Disney’s Podcast Offensive: 2 New Deals — and the 4 Genres It Wants Next

Hello from L.A., where yesterday I interviewed Wheelhouse CEO Brent Montgomery at the Unscripted Summit, and of course I asked him about his new reality competition series for Hulu with Jake and Logan Paul. And later this week, you can catch me at the first-ever Created in LA, where I hope to get to the bottom of what prompted Disney to host this two-day creator event.

This week I scored a couple of scoops on Like & Subscribe that I’m sharing here: First, I tell you about a new platform, founded by a former Spotify exec, that wants to help brands and creators more easily make AI-assisted ads… and I have a feeling the tech will be divisive, especially after the country’s collective AI freakout last weekend following unsettling warnings from Anthropic’s CEO and others that AI models could soon spiral out of control.

Then, I’m bringing you a deep dive on Disney’s podcast push, where I break down how the strategy for Disney+ and Hulu diverges from Netflix’s; what kinds of pods the Mouse House is looking to buy right now; and which execs are leading the charge. Plus, I’ve got an interview with Disney exec Lauren Tempest and exclusive details about new podcasts coming to the platform that you can’t read anywhere else.

Read on for my reveals.

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Giving Creators a Brand-Deal Boost

Here’s a stat that should make any creator nervous: 83 percent of ad executives say their company has deployed AI in the creative process, according to a January report from IAB. AI’s proliferation in marketing materials has opened up a host of questions for creators, from whether they should be using the tech in their content at all to whether, if they do make an AI clone, a brand could end up owning their digital likeness.

Now a platform is launching to help brands work with creators on AI-generated ads. I can report exclusively that Avail, a startup making AI-powered tools for media and entertainment, is rolling out creatorAPI, which will allow brands to license the AI likeness of a creator on an asset-by-asset basis.

Avail founder and CEO Chris Giliberti tells me he designed creatorAPI to streamline the onerous process of executing a creator marketing campaign. “When you look at the full lifecycle of an influencer marketing deal, it is many, many steps,” he says, describing creatorAPI as providing “value through automation.”

How does it work?

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Disney Joins the Race for Podcast Stars

In all the hubbub over Netflix’s push to lure top podcasters — which I’ve covered extensively, including in this guide to the kinds of shows the streamer is licensing and the originals it’s buying — there’s another new podcast buyer that has gone under the radar. But based on my conversations with dealmakers lately, that won’t last long.

Disney, about a year into its own podcast push for streamers Hulu and Disney+, is in active dealmaking mode, multiple sources tell me, with several shows expected to land on the services in the coming few weeks. (A couple weeks ago I reported that Hulu had made a seven-figure offer to a creator.)

I scooped two of these shows yesterday on Like & Subscribe: Best Friends, the comedy podcast hosted by real-life BFFs Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata, and Perfect Person, the call-in advice show from host Miles Bonsignore, will start streaming for an exclusive 24-hour window on both Hulu and Disney+ beginning Sept. 22. The podcasts are part of the Headgum network, which has brought several other shows to Disney’s streamers — among them the Jake Johnson and Gareth Reynolds-hosted We’re Here to Help and This Is Us rewatch pod That Was Us.

The podcast community has welcomed the new buyer warmly, because although Disney’s being very selective about the shows it licenses — it’s also offering deals that don’t require podcasters to pull their shows from other platforms.

I reveal the four core genres of podcasts it’s looking for now below, and the strategy behind the buys.

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Steven Bartlett has teamed with Authentic Brands Group to deploy up to $400 million to help creators grow their media companies and brands. The venture, OBSN, also has a consumer-facing business, Obsession, where it will share creator economy news and host live experiences.

IMDb is adding “digital creator” profiles to its database of Hollywood credits, a move that shows just how much the two worlds are blurring — and that should be a bit of a bummer to the various players who’ve been trying to build an “IMDb for creators.”

Media analyst Evan Shapiro and creator Shira Lazar are out with a new list of the most influential creators, measured by the trust and affinity they’ve established with their fans, and the usual suspects are surprisingly absent. The top three: Blair Imani, B. Dylan Hollis and Ash Baber.

In a bit of Emmys counterprogramming, the Saban Community Clinic hosted its fourth annual Creators in Action fundraiser on Monday night, where it honored Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry as well as Whalar Group co-CEOs Neil Waller and James Street.