Creators
Frequently Asked Questions
every VC eventually starts a substack and a podcast and every substacker and podcaster eventually becomes a VC 😂
2026 is the year of the creator on 𝕏. We closed 2025 with the highest payouts since our monetization program launched and we are just getting started. This year, our focus is clear: empower creators to grow on 𝕏 and earn more. Here is what we’ve already rolled out this year
Ladies and gentlemen: Over the next week, we’ll be launching a handful of updates for our creators & power users. To kick things off, we’re opening up X Articles to all Premium subscribers. We’ve seen some incredible articles go viral over the last few weeks — and we’d love to see more writers posting on X. More to come.
Thanks for having me on the pod @gregisenberg!
Is it too late to start a podcast?
Netflix made $45.2 billion in 2025. YouTube made $44 billion in ad revenue. On a like-for-like basis, these two are nearly identical. YouTube gets to $60 billion by bundling in YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, and NFL Sunday Ticket. Comparing that combined number to a single streaming service is like comparing Alphabet’s total revenue to Disney+ and declaring Google won the streaming wars. The number that actually matters: YouTube paid creators $100 billion over the past four years while spending $0 on content production. Netflix spent $16 billion on content in 2024 alone and has to keep writing that check or the library evaporates. Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. It now earns that back every 10 days. YouTube built a model where the content creates itself, the audience sells to advertisers, and the platform collects rent on every transaction. Netflix writes a $16 billion check every year just to keep the catalog from shrinking.
JUST IN: YouTube now allows US creators to receive payouts in crypto stablecoins.
The great surprise of the technical and financial requirements being removed from coding and video creation is that all the same people are doing it—and that there hasn’t been an explosion of new software builders and filmmakers. After a decade of the media telling us that the most glamorous life is entrepreneur, filmmaker, or short-form video influencer: no one new jumps at the opportunity when the primary obstacles are removed.
I rarely go on podcasts anymore. But when @thesamparr invites you to his house... you make an exception. Can you guess what we talked about?
Ladies and gentlemen: We’re giving $1 million to the top article posted on X. You have 2 weeks. It's time to write.
i talk to many $1M+ founders and this is almost always the biggest bottleneck in their biz right now: VIDEO CONTENT. specifically: – what actually works on platforms – how to make videos that convert – who or how to hire (or not get burned by) – how to script + shoot + edit + produce consistently i just got off the phone with a buddy who said: "i’d happily pay someone $30k/month to just handle this." and honestly… there wasn't anyone i could think of to refer him to. video is hard. and that’s why it’s a huge opportunity rn.
