🌎 The Creator Ecosphere 2025 Is Out

Evan Shapiro shows how creators are changing media | Streaming in Short – W41

Oct 10, 2025

This week, I cover the new map of the global creator economy, Ay Yapim’s first AI-generated series, and a key question: do fans actually follow creators from YouTube to streaming?

🌍 Mapping the Creator Ecosphere 2025

👉 Media analyst Evan Shapiro, with Filmhub and What’s Trending’s Shira Lazar, has unveiled The Creator Ecosphere: a map of the global creator economy in 2025.

📍 With 4.6M YouTube channels, 1.6B TikTokers, and 3B Instagram users, the report shows how creators have become the most powerful marketing force in media. As Shapiro notes, “Creators are now companies, and companies are now creators.”

💡 The map compares major platforms and top creators, measuring not just followers but engagement quality (EQ), the difference between followers and true fans.

🤖 Ay Yapim Launches AI Series Castle Walls at MIPCOM

👉 Turkish TV powerhouse Ay Yapim is unveiling its first AI-generated series, The three-part, 15-minute show Castle Walls, at MIPCOM Cannes.

📍 Written by Kerem Deren and Çisil Hazal Tenim (El Turco), it’s produced by Ay Yapim’s new Singapore-based arm, AI Yapim, and will premiere later this year on Turkish TV and a global streamer.

💡 Built entirely with AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway, Veo, and ElevenLabs, the project also features Ay Yapim’s own AYDNA 1.0 model.

🎥 Do creator fans move from YouTube to streamers and TV?

What happened?

👉

Jen Topping

highlights on

Business of TV

why more TV and film producers are exploring direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategies to build audiences and reduce dependence on traditional broadcasters.

Key details:

DTC lets producers own their audience, test ideas, and create new revenue streams.
Ad revenues fluctuate, and platform data (like YouTube vs Netflix views) often lack transparency.
Many creators diversify income through brand deals, merch, live events, and subscriptions.
Building a DTC presence can start small, with newsletters, social channels, or YouTube, before expanding into paid models or apps.

Why it matters?

🎯 DTC is becoming business as usual for production companies. In a fragmented, unstable media market, it offers creative independence, financial flexibility, and a direct link to fans that could define the next era of content production.

🧠 AI: Sam Altman Reveals What’s Next for OpenAI at DevDay 2025

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared big updates at DevDay 2025: developers can now create full apps inside ChatGPT, and a new Agent Kit will make AI tools easier to use in daily work.

He also announced GPT-5 Pro for complex tasks, GPT-5 Codecs for faster coding, and Sora 2 for video creation. Altman’s goal: make it possible to turn ideas into apps or videos in minutes, showing that AI is ready to help everyone build faster and smarter.

📺 FAST: YouTube Creators Launch Their Own TV Channels

A growing number of top YouTubers, including MrBeast, Dhar Mann, and Michelle Khare, are launching FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, and Pluto TV.

The goal: reach new audiences beyond YouTube and tap into TV-style ad revenue. These 24/7 channels can earn creators six to seven figures through ad splits or licensing deals.

🎬 Saudi Arabia Launches $100M Film Fund

Saudi Arabia has announced a new $100M film investment fund to boost production, distribution, and film infrastructure across the Kingdom.

The new fund, backed by the Cultural Development Fund and managed by BSF Capital, aims to attract global investors and empower local creators. It’s another step in Saudi Arabia’s plan to become a leading global hub for film production.

📺 e& and STARZ ON Bring wedotv Channels to MENA

Starting this week, wedotv BIG Stories and wedotv sports MENA, are now available on TV by e& and the STARZ ON app, with a third channel coming next month.

Fully localized with Arabic subtitles, the channels offers free, high-quality entertainment and live sports.

🎬 Iraqi Series Now Streaming Across the Arab World

Iraqi platform 1001 has made its most popular shows available on the Roya TV app, letting viewers across the Arab world watch Iraqi drama, comedy, and entertainment in one place.

The collection includes hit series like The Saint, Rooh, Sisters, and Red Zone, plus comedies like Abjad Hose and State of Battikh.

🇫🇷 CANNES: I’m Going to MIPCOM 2025

I’ll be at MIPCOM Cannes this year to follow the key talks about film, TV, and streaming.

I’ve made a list of sessions I’d like to attend, from FAST & AVOD to AI, YouTube, micro-drama, and even The Walking Dead. My goal is to bring back useful insights for the MENA streaming industry.

DM me if you’ll be in Cannes and want to meet.

❤️‍🔥 Love Is Blind: France (Netflix, 10 episodes): Divided into pods, French singles date and get engaged, sight unseen. Is love truly blind? A social experiment hosted by Luthna Plocus and Teddy Riner.

🪚 Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc from Tatsuya Yoshihara and Hiroshi Seko (October 24 in Cinemas): In a brutal war between devils, hunters, and secret enemies, a mysterious girl named Reze has stepped into Denji’s world, and he faces his deadliest battle yet, fueled by love in a world where survival knows no rules.

🕵️‍♀️ 21 years ago, Veronica Mars premiered on UPN. The series followed sharp-witted teen detective Veronica Mars (played by Kristen Bell) as she balanced high-school life with solving crimes in the wealthy but corrupt town of Neptune, California.