Pros and Consequences

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Hey honeys and hustlers,

It’s been a rainy few days here in the Southeast, and I’ve been fighting the urge to get cozy in bed all day and write. Obviously, I didn’t fight it hard enough because here we are. I wanted to share some thoughts on some updates in the creator economy because they’re coming in hot, just in time for the summer.

In Readworthy News

// Wistia released their State of Video Report for 2025. My key takeaways:

• more than half of marketers connect their video platform to their customer relationship management (CRM) or email marketing tool. If you’re using video for marketing and not creating a direct way for people to engage with your brand, you’re doing it wrong.

• Lead generation forms get the best conversion. I’m surprised people are still willing to give out their info through organic or paid social video, but that’s cool to see. The best placements for lead generation forms?

  • The end of a 60+ minute video (65% conversion rate)

  • In the 3rd quarter of a 1–3 minute video (58% conversion rate)

  • Between the 1st and 4th quarter of a 60+ minute video (40%-45% conversion rate)

• The longer the video, the lower the engagement rate, but the higher the conversion rate. So, what do you want a video to do? Get engagement or convert viewers?

• Original series drive the best conversion rates, followed by webinars.

• Videos on course pages, video galleries, and contact pages get the highest play rates.

// Best Podcast Award added to Golden Globes. Award season just got a little more interesting for podcast fans. I think this quote from Jazmine sums up my feelings on the announcement.

// Kajabi released their State of Creator Commerce Report 2025. Some key takeaways:

• There was a 40% year-over-year decrease in creators’ willingness to compromise their values for high-paying brand deals.

• The revenue channel with the most growth for creators was podcast revenue, followed by digital download sales.

• Entrepreneurial Creators are 20% more likely to report better self-confidence and self-esteem compared to Social-First Creators.

• Creators with communities (email lists or private communities) earn 2x more than other creators.

• The photos/screengrabs below demonstrate something interesting when comparing one-time payments, subscription payments, and bundled payments. Bundles > one-time > subscription.

// Spotify launches new podcast metric ‘plays.’ I have seen so much negative feedback on this decision on Threads (that’s where I’m hanging out when I’m not on LinkedIn or YouTube nowadays). YouTube viewers can see how many views and likes a video has. Music listeners on Spotify can see how many monthly listeners an artist has. I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal that podcast listenership will now be publicly available. If you have a reason other than vanity, I’d love to hear it in the comments. I think they’re trying to compete with YouTube and make the platform friendlier for advertisers/brands looking to work with podcasters.

// Figma takes on the big dogs. Not being acquired by Adobe seems to have ignited a spark in the company. Why get bought by Adobe when you can BECOME Adobe? Figma is coming for Webflow/Framer (websites), Canva/Adobe Express (Social design suite), Illustrator (Design), and Lovable/Replit/Bolt (vibe coding and web development). All they need now is photo editing and they will have replaced their whole suite of products. Config left many attendees with a smile on their faces.