The Garden Harvest: 8/22/25
Your weekly digest on the intersection of the Creator Economy and Legacy Media.
Welcome back to the Garden Harvest.
Each week, we gather and curate the freshest insights from the worlds of Creators and Legacy Media, so you can stay rooted in what matters and spot new opportunities where others can’t.
Let’s get into it…
FRESH CLIPPINGS
A flourishing new career path?
It turns out that being good at engaging audiences on social media actually requires skills and strategy. Who knew!
The Wall Street Journal has noticed, because they’re looking to hire a Talent Coach per their recent job posting — translation: someone to train journalists to become creators. The full job description is fantastic, but the highlight has got to be: “The Talent Coach will equip our journalists with the skills and strategies needed to effectively build their personal brand, engage with audiences, amplify their work and navigate the complexities of various social-media platforms.”
This is honestly a really smart move, and more companies should take note. Even if you don’t want to live full-time on social media, learning these skills will only supplement and amplify the work you’re doing on the legacy side.
IRL on the rise
The last year or so has seen creator influence grow in one particular area: IRL entertainment and events.
Megan Lightcap from Slow Ventures explains in her latest post: “Herein lies an opportunity for creators to deeply engage fans and make money outside the confines of their screens, and it’s massive. In 2024, roughly $240bn was spent on in-person entertainment and events — and that’s not including sporting events and movie tickets.”
The irony isn’t lost on her. Slow Ventures’ entire creator investing thesis is predicated on enabling entrepreneurs to build online communities of highly-engaged people. But she’s spot on when she says that “just because creators start online doesn’t mean they have to stay there.”
This in particular is a key insight for legacy media.
Mark Rober goes to Netflix
The pioneering creator and former NASA engineer is coming to Netflix with a new Kids and Family competition series in 2026, which will be produced by his company in partnership with Jimmy Kimmel’s production company.
This is yet another piece of evidence of the further entrenchment of legacy and creator media. Tubi is also going full force.
Can we finally stop the “legacy vs. creator” rhetoric and accept that we’re entering this new big combined ecosystem where both types of media can flourish if done right?
GARDEN VIEW
No video today, but this image above is just as good. As you probably heard, YouTube is making a run for the Oscars. The above poll from Publish Press, though, illustrates what we already knew: that most viewers are already on YouTube.
There could be some bias here as I’m sure most people reading Publish Press are somewhat more familiar with the creator economy. But still, doesn’t this tell us something?
And while we don’t want to be the “you heard it here first” kind of people, lead Open Gardener
did write this piece about the Oscars and their missed creator economy opportunity back in March. Just saying…HARVEST QUOTE
“It’s like saying, ‘I want to work in theater,’ but when asked what play you last saw, the answer is, ‘Oh, I don’t go to the theater.’”
— Sean Atkins, CEO of Dhar Mann Studios addressing everyone who wants to be part of the creator economy but doesn’t watch any digital content.
No further comments needed for this one.
Have a great week…