Peggy K's Creator News

Hello readers! I hope you are enjoying the waning days of summer. It was 95°F here in the Bay Area this week, which felt more like mid-summer than early-autumn. I am ready for cooler weather. With the Monday Labor Day holiday here in the US, updates were sparser than usual. But, even so, there are updates for YouTube, Twitch, AdSense, Instagram, Threads and more. Read on! ✉ Subscribe to get Creator Weekly by email. 🔴 Join Creator Weekly Live on Sunday. Top Updates YouTube Shorts has a new “Get Feedback” tool to evaluate your drafts,  now available to US users. Twitch is testing a Stream Coach that gives personalized feedback and tips on your streams. The new Apple Duo ’s camera doesn’t live up to the iPhone 18 Pro.  IMDb has added Digital Creator as a professional category.  Restream has new integrations with X , including viewer analytics and comment repli...

Hello readers! This week there are updates for YouTube (as usual), Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, AdSense, X, and more.  Top Updates YouTube is expanding access to “Watch With” reaction live streams. YouTube is making it easier to disclose Branded Content (paid promotions and sponsorships), with age and location gating and automatic labels. YouTube  has a new Channel Memberships hub to help viewers to find channels to join. YouTube has a new Co-Viewed metric that estimates how many people are watching together on a TV. There’s a new Creator Insider video that explains the YouTube Algorithm . Watch it!  TikTok is adding new comment features including voice comments, polls and photo carousels. Twitch Clips are available for DJ Program creators, but won’t include music.  Twitch paid Subscribers can post GIFs in the live stream chat. Instagram now requir...

Hello readers! This week there are updates for YouTube, Instagram Bluesky, Substack, Google Search, Firefly, Gemini and more. ✉ Subscribe to get Creator Weekly by email. 🔴 Join Creator Weekly Live on Sunday. Top Updates Creators monetizing with YouTube Shopping in the US can now tag Amazon products. Instagram can now create a “first draft” of a Reel from your video clips.  Meta settled a huge lawsuit, will pay $18B, and had to add new teen safety features. They are strongly requesting YouTube and Twitch implement the same. YouTube is rolling out a “Get Feedback” button to review your Shorts drafts. YouTube is testing creating multiple custom feeds, and having those replace the topic chips on the mobile app Home screen. Bluesky now lets you upload videos up to 10 minutes long. Bluesky lets yo...

Hello readers! I hope you are enjoying the last days of summer. This week there’s updates to YouTube views counts, Stations, and AI claims, Twitch sponsorships, Google Search Preferred Sources, beehiiv, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. Top Updates YouTube will now count a “View” from the first frame long form videos. When someone stops to watch or clicks a thumbnail, that’s an Engaged View. YouTube is expanding Stations beyond music videos. They may include creator content, media channels and podcasts, and can appear in the Home Feed and Search on YouTube and YouTube Music. Twitch Affiliates can now access sponsorships. And all Partners and Affiliates can add Sponsorship Highlight clips to their Creator Profile. Google Search has published the code for an interactive Preferred Source button you can add to your website or blog. YouTube made it easier to manage AI Likeness claims on your cha...

YouTube will start counting "Views" of long form videos and livestreams from the very first frame of the video. This matches how Shorts Views have been counted since March 2025. Creators can find "Engaged View" metrics in Analytics Advanced Mode to see stats that use the original views metric. Engaged Views are what YouTube uses for monetization eligibility and earnings. This likely means that public video views will increase when this change goes into effect on August 24th. Why is YouTube making this change? Email from YouTube about the views update This update does make view counts a little less confusing:  Views in all formats will be counted the same way. This better matches how Views are counted on other platforms.  This is especially useful for creators who make Brand deals. As YouTube says: We hope that having metric parity across all formats gives creators a clearer pi...

Hello readers! This week there are updates for YouTube partners, Twitch streamers, Facebook, Instagram and X creators and more. Plus there’s a brand new Google Pixel phone with new Creator Suite features. My tip for the week : Set up your social properties (YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok) in Search Console , and compare them to your on-platform metrics. ✉ Subscribe to get Creator Weekly by email 🔴 Join Creator Weekly Live on Sunday Top Updates Tougher YouTube Partner Program eligibility requirements starting February 1. YouTube channel Managers will receive email notifications for copyright claims.  Ask YouTube is rolling out on mobile devices in the US.  Twitch now lets you opt out of training Amazon’s generative AI models.  Twitch lets you reward top gifters an exclusive badge. Twitch is rolling out comments o...