Welcome to Created, the newsletter that hits harder than a YouTube thumbnail with a red circle on it.
Here’s what we got today:
- What Ben Azelart's $1.2M video means for the creator economy
- Why "AI Love Island" took over TikTok
- Best YouTube thumbnails this week
PS thanks to the 1.9M of you who watched Part 1 of our 45 Days with MrBeast docuseries last week! Part 2 drops tomorrow.
The Creator Economy’s Income Gap, Explained
Imagine making $1.2 million from a single YouTube video.
Now imagine having 360 million views…and not being able to pay rent.
That’s the creator economy right now.
Two Creators. Two Different Bank Accounts.
YouTuber Ben Azelart casually revealed he made $1.2M from one video while on the Sidemen’s Netflix show Inside.
The clip went viral instantly.
Azelart has 49M subscribers, evolving from skate videos into challenges and pranks over the years.
On the other side of the income gap, there’s Elizabeth Eats NYC.
She’s built a large following with 1.4M followers on TikTok and 360M total views.
But last month, she quit.
“ 40 million Americans have watched me eat my way through New York City and beyond,” she said. “But the truth is I’m not even making rent doing this full time.”
In her final video, she asked for help breaking into TV, hoping for a bigger platform.
The Split Getting Wider
Azelart and Elizabeth are part of a greater trend.
As the creator economy grows, the top 1% are taking home a larger share of income.
According to this study, the top 10% of creators took home 62% of all payments.
But the top 1% accounted for a staggering 21% which is only continuing to rise.
Our Take
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: millions of views don’t mean much anymore.
And they certainly don’t pay rent. Especially when you built your main following on TikTok like Elizabeth.
On YouTube? She only had 1,000 subscribers.
Sure, subscribers are far from the most important metric on the platform. But they do represent a better sign of community (and revenue) than followers on TikTok.
Plus, most creators at the top aren’t just making money off their viewership.
They’re diversifying into products, production deals, and secondary channels just as Azelart has done with his Stay Wild channels with over 19M subscribers there too.
"AI Love Island" Took Over TikTok...Will It Last?
Millions of people are staying up at 3 AM to watch AI fruit date — and cheat — on each other.
Seriously.
The account behind “Fruit Love Island” has recently exploded — gaining over 3M followers in 13 days, with episodes regularly pulling over 10M views.
Even brands like Slim Jim are jumping into the comments.
Wait...What's “Fruit Love Island”?
The format is simple: Take Love Island and replace every contestant with animated fruit.
You get characters like Strawberrina and Kiwilo navigating relationship drama — complete with cliffhangers and heated arguments
The quality isn’t great. The voices are off. The animation is weird.
But does any of that matter?
Fans are hooked — commenting, reacting, and even suggesting new storylines.
Hate To Love It
Zoom out, and AI content is getting backlash everywhere:
- Called “slop”
- Accused of replacing real creators
- Criticized for environmental impact
So you’d expect this to fail. But comments look more like this: “WHERE IS THE NEW EPISODE?? IT’S BEEN 20 HOURS 😭😭”
Our Take
This works because it’s not trying to be real. There’s no uncanny valley.
It’s closer to fan fiction.
It takes a familiar format, strips it down to simple drama, and makes for “easy watching” that you can binge at 3 AM.
But the irony is that it’s based on real IP: Love Island.
So expect this AI remix to fade away unless they remix other franchises during the off season or come up with original ideas altogether.
Audiences will decide what they’re comfortable with. In the meantime, the smartest move is to experiment, not just call “bulls–t” on it.
🎯 Weekly Roundup: Thumbnails
Why we love these YT thumbnails:
- That weird paddle design makes you question how it even works (Pongfinity)
- Domino’s box + “Not just pizza anymore” signals a brand shift you want explained (The Hustle)
- A face emerging from academic papers stops your scroll (Christophe)
- The size contrast + bold color grab attention in a split second (pierson)
🚀 Weekly Outlier
This video by DanTheTurtleMan has 3.4M views, which is 264 times higher than the channel’s average. Here’s why it took off:
- Personal Investment: Eight-year relationship with Bean turns a reptile video into a legacy story.
- Unscripted Realism: FedEx chaos, overheating scare, and failed eggs make it feel raw and bingeable.
- “Aww” Factor: Rare baby terrapins, tiny feeding cups, and visible growth create constant visual reward.
How This Creator Sold $74,000 of Her Art
There’s a big difference between getting views and making money. Brianca Bellis figured out how to do both.
After going all-in on her Shopify store, she grew from $9,440 to $74,908 in sales in one year. So what changed?
She stopped relying on random posts and started running scheduled drops, using her 17,000+ email list to build hype and drive traffic on launch day.
“All the shop drops I was having sold out in minutes. It felt unreal,” Brianca told me.
Now, she focuses on creating while Shopify takes care of the business side, from email marketing and store design to shipping and order tracking.
“It’s very nice to have everything I need for my online store in one place,” Brianca said.
But the biggest shift? She owns her audience. Because if social media disappears tomorrow, her business doesn’t.
“I know that I can still contact my most loyal customers even if my social media goes down. I also have full control over my store as well,” Brianca told us.
Start your free Shopify trial here and build something that lasts.
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– Jon
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