growing the platform to to thrive and to stay.

[00:05:05]>> Yeah, >> that that's really my thought.

[00:05:07]>> So there's a story of an automative creator named Chase Carr who actually the body of YouTube ruled his termination as night not rightful. So his channel was terminated but yet YouTube was still refusing to comply four months later. It seems to be that they're that YouTube is not subject to normal legal accountability the way that most entities are. Meaning YouTube did not honor this ruling without looking at the details. What's your take on that?

[00:05:37]These are people trying to appeal their channel being wrongfully terminated.

[00:05:41]>> Well, so here's the thing that people have to realize. Being on YouTube is a privilege. YouTube is a privatelyowned company. It's not the government. They don't need to do anything they don't want to. YouTube gets to decide the rules. If they decide these types of channels are better for our platform, then we're going to grow those. If they decide these types of channels pull our platform down, we're going to terminate them or or not let them come back. And I think this is the point I really want to drive across to every creator out there.

[00:06:14]You are a tenant on YouTube's land.

[00:06:18]>> YouTube is the landlord. and they can kick you or evict you at any point. This is why I always talk about you have to build on your own land. You have to have your email list. You have to know who your audience is away from the platforms. And that's really been a big focus for me in the last year since our last conversation even.

[00:06:35]>> So go a little bit deeper on that. What what are the practical steps that every creator listening should be doing?

[00:06:41]Building an email list or is there other options?

[00:06:43]>> I think number one is the email list. If you take away anything from this conversation, it's do you know who's in your audience? If your YouTube channel were to go down tomorrow, would you know how to access your audience? Most creators say no.

[00:07:01]>> And that's a problem because YouTube and Meta and Tik Tok don't give you access to that data. And I would say data is the new oil. private equity fund is coming out of the woodworks wanting to buy creator channels and creatorled businesses and the number one thing that they look at is your data in your audience numbers. Do you actually have the emails, phone numbers? Do you have an ability to reach those audience members to sell something to them?

[00:07:29]>> And so I would say give a free PDF, give something of value to your audience and and you need to grab those emails for your newsletter, for your community.

[00:07:39]Those are kind of other revenue streams that I really help creators build out beyond AdSense and brand deals.

[00:07:44]>> In just a moment, I want to unpack that conversation a little bit more. But on this idea of some of the legal stuff that's been happening on YouTube, I know that this is maybe more fringe examples, but I'm sure listeners have not heard about this thing from YouTube called Second Chances. This is a program for terminated creators that I think happened perhaps during the pandemic.

[00:08:07]One of the biggest ones was there's actually a settlement with Donald Trump.

[00:08:12]2 point $24.5 million >> YouTube settled for Trump's 2021 account suspension lawsuit. So he not only then would get that money but obviously get reinstated.

[00:08:28]>> I mean maybe it's a simple take on what's happening there. They had no emission of wrongdoing and no policy change. Um but it might seem that maybe what would be uh perhaps overreach during the pandemic is now being pulled back in. Give us some context for what do you think is happening.

[00:08:45]>> So yes, the second chances program is exciting from the surface. So many creators so they say couldn't get a chance to get their channel back. And I but but it's very narrow on the definition of who are the creators who can get their channels back. I think during the pandemic there were certain rules that YouTube put into place as to there are certain things you can't say about about COVID or about treatments or you you name it, right? The kind of taboo things or you can't give false medical advice. And YouTube has decided since it no longer applies that they're going to give those uh creators a second chance to get their channels back. I believe the rule is they have to start at zero again and it's a very narrow definition of who gets their challenge back. There are I think some who might have talked about the election or about the news in certain ways and those restrictions are no longer applicable.

[00:09:45]So YouTube is saying those channels who maybe talked about the election can get their um a second chance to get their channels back.

[00:09:53]>> Gotcha. So, I want to talk a little bit about fair use, copyright strikes, and some of the lawsuits. This is always an evolving um kind of topic. One, fair use is a massive opportunity because there's React channels that are building huge businesses, movie review channels, or people commentating, making video essays using fair use in a lot of creative ways. Um, but you told us last time that fair use is not a real protection on YouTube.

[00:10:21]>> That's right. And now the creator who literally won the landmark fair use case in 2017 is actually suing other reaction creators. Have you heard about this?

[00:10:31]>> No.

[00:10:32]>> So Ethan Klene, who won that original reaction case, actually sued Casey Tron, Denmiss, and Frogan in June 2025.

[00:10:44]>> $150,000 per violation. Uh Casey Tron already settled. I'm just kind of curious. Does this change how reaction creators should structure their content?

[00:10:54]I don't know the details of this exact case, but it's kind of interesting the nuances of who's using what or who's reacting to what could be defamation, these different things like that.

[00:11:04]>> Well, so I think, you know, I've said this be before on our conversations, but it repeats repeating to creators who might need to hear it a second time. So, anytime you use someone else's content in your content, that original IP holder, >> let let's say somebody takes one of your videos and puts it as B-roll in their videos. You could technically go put a copyright strike on their video because they didn't get your permission, they didn't license it, they didn't pay you, right? And YouTube can make that rule and they have made it a rule because there are so many violations of IP, you know, improper use of IP now that they're allowing the parties to just hash it out themselves.

[00:11:51]In the past, I I believe a few years ago, for a long time, YouTube would step in and try to kind of mediate between the parties and figure out like was there fair fair use? You know, is this a proper usage? YouTube is not doing that anymore because just from a p sheer volume standpoint, they can't step in and police that anymore.

[00:12:10]>> So, in court, let's say, you know, and and this is where Ethan's um lawsuits are interesting. If he's going to court and saying, "You're using my content without permission."

[00:12:22]That defendant could say to the judge, "Well, your jud, you know, your honor, I use this content because it's it was transformed. You know, it was a parody.

[00:12:31]it was for educational purposes. You for fair use has this fourprong test.

[00:12:36]Perhaps the judge could say, "Oh, okay.

[00:12:39]That was a fair use." But on YouTube, that is not a defense anymore. And I think a lot of creators get caught up thinking, "Well, I can use this clip, you know, because I'm doing critique on it or it's it's kind of a news coverage." Um, >> and it's fair use. And it's just not the case anymore. I can't remember if we talked about this the last time about IP trolls really um attacking the bigger uh reaction channels and >> expand on that. IP trolls. IP trolls are basically looking at big YouTubers who are doing reaction channels and then going to the smaller creators and then either buying or licensing their content and then going back to that big creators and saying I own 25 of the B-roll clips in your compilation and if you don't pay me the six figure ransom fee basically I'm going to take your channel down. and I've had to deal with several of these IP trolls and we basically um have to pay the ransoms, >> have to settle.

[00:13:41]>> And so I'm telling a lot of big YouTubers to no longer do reaction videos or to clear those videos before they use them.

[00:13:49]>> And that's very interesting. I think listeners might lean on that if they're hesitating to react to different types of things. It would seem that some things might be okay. Like some industries, like if you're reacting to um uh the recent pre White House press press briefing, >> news tends to be a little bit, from what I've seen, it's not 100% right. News >> um when people pull a clip from it and they use it sort of in a very neutral way, yeah, it's fine. This is something that creators can think about when they're trying to use someone's footage.

[00:14:29]If you're going to be neutral or positive about the usage, it's probably going to be okay. But if you're going to like go after someone and it's derogatory, it could potentially be defamatory that there's more of a likelihood that person's going to come after you.

[00:14:43]>> Okay?

[00:14:44]>> If somebody takes one of your videos, Sean, and like says why you're a bad person, you're probably going to go after them. But if they're like, "Oh my god, look at Sean's channel. He's teaching educators, you know, he's educating creators. You're probably not going to go after them because there's also a cost of policing. I used to work at Disney and we would not actively go after infringers. Not be because we didn't want to, but just because there was I Disney owns so much IP to go after every infringer. Now, if somebody brought a case of, wow, they're really, you know, like talking really bad things about Disney, you should go after them.

[00:15:23]That's what usually when it's we would go after an infringer is for that violation is if it was um making us look bad or hurting our business and we were informed, we were given notice that violation. That's usually when companies would go after people. So, for the creator that wants to um I mean, we're talking about news, but we're living in a world where if you wanted to storytell around politics, around health, about around anything, you also might recount the story and edit in a photo of the person.

[00:15:59]>> Sure.

[00:15:59]>> Uh B-roll clips. You know, there's whole faceless channels. Um, meaning, you know, there's no brand behind it, but it covers all things Tesla and Elon Musk, and they get big views because they'll >> they'll cover everything SpaceX is doing, and they'll cover all these new batteries in this new place. And they pulled together clips and video clips and live streams.

[00:16:20]>> It seems like they're getting away with it, and that would be under fair use.

[00:16:24]>> Um, >> it again, it's not necessarily fair use.

[00:16:29]It's more that the IP holder here Tesla has probably made a business decision saying this is good for our business because it's basically free marketing and again yeah if it's not negative it's not derogatory it's not hurting their business a lot of the businesses will allow it to happen I mean there there's a huge trend now and you I'm sure you've seen it you know Steven Barlet's diary of co is huge now and there's so many people clipping yes >> their clips and using it And people have asked me, well, how come you diary of a CEO Steven Barllet hasn't gone after them? Now, we don't know what happens behind the scenes. A lot of times people might reach out and say, stop using it.

[00:17:09]So, it might be happening and they don't make it public or they just think it's good marketing for them because if they have show a 60second clip, it sends them to the long form because that happens to me sometimes. I'll I'll think, wow, that's a cool conversation and then I'll go watch the full episode. So all of these channels are basically clipping for Steven Barlet. He doesn't have to do it himself.

[00:17:32]>> Yeah.

[00:17:32]>> So you you mentioned if you're if you're speaking positive, then you're probably good there. But >> it's not bulletproof, right? But most likely, >> but if it is more potentially defamatory, you know, there's the Logan Paul versus Coffeezilla.

[00:17:47]>> Yes.

[00:17:48]>> Uh which is going to trial on May 4th.

[00:17:51]>> Oh, fascinating. I didn't I didn't know he got a trial date. What happens to creator commentary culture depending on who wins?

[00:17:59]>> This will be a lesson for all creators.

[00:18:02]>> If you talk about somebody in a negative light, in a w potentially defamatory, >> Yeah.

[00:18:10]>> you might always get hit with a lawsuit >> and because that's the beauty and nightmare of living in the US, right?

[00:18:18]You can sue and be sued by anybody.

[00:18:19]>> Yeah. But that, you know, coffee zella story and I and I love talking about it because his, you know, insurance agent really failed him. Didn't give him the defamation coverage, right?

[00:18:32]>> And had he had it, he that insurance would have covered his litigation costs.

[00:18:37]>> Um, so that's number one for creators out there. Get your insurance. If you're talking about product, if you're doing product reviews or talking about people, you should have, you know, defamation and insurance coverage. But you always run into this risk. I'm I'm really excited to see what's going to happen because a lot of behind the scenes, you know, this uh information will come out during discovery and during trial. But depending on on the verdict or what happens to this trial, it might inform creators whether or not they can do these kind of journalistic >> content or not and and and kind of maybe give guidelines as to how they should approach it. And I think Coffeezella's defense will be a defense to defamation is the truth. Yes.

[00:19:22]>> So if he can prove what he said was true, then he will most likely not, you know, not be found liable for damages.

[00:19:29]>> And so and and does this is that tie into the term where allegedly might not be enough? Saying the word allegedly because a lot of what Coffeezilla will do is at a point will be like allegedly this is the news so far. This is what's happening.

[00:19:46]I think going out there and saying like Logan Paul is actually a scammer versus allegedly he potentially scammed people is is that protection for him depending on >> um >> to a point yes saying this is my opinion this is what's been alleged I think always um I think lessens how how visceral and you know how negative it could be but at the end of the day If Logan Paul can prove that what he said was false, right? What Coffeezella said was false and it hurt his business, right? Because it's twoprong. It's not just it has to you have to prove damages. It can't just be, oh, this person >> hurt my feelings. The courts have to have something that they can give back to someone who's been damaged.

[00:20:35]>> Yes. They have to be able to say, "Okay, Logan Paul, your business took a $3 million hit this year, and we can and you know, they'll they'll probably need forensic accountants to come in and say, you know, to show if not for Coffeezella's reports, you know, his business would have done that this can't just be your honor, he hurt my feelings and said bad things about me." No, it actually has to hurt his business.

[00:20:58]>> You know, it makes me wonder how boldly creators can or should talk about real people. This isn't everybody's niche, but there's actually um Kevin Oly just won $2.8 million uh against a crypto influencer who called him a murderer.

[00:21:13]>> Oh, >> on X.

[00:21:15]>> So, I'm guessing that was false, too.

[00:21:17]So, it's quite the bold claim. But on February 2026, Ben Armstrong bit boy crypto >> default judgment for not even responding. Mental health was rejected as excuse and two point 2.8 million was awarded. So the defamation defamation exposure most creators um are probably un misunderstanding it cuz YouTube gives us this opportunity to maybe commentate on a scandal, commentate on >> people of course all have their opinion on the cold play >> affair thing >> I in in the faith space >> uh that's kind of you know partly my world have a background in church there's been a lot of different like moral failings in these big churches across America >> and there's a whole bunch of YouTube creators that get a lot of views covering this.

[00:22:03]>> This makes me wonder, you know, Kevin Oly won.

[00:22:08]Probably because he was able to He's probably not a murderer, I'm guessing.

[00:22:12]>> Yes.

[00:22:13]>> So, I think the truth was not a defense there.

[00:22:16]>> Yeah. So, I'm just curious how boldly creators should be thinking about if they're going to be talking about real people and starting these small YouTube channels or maybe you start small, but your video goes viral, all of a sudden, you know, you're on blast talking about somebody else.

[00:22:29]>> Well, this this brings to mind, you know, the Blake Lively and the Justin Baldoni lawsuit that's been happening there.

[00:22:37]>> Explain the details of that. Um, so the these two, you know, actors were um on a movie together and Blake Lively claimed that um the director Justin Baldoni um sexually harassed her, you know, on set and so it became this huge thing where Discovery was done and you know their publicists and their managers and and Taylor Swift was brought into it because Taylor is a friend of Blakes's and all their text messages came out. So it's like just realize that during litigation everything comes out.

[00:23:11]>> Anything you put in writing might be shown to the world. And what happened there was a lot of people started covering it journalists. There's one woman particularly like her channel completely like I think blew up to like a million because she was covering it every single day.

[00:23:30]>> Yeah. and she took a position right as to who was like the the the bad person.

[00:23:36]Um I think like and don't quote me because I can't remember if if she like was more on Justin's side or more on Blake's side. But the point here is she took a side and le let's say she she was against Blake, right? So Blake could potentially come after her and say your coverage of of this entire time in in the dispute really hurt my image and my business. And there are headlines now that say nobody wants to hire her anymore. And you know, she's Ryan Reynolds's wife. And so it's just like >> this could hurt her career as an actress. And could she prove that because of this woman's coverage of her every single day that put this false narrative out there that it hurt her business?

[00:24:17]>> Yeah. I think every creator has to approach these kind of um journalistic uh channels, their content with um some caution because they might get sued >> um because they're talking negatively about somebody.

[00:24:37]>> Totally.

[00:24:38]>> This would apply to creators who do products, product reviews, you know, tech reviews. We certainly have seen those headlines where a creator says, "Oh, this is crap." you know, sorry, my language, this is a terrible product and and then that product tanks, >> right? And and so we have a lot of power as creators. We have potentially sometimes millions of people listening to us. We have to be careful I I think the power that we hold.

[00:25:04]>> Can brands be implicated? So there's a there's a uh cons there's a creator named Candace Owens.

[00:25:10]>> Okay. and she has been talking at length about Charlie Kirk's death, >> but also all with all kinds of theories and many would say conspiracy theories.

[00:25:24]>> I'm talking at length, like daily hour to two hour podcasts and for a while was getting one to two to three million views.

[00:25:32]>> Wow.

[00:25:32]>> Um, number one, it brings up the idea that is there time when Turning Point USA files a lawsuit. Number two though, as she's going through these episodes, you know, mid episode she she might be like, "Today's episode's brought to you by" and when you insert the brand, is the brand completely safe in the midst of choosing to sponsor content that could be if it is commentary, if it's getting into that environment.

[00:25:58]>> That's a great question. So, I guide a lot of creators about having mutual indemnity when they do their brand sponsorships. Usually, it's to protect them against the brand. Yeah. But in this situation, because it's mutual, it would protect the brand. So if the brand got sued because of what the creator said, >> yes, >> then the creator would have to pay the brand's legal fees if they get pulled into it.

[00:26:25]>> So this is why brands are very careful about the types of creators that they work with.

[00:26:30]>> I'm I don't know what type of brand is sponsoring her content. And I mean it just for for for someone who represents I represent brands and agencies and creators. I would be very hesitant. I would tell the brand you know be very careful here about working with a creator whose content >> is very risky. It's you know it might open you up to liability for a lawsuit.

[00:26:54]And so in that in that sense if the brand still decides to go forward I would make sure that their indemnity is very strong. I would may even confirm that the creator has defamation and ENO insurance and add the brand to as an additional insured onto that policy which can go both ways. By the way, I'm doing a big campaign for one of my clients right now with Google and we're we're making Google add my client onto their additional insured.

[00:27:20]>> Wow, >> that's a that's that's powerful. That's why people should work with you.

[00:27:25]>> Yeah. Well, you do get that extra layer of protection, I think, when you work with an attorney. Yes. which I got many more questions for you, but I want to you're mentioning a few things that we've covered in past episodes that I want to remind listeners. There's a couple good ones in the archive to listen to after this and of course all your info in case people want to reach out. Uh before we move on to the next topic, you actually mentioned um Nintendo by name in our last conversation. I think we were talking about different say gaming companies.

[00:27:52]Most are fine with you streaming their content. some cracked down more, you know, but actually Nintendo sued a streamer for $7.5 million >> for streaming pre-release games.

[00:28:04]>> So, they must have >> known they were pre-release and maybe was willing to do that. I don't that's that's a scary amount. I can't imagine the streamer can hang with those numbers, but the streamer was uh Everyday Guru >> and uh this was filed in 2024 in Colorado with 7.5 million sought. I'm curious your take on like gaming creators or emulation or the myth that let's plays are safe.

[00:28:29]>> Again, it really depends on the game developer.

[00:28:34]Um, some are a lot more relaxed and some because it helps them, right? You think about Roblox, you think about Minecraft, like it helps their brand to allow creators to react and, you know, and and and and stream on with their content. Nintendo has notoriously been really more strict than other game developers. I haven't heard about this case, but just the fact that you said it was a pre-release, right? So this really hurt their bottom line because this this goes back to the same analogy as pirated films when when films are not yet released and they get you know put onto the you know these black market websites and people stream them ahead of time and then they release all the the kind of spoilers. It hurts like why would anybody pay to go to the theater so they can just watch it at home. So, I think there have been a lot of historical precedent where companies will go after infringers because they need to basically send a message out to the public that you can't do this. You can't pir it. You can't pre-release our content because we're looking to make millions of dollars from it and you have potentially um hurt us by, you know, maybe it's it's it's 25%, maybe it's 50% of our revenue. So that's why I'm not surprised at that big number that they they went after this creator for >> talking about copyright claims versus strikes and how what AI is changing. We mentioned it a little bit earlier, but um YouTube's AI is demonetizing even original animation channels, mistaking them for AI slop. So the question is, how do you prove if your content is real? Um, in February 2026, Dino Me Mania over a million subs and other animation channels were hit by an AI policy as >> um, one of the channels in our community got inauthentic content.

[00:30:32]>> They had a Bible stories channel. They were making $30,000 a month in YouTube ad revenue.

[00:30:37]>> Wow.

[00:30:37]>> Um, you know, AI writing the scripts, AI voice, AI animation, but they're, you know, making these episodes and the whole channel got demonetized.

[00:30:46]I don't know if you're any of your clients. The question, how how do you prove your content is real? If you're appealing this and it feels like there's just these broad strokes by YouTube.

[00:30:57]Yeah. How do you navigate that?

[00:30:59]>> So, this is where really being a more buttoned up business comes into play. M >> you have to start keeping track of your content and this is the copyright rule. If original content is created by humans that that's basically the most broad copyright law. If you use AI to create your animations, let's say you you should be able to show like, okay, this is the first version that AI made for me, but then a human animator or editor went in and actually made changes to make it not AI, not fully AI. I don't actually know. A again, this is a little bit vague because YouTube doesn't actually share their methodologies of how they determine something is is purely AI or not AI. Um, and I know that this type of recordkeeping and bookkeeping is something that trips up a lot of creators because we just have to get our content out there. Sometimes people make five videos a day. the the idea of clearing B-roll, clearing reaction channel videos, like it's just a lot >> and it kills the creative spirit.

[00:32:19]>> It it does it kills speed and it kills the speed. But and we'll talk about this later, you know, when you want to sell your business, when you want to license your content, you have to prove that you own it all.

[00:32:29]>> So for the AI, it's the cleanest answer would be to to make your own content and not use AI, right? That's the biggest defense if if YouTube were to say this is AI content. Um, but if you're using AI to do your animations, I mean, that's it's so tricky because you could say, well, the prompts were done by me, a human, you know, that the the AI couldn't have made this content without the the human input. And so, that's where you might even have to show you put in the prompts, you do screenshots, right? you you you show the content you like you you have to prove a record of what is the human elements of this content and we'll see it more play out I guess as more creators get hit with this but it's sort of a black box YouTube doesn't show like this is how we decide certain things right you know I've I've worked on so many copyright strikes or channel terminations and sometimes we just get a channel back and we never get an explanation why or we never get it back and they also don't explain So, it's really hard for me to guide.

[00:33:35]And I will share with you, Sean, I've actually stopped taking on channel terminations because I can't get the channels back sometimes. And I don't want to take on a case where I can't.

[00:33:47]You're like, maybe I'll get it back, maybe I won't, but that's and I don't have enough information.

[00:33:51]>> And I don't like taking money from creators where, yeah, maybe 50% of the time I'll get your channel back, but like I don't want to take the chance that you're the other 50 that I can't get it back. So now I just don't take them on anymore.

[00:34:02]>> Interesting. If you're an entrepreneur or a creator that wants to scale their online business, that's why we created the Think Media Mastermind.

[00:34:10]>> I have so much more clarity as to my ideal target audience now, which means my content is about to be so much better and more targeted towards the exact person I'm trying to reach.

[00:34:20]>> Super intimate, highlevel strategy.

[00:34:22]>> I had the skills that I already knew sharpened. I feel like I went to my next level.

[00:34:29]>> For entrepreneurs and creators that want to scale with YouTube, >> this was the first time that I was able to get in a room with a lot of other serious YouTubers and talk with other people who love creating content and love YouTube. Usually, I don't get to do that. So, this is really special.

[00:34:45]>> You can check it out at think mediamind.com.

[00:34:49]Yeah, I think it's that's scary for creators. they might have a fear of starting, but what you're saying, of course, if you're creating original content, it's not something you have to worry about.

[00:34:59]>> Correct.

[00:35:00]>> Um, but if you do want to step into using AI, it it sounds like what I'm hearing is you need to professionalize your business.

[00:35:08]>> Yes.

[00:35:08]>> Like, and if you're you should be thinking this many moves ahead. What maybe what will happen the day if I'm questioned and if you're ready for the day you're questioned. Oh, yeah. This is our process. because there's plenty of animation channels which YouTube loves.

[00:35:22]>> AI is just a tool potentially to create that animation that's now at a barrier of entry that's available almost to anybody.

[00:35:29]>> Exactly.

[00:35:29]>> At this point.

[00:35:30]>> Mhm.

[00:35:31]>> Um okay. So, um let's talk about these exits. You know, I want people to lock in because if you're just starting, you might not be thinking about exiting your YouTube channel, but this really is a mindset that could help every Think Media podcast listener be thinking about, man, what's possible over the next 5, 10, 15 years. What could I build? Because I believe you're representing a $100 million exit right now. Is that true?

[00:35:57]>> Yes.

[00:35:58]>> That is wild. So, when you look at a creator's business today, what's the one thing that maybe kills a deal before it starts? I don't know if it's one thing, but I'll share with you these are the five elements that I always try to tell creators they should think about and probably earlier on than they they think.

[00:36:15]>> Okay.

[00:36:16]>> So, so through my business, my creator arc business, which is my M&A advisory arm, >> I take creators basically through and arc is basically a life cycle of creator. So, there are seven steps. It's step one is your very first upload all the way to exit. And within those, I ask creators to think about growing their revenue streams beyond AdSense and brand deals. So, a private equity fund or studio or streamer are starting to look at YouTube channels as viable media companies and assets that they want to acquire. They look at certain things such as your audience size. That does matter, you know, but also your connection to your audience. How loyal is your audience to you? They look at your revenue and not just pure revenue but also recurring revenue. What is something that gets paid when you're sleeping that is away from your face?

[00:37:12]>> They look at data, you know, what do you own your your email list? Do you own your audience?

[00:37:18]>> They look at your team, you know, like who who do you have working for you?

[00:37:23]Like could you Sean take two weeks off and everything still keeps running?

[00:37:28]>> Yeah. And what I didn't mention is the creator themselves because what these buyers have to mitigate is the key man risk >> because when they're buying a channel and we look at examples like Matt Pat, you know, a theorist and Veritassium as as sort of the two, you know, big exits.

[00:37:47]And actually last night at dinner, I I sat down and spoke a long time with Stephanie Patrick and I got so much insight into their exit and she's potentially going to come on my my podcast, creator to CEO, to talk about their exit because I think a lot of creators are starting to get really interested in what does that look like for me?

[00:38:05]>> Yeah.

[00:38:06]>> How do I get off this hamster wheel?

[00:38:08]>> Right. So that question of how do we take the risk off of of this creator's face so that not everything is relying on them because in this calculation that buyers are looking at your YouTube channel should be a small fraction of that. The client that I'm working on with the $und00 million exit if his channel were to go down tomorrow yes it would hurt but it's only a small fraction of his his revenue.

[00:38:36]>> Interesting. his community, his courses, his newsletter, his tech app. So the tech app, this app is something that can be sold and rolled up for 30 or $50 million. So I want to take you back a little bit about this journey with this client. So two about 18 months ago, we took him out to market because he said to me, he said, "Tyler, I want to sell my channel. Can we see how much it would be worth? What's the valuation?" So we took them out, spoke to four private equity funds and they all gave us a range of about 30 to 35 million which is an very in healthy great number.

[00:39:15]>> Yeah.

[00:39:16]>> But I actually said to him I said you know what I think we should wait. I think you could hit 100 million in probably three three to five years was what I said. But in the meantime we should do these things. So this is what I do through creator arc. I actually sit down with creators and I go down the next two years with them, three years with them or five years, you know, to get ready to get ready for it from 35 mil to 100 mil plus.

[00:39:41]>> So we we look at diversifying the revenue stream. We look at making sure their corporate structure is properly structured, their parent company, their subsidiaries holding like the YouTube channel, the um the community, the products, so that if if one company got sued, the other assets would be safe.

[00:39:59]Um, we make sure their IP portfolio is clean, clean chain of title, that you own every single B-roll, every piece of music you have in your videos, every independent contractor you have, every employee you have has work for Higher Language, that everything they're doing is owned by you, you have all of your trademarks for all of your brands. These are all the things the the private equity funds will look at. And this often takes a good year or two for me to clean that up. if you're not doing doing it from day one. Now I have some clients interestingly and they they happen to be more professional educational channels who are coming from me who are coming to me from day one even before they start their channel and saying I need you to do my LLC. I need you to structure me properly. We're going to do the trademarks. Give me independent contractor agreements. Tell me how to get the proper B-roll the music. They're from day one they're thinking about it in the right way because more and more professionals are becoming YouTubers.

[00:41:02]You know, they're doing this on on the side maybe to quit their full-time job and so they're getting ready and so many of them understand that the end point is an exit.

[00:41:12]>> Yes, that's a whole different level of thinking. It's interesting in our community uh like this year 2026 it seems like this is maybe more of a normal conversation. It might have been as it might have been five, seven years ago, there was an eight figureure exit of one of our students. Um, and uh, and now multiple maybe not quite 10, but more than five of our students have exited their YouTube channel.

[00:41:38]>> Interesting. And who are the buyers?

[00:41:39]>> Uh, one was a kids brand. They took over a female's channel and hired her back and then started adding other creators to the channel for kids products.

[00:41:50]>> One overtook like a you'd call it like a ecommerce service business >> for like countertop stuff and there was already a big ecom thing. They figured they could professionalize it and scale it.

[00:42:03]>> Nice.

[00:42:03]>> And the YouTube channel was the engine of these businesses.

[00:42:06]>> It's the marketing arm.

[00:42:07]>> Yeah, it was the marketing arm, but there was, you know, other things there.

[00:42:10]>> So, that's that is a wild way of thinking about this creator economy thing is huge. You never know what it's going to turn into. And even just you have a couple layers. My takeaway is one, just listening to this podcast, you gave us a whole different way of thinking of how we set up our business.

[00:42:25]Two, maybe you want to set it up from day one, trademarks, and three, you always can pivot, >> but it might take some time to clean up your business if like I never knew all the success would, you know, come my way or whatever.

[00:42:37]>> I'm curious of a couple your your thoughts on Mr. Beast. Um, Feastables is now outperforming Mr. Beast's actual YouTube channel. But I wonder if this is an interesting model because the numbers that I was able to pull was $250 million in revenue for Fastables versus his media business losing 80 million.

[00:42:58]>> Mhm.

[00:42:58]>> And on the headlines, people are like, "Mr. Beast is losing money." You know, which I people lose the context like, "Oh, I knew it. He's failing." It's like, I think you read the headline wrong. losing 80 million on the media arm is really not a loss if the media is why your chocolate bar and other businesses you're launching is blowing up. What are your thoughts on there on that?

[00:43:21]>> Well, I think he can certainly not be losing so much money. I think he almost wears it like a badge of honor. Like I can I put all this money back into my content and that's why I'm losing.

[00:43:34]>> Yeah.

[00:43:35]I think there's a little bit of a, you know, a media attention angle there.

[00:43:44]>> Okay.

[00:43:45]>> But the feastables is really what I want to focus on. And this is why I talk to creators day in and day out about how do you grow your business so it's not relying on your face or your upload schedule. And this exact example shows this is what I'm talking about. He has built a product that doesn't require his face anymore, right? I mean, yes, like him talking about his chocolate, but people know enough now when they go into a Target or into a 7-Eleven, they're just they're going to grab that Fastables, right? Because they like the chocolate >> because it's it's on par with Hershey's now.

[00:44:23]>> But if his channel were to go down tomorrow, his chocolate would still sell. And that's the point. And that's why it was so great that he didn't call it Mr. Beast Chocolate. He called it Fastables.

[00:44:36]Another separate name, another brand away from his YouTube channel.

[00:44:41]>> So that's the gold standard. I mean, more of a gold standard because consumer goods, their margins are not good is Mark Robber's Crunch Lab subscription boxes. I love that type of product. I mean my actually my gold standard is a technical app because you build it once and you can sell it a million times and there isn't manufacturing and distribution the way a physical products has. But thinking about recurring revenue, a subscription box that you can get your audience to not buy one time for $30 but $30 times 12 or many many years. That's what private equity fund looks at as to what is your month over month, year after year revenue, recurring revenue.

[00:45:25]>> Mr. Beast also acquired a Gen Z fintech app and the Senate banking community sent him a letter about it. Is this a warning sign for creators who want to launch financial products?

[00:45:36]>> I don't think so. I'm working on two NEO banks right now for my clients. Yeah.

[00:45:40]>> So, I think he's thinking in a in the right way. I mean, step was an educational app. It's not a real bank app. I I I heard through the grave vines. I think the speculation is he tried to get a bank charter. It's very very hard to get get a bank charter. So, this was sort of the in between before.

[00:46:01]I think he he tries to get a bank charter. Here's something that people don't realize that banks have to spend a lot of money. Banks have to spend I think it's like $1,000 per client. It's called customer acquisition cost.

[00:46:15]For most YouTubers and creators, that cost could be zero. So, if Mr. Beast and and we can talk, I actually just filmed a video about this um that will come out next week about Mr. Beast's three intent to use trademarks that he just filed. He just filed Beast Financials. He filed um Watchtime Studios and then uh an incubator. So, these are all potential businesses that he's going to start soon. And it it kind of indicates where his mind is going. You know, he's thinking about incubating smaller channels. He's thinking about creating banks. He's thinking about being a white label production company.

[00:46:53]>> And thinking three steps ahead is what creators really need to start doing. You can't just be heads down making content every day. And yes, okay, when you're starting out, get your first video, 50 videos out, like every week, just you have to put the reps in. Yeah. But once you're starting to make some money on AdSense and brand deals, let's say you're making $10,000 a month, that's a that's a salary. That's a nice salary that can replace a corporate job that then you really should start thinking about what is this as a business.

[00:47:26]>> Yeah.

[00:47:27]>> Do I have a separate business account?

[00:47:29]Do I have an LLC? Do I have the proper agreements in place? Because most of the time when people are coming to me because they got an offer ready for an offer for an exit, it's almost too late. Not too late, but it's just it's it's a lot more work for me to have to clean up after the fact than if I put them in from day one.

[00:47:49]>> I know we're talking about a high level, but creators of all sizes of course could dream about what we might create, but do you feel like some of these creator brands could be overhyped?

[00:47:58]Meaning for example, Prime Hydration went from 1.3 billion to 300 million in two years. I don't know if there's some things you would do differently. What are some lessons from that? I believe Refresco sued them for $68 million. Uh Agoro Vania for 13 million. There's a class action on caffeine and chemicals.

[00:48:19]So you've got like the headline of yes creators launch brand huge creator KSI Logan Paul >> Prime goes to a billion dollars but also shrinks a billion dollars lessons from that.

[00:48:33]>> I think it really comes down to trust >> because at the end of the day I think the reason why Prime hydration failed was because they um use bad products. they potentially um wanted to make the quicker dollar and not do the right thing. And I think we've seen this through a lot of creator le products where the quality is bad, you know, or let's say clothing, the the quality is bad or they make supplements and people get hurt or people get sick.

[00:49:10]And the way our world is now with how quick social media is and Reddit, you know, review, you know, like people talking um giving feedback in real time is you can't try to shortcut things >> or make a cheap product and think you're going to get away with it. It's just it's just not possible anymore. So, I think I mean Logan Paul has has really I think lost the trust of his audience several times, you know, with his Cryptozoo and all all these different things that he's done. So, he he was maybe under a microscope already. But I think that's what ended up happening even with Mr. Beast and Feastables. I mean, he has changed the ingredients of his of his chocolate. Remember when he first started out, he said, "I wanted to make a great high quality chocolate with organic ingredients." that's no longer the case because he needs to compete with Hershey's and he it needs to be >> marginal and so >> it's it's all things that a a company would think about from day one because I think when creators are doing making products on their own and not involving the experts or the third party experts who you know maybe maybe if they had brought in a beverage company from day one to partner with them they could have guided them and said like these are the ingredients we should really think about and and so I think there's a maybe an immaturity you know like I think an immature point of view in thinking well we could just do whatever we want and it'll be fine or so we can make a quick dollar I think at the end of the day it always comes back and and the truth comes out >> that timeless wisdom is timely in that you know just because you have influence and a good marketing arm you know, influence on YouTube or wherever that quality product and reputation over time is still what's going to last.

[00:51:02]>> I think so.

[00:51:04]>> Yes. Well, um, as we land the plane, what what do you think creators um should be doing right now or what opportunities should they be um jumping onto? Uh, Uni Lever is putting 50% of their ad budget into influencer marketing. You know about this story.

[00:51:23]Can you break this down? it might speak to more broadly what's happening in the creator economy right now.

[00:51:30]>> So, I I recently wrote about this. I'm a Forbes contributor and I wrote this story about how Unilver just last week their CEO announced that they have a network of 300,000 creators that they work with directly.

[00:51:44]So, they've cut out the agencies and they're going to these creators as basically their distribution arm and saying, you know, we are launching this new product. we want you to highlight this product. And they have they're going to very small creators. Let's say 10,000 to 50,000. I think that's their sweet spot of like how many they like in their audience because they know those creators have a very close relationship with that audience. You you you take a huge creator with 100 million subscribers though, they don't necessarily have that type of um uh relationship with their audience. So, they're going to smaller creators and asking them to basically become uh their brand ambassadors and and and to um be their commercials, you know, to be to be um selling their products. Last year, I think this was in 2024, the year before, the CEO of Unilver said, "We are going to allocate 50% of our spend dollars towards digital creators."

[00:52:43]>> Wow. And I think when that happened, the market really sat up and took attention, you know, they they really paid attention because Unilver is one of the biggest companies in the world and they own so many different brands like Ben and Jerry's and Dove and and all these different brands. And if they're saying we're not going to work with traditional agencies anymore necessarily or we're going to go straight to creators, I think this signals to the marketplace that creators are real businesses.

[00:53:14]They're distribution arms. They're media companies that we should pay attention to. And that's why in my Forbes article, I said this is an indication that private equity funds and big companies are start are going to start acquiring creatorled businesses because it's it's a fullyfledged distribution arm that they could just acquire very cheaply compared to what they would have to do if they were to spend it in into uh agencies or if they were trying to build this themselves from scratch. scratch.

[00:53:48]>> Yeah. So, the takeaway is realizing where basically influencer marketing for nano and micro influencers is going.

[00:53:56]>> Yes.

[00:53:56]>> 10,000 subscribers and m macro companies like Unilver wants to work with you.

[00:54:04]>> Yes.

[00:54:04]>> If you've got a niche audience. So, what do you see coming? What are you excited about in terms of the creator economy?

[00:54:12]You work with a lot of large and established creators thinking about exiting, but what do you think specifically for new creators 2026?

[00:54:20]You think competition is too fierce to get in the game or where do you see things going next?

[00:54:24]>> No, I don't think so. I think it's it's the perfect time. If you've been thinking about starting a YouTube channel, this is the time because here's the thing, YouTube and and social media, it rewards consistency. Just because you start a channel doesn't mean anything. You have to put in the reps.

[00:54:41]you have to do 50, 100, a thousand videos to really get good at it and to build an audience. I think if you this is the best time I think for experts to come into the space.

[00:54:52]>> Yeah, >> I think slower content you know is going to start um getting the attention that it it desperately needs. I mean >> like the opposite of high retention editing for beast content >> like like fast content and you know I the recent verdict against Meta and Google um the $6 million verdict about the addictive nature of social media I think >> so they had to pay $6 million.

[00:55:21]>> Yes.

[00:55:21]>> Which is kind of like nothing but it's more the principle >> but it was a brilliant strategy on the plaintiff's part because they're trying to make sure that this case doesn't get appealed.

[00:55:31]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:32]>> And so when you have huge numbers, I mean, it would have been so much sexier to say, oh, you know, they got a $100 million verdict, but that's more likely to be overturned on appeal.

[00:55:42]>> So that's one person they settled with.

[00:55:44]>> Yes.

[00:55:44]>> But it opens up the door for other people like that, >> for the thousands of lawsuits that are waiting in the dockets right now >> to essentially say social media is addictive. Well, so for a long time the platforms have hidden behind the safe harbor called section 230, which states, "Oh, well, we here are not responsible for what creators put on on the platforms. You know, we're just the platforms. We're just a distribution arm, basically." But because of this trial, there were some internal memos that were leaked. I mean, not leaked, I mean, they were they were they were um produced where Meta stated, "Oh, we have to start really pushing our content to pre-teens because that's when we can get them. That's when their brains are most, you know, susceptive and and vulnerable to addiction. And so, we need to get them then, >> which is crazy cuz 13 is usually like when you can get on a platform, which would mean they're going to be pushing content to also kids that are underage.

[00:56:38]>> Yes.

[00:56:39]>> And those are memos that came out. Does that's not a good look.

[00:56:42]>> No. And this is the analogy I made in my other Forbes article is like this is almost a big tobacco reckoning that happened for big tobacco companies is they also said well we didn't know about the addictive nature and then one case happened and they saw the internal memos and then it opened the floodgates to thousands of lawsuits.

[00:57:01]>> Where would that stop?

[00:57:03]>> Will it ever?

[00:57:04]>> I don't know. Right? Because this one case got through.

[00:57:06]>> Right. I think a lot of judges who might have been deciding if they were going to, you know, dismiss the cases in their dockets, they might let it go through now because our our court systems are so respected, you know, we respect precedent and we respect judges respect the the the rulings of other judges. So now these cases probably will go forward and if we get a hundred of these, I think that's where the platforms will have to stop um or change their algorithm so that it can't be so addictive. And that's why I was saying I think the slower content, the educational professional channels, a lot of my clients will will start maybe getting put into the feed more >> than those kind of fast addictive content.

[00:57:48]>> Got it. The kind of the kind of content that is has people perpetually scrolling YouTube shorts and children.

[00:57:54]>> Yes.

[00:57:55]>> Consuming these crazy YouTube shorts.

[00:57:57]>> That's fascinating. So, so what could happen is similar to cigarettes having a surge in general's warning, there might be what we will see probably the evolution of the platforms for the harmful nature of the addictive nature of the algorithm.

[00:58:10]>> I think this one verdict has opened that door.

[00:58:13]>> Wow.

[00:58:13]>> Mhm.

[00:58:14]>> That's pretty. Is there any other implications of that ultimately that you see coming down the road?

[00:58:20]>> I think this might make creators be a little more careful about the type of content they want to make. Maybe a lot of creators in your audience are thinking, I have to go make that fast content. I have to go make that addictive content. That's how I can show up on the algorithm. And maybe you and I can say, maybe you don't need to. Maybe you just make good content that's helpful, that is educational.

[00:58:40]>> Yes.

[00:58:41]>> That provides value to your audience and you will find your niche audience. And maybe you only need 10,000, right? As the unilver example showed, you don't need a million subscribers. I mean, I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to hit a thousund,000 subscribers this year on YouTube. I'm like at 59,000. So, if you guys could go subscribe, that would be amazing. But I think a 100,000 is completely respected.

[00:59:07]Yes. And you look at 100,000 actually, you know, 100,000 is like 0.1% of YouTubers. that shows your audience and to brands this is someone who has a dedicated audience who will come back and listen who will buy from this person you know that's enough we don't have to kill ourselves trying to get to a million subscribers I think there's that fallacy that you have to get really really you know big numbers to be um to make a living as a creator >> I have four lightning round questions to to end with but before we get there you've got some cool stuff coming on we'll link it in the show notes where can people follow you and we'll link to all your stuff.

[00:59:44]>> Yeah. So, two things and I'm I'm going to walk the walk, right?

[00:59:48]>> Yeah.

[00:59:49]>> Please sign up to my newsletter because I say this to people all the time, you know, please get emails from from your audience. Actually, I do put out a great newsletter. It's called Love Letters to Creators. And basically everything we talked about here today, I I try to write in my newsletters to teach you guys what I'm working on, why some creators are primed for an exit, whereas other creators need to do, you know, these three or five things to to get caught up. So, and then the other thing I'm working on, Sean, that I'm really excited about is I'm actually going to put on a master class. It's a is a mastermind um for creators who are wanting an exit because I can't scale myself fast enough. But if I'm I'm look I'm doing probably two of these a year.

[01:00:35]I'm going to limit it to 10 to 20 creators who want to come in and sit with me for eight weeks, meet with me twice a week and we're going to work on by the end of the eight weeks they'll have an exit plan.

[01:00:47]>> That's cool.

[01:00:47]>> And so I'm limiting this, you know, to these small cohorts and I want to help creators get ready for their exit. And I just don't have enough time in the day.

[01:00:58]I'm doing 10 to 12 calls a day. It's still not enough time because the excitement and the demand for exits is so high now. Everybody wants to talk to me about it.

[01:01:09]>> Yeah.

[01:01:10]>> Yeah.

[01:01:10]>> That's cool. And what a unique value prop. And you have the expertise, of course, to do that. And that's uh we'll link to that in the show notes. Okay. A couple lightning round questions as we land the plane. What's one legal myth every creator still believes that could cost them their channel?

[01:01:26]>> Um, I we touched on it. Fair use that you can use footage without permission and that it will be okay. I think there are still creators who think that.

[01:01:35]>> Yes.

[01:01:36]>> Mhm.

[01:01:37]>> Um, what content category would you tell creators to avoid in 2026?

[01:01:43]>> Oh, to avoid reaction.

[01:01:45]>> Yeah, >> for sure. I mean, I think reactions is just a landmine waiting to happen. And by the way, if you want to exit, you cannot exit with a reaction channel. Do you realize that? Like private equity will not touch. What private equity loves? And if we could talk about what what are the best niches or the types of channels to have is >> do you know the two things humans care about the most? Have I asked you this before?

[01:02:06]>> No. What?

[01:02:07]>> Um health and wealth, right? How do I take care of my my body so I live longer? How do I make more money? How do I save money? So those are the two best niches. Yeah. I think for format podcast is the best.

[01:02:19]>> People love hearing, you know, conversations between experts or between people who who've walked walked that path already. I think that's why Diary of a CEO is so popular because you get to hear from worldclass experts. Yes.

[01:02:33]>> In an hour and and learn from them.

[01:02:35]>> That's interesting. Yeah. I've heard I've heard that with one other category that health, wealth, and relationships are the three big online meaning like uh find a date, >> recover from divorce, strengthen your marriage, >> make money, save money, and then health could be anything from get the abs to skin care.

[01:02:55]>> But, uh, that's interesting. Um, if a creator gets a strike at midnight tonight, what's the first three things they should do?

[01:03:03]>> Not panic. because sometimes it's not a real, you know, like it's it's it could be a strike, but it's not real. You can appeal. You can actually go in there and appeal. You can reach out to that person who put the strike and say, "Hey, there are solutions." You know, sometimes you, if you, let's say you were mistaken, you used someone's content thinking it was fair use, you can say to the person, "I'm so sorry.

[01:03:26]Could I pay you to use this footage um and make this right? How do I make this right to you?" I say this to a lot of people and also to my clients and my junior attorneys. What we do is 90% human behavior and maybe 10% the law.

[01:03:41]Always ask the other side, what can I do to make this right? What can I do to make this deal?

[01:03:46]>> And they'll always tell you. I've I've dealt with a lot of copyright strike situations where the person just wanted credit. Sometimes we just have to give them credit or we pay them a small amount, nominal fee, 500, you know, for five clips or something like that. Just make it right. Tell them, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought I could use this under fair use, but clearly I was wrong.

[01:04:05]So, what can I do to make this right to you?

[01:04:08]>> Got it. And then if you also can appeal.

[01:04:10]>> Yes, you can appeal. Um, and sometimes when you appeal, did you guys know that the next step is that person actually has to go file a lawsuit >> to keep that claim up, >> to keep the strike up.

[01:04:23]>> So, basically, if you just appeal, maybe chances are they're not going to file a lawsuit. But if they truly believe they own that IP and then they they might they might dig in and I've seen situations where the other party files a complaint.

[01:04:39]>> Yeah.

[01:04:40]>> Mhm.

[01:04:41]>> You went from Disney to creators attorney. What did Hollywood teach you that creators don't know yet?

[01:04:48]>> Oh, I love this. Um, you are the new studio heads. You just don't know that yet. And I think there's so much power. You're the like creators are the American dream. So I'm representing these new clients called Creator Camp. Do you know them? So they they put out a film called Two Sleepy People. They made it for 100,000 and they wanted to get it into the theaters and they didn't know how to. So they went to the theaters like they went to AMC and Regal and said, "Can we put our movie in your theaters?" And they said, "Maybe." Which is kind of a cool shift.

[01:05:19]And they said, "Well, we'll give you two theaters. if you can sell 30,000 per theater, we'll give you more theaters.

[01:05:27]So, they hit those numbers. They got a limited release. Those did really well.

[01:05:31]And then they got a wide release. And now I'm representing them. And we're selling the rest of the world, which we've sold. And now we're probably going to Can Film Festival in a few weeks to premiere that film.

[01:05:42]>> Wow. And this is what I mean by if you're a creator and you have the courage or a story you want to tell and you put it out into the world, millions of people can see it and you don't have to wait for a studio head to deem your story worthy of being told. How incredibly powerful that it how incredibly powerful is that? And I am lit up every day because I get to wake up and help creators protect them and grow out their businesses. And so many of these will become the next studios.

[01:06:11]That's a great place to land the plane and a very inspiring vision of the future. Future looks bright for the creator economy, for YouTube, and I just want to acknowledge you for coming back on the podcast.

[01:06:21]>> Thank you. Um Sean, one last thing I actually forgot to ask. Um I'm starting a new podcast called Creator to CEO, and I actually have uh a request to your audience. If anybody is in here wanting me to do an audit, so I charge $5,000 for these audits, but I will do it for free. If you have anyone in your audience who's making at least $100,000 a year from their creator business and you want me to do a audit live, you know, on my podcast to share and teach other creators how to grow out their business so that they're ready for an exit. I'm taking applications and I would be uh really honored if anybody from your audience would come on.

[01:07:02]>> Amazing. So, we could put a link to those applications.

[01:07:03]>> Yeah. those three things, my newsletter, my mastermind, and the creator to CEO podcast.

[01:07:09]>> Amazing. We'll do it. So, Think Media podcast, check out links in the show notes below if you got value today.

[01:07:15]Wide-ranging conversation, hit like if you're on YouTube, rate and review if you're over on audio. My name is Sean Kel, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel.