CORQ.

Media brands need to radically transform the amount and structure of journalists’ salaries to successfully address the “threat” of creators. They must also halt waves of redundancies which are leading to the loss of the storytellers – and stories – that are key to making their channels relevant and broad-reaching.

Charli XCX is making the case for celebrities becoming influencers by creating unique TikTok formats and launching Substacks. There has been a lot of chatter about creators such as Addison Rae, Benito Skinner or Quinta Brunson becoming notable actors and singers, but less often the other way around. A celebrity, for intents and purposes of this article, is not an influencer. Yes, they have influence, but they are not producing the same type of content as an influencer.

British Vogue’s latest viral article doesn’t have anything to do with fashion, beauty or trends. It’s a comment on relationships by journalist Chanté Joseph headlined Is Having A Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?and it has accumulated an audience of millions. The piece quickly gained attention for multiple reasons. First, it has a clickbait title that feels off-kilter coming from British Vogue.

Taylor Swift has finished the European leg of The Eras Tour, having played her eighth and final night at Wembley Stadium in London. 92,000 fans attended the show each night, but many Swifties were unable to buy tickets thanks to high demand, extortionate resale prices and requiring access codes to checkout. Yet, getting tickets appeared relatively easy for one group of people: Influencers.

YouTuber and entrepreneur Joe Sugg’s company Final Straw Productions has launched the “world’s most honest dating show” in association with BBC Studios. Date Me At My Worst premiered on the production company’s YouTube channel in July and includes two 30-minute pilot episodes hosted by TikToker Max Balegde.

Entrepreneur and lifestyle creator Grace Beverley has co-founded an artificial intelligence (AI) talent agency called Retrograde with tech experts Jake Browne and Gary Meehan, which aims to “democratise the creator industry”. The company launched on 28 July and supports influencers by managing and responding to their emails, negotiating brand deals, and completing paperwork and invoices.

Gucci needs a miracle. Are influencers the answer? The Italian luxury fashion house hosted its Cruise 2025 show at the Tate Modern in London last week. As usual, journalists and celebrities were spotted in the crowd, but more notably, a plethora of global influencers were also invited to the event and afterparty. Gucci is on a mission to reinvent itself and remain relevant.

The future of podcasting is in prioritising audio over video and appealing to the 50-plus audience, according to DMG Media’s head of podcasts. Jamie East also says that in order for the influencer industry to achieve long-term success, it must focus on improving its professionalism and agent-talent relationships.

If there’s one word to describe social media in 2024, it would be “mess”. Just think of the viral Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow – the memes surrounding the fiasco were nothing short of chaotic and entertaining. Forget the days of perfect, polished content – people want unfiltered and raw TikToks. Particularly, dramatic and juicy storytime “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos. US-based influencer Alix Earle gained more than 6.5 million followers on TikTok by being a self-titled “hot mess”.

A clip of TV personality Sam Thompson interviewing Dune: Part Two actors Timothée Chalamet and Austin Butler went viral on X (formerly Twitter) this week. Thompson was criticised for taking the place of a journalist during the press junket and for his lack of interesting, well-researched questions. The video has had more than 8.7 million views on X and is a snippet o Thompson’s seven-minute interview with the actors for Hits Radio.