EMARKETER

Creators Are Becoming Media Conglomerates

ADWEEK's cover teaser describes a growing industry trend: digital creators are evolving into diversified media companies. Using MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) as a leading example, the piece highlights creators expanding beyond platforms into product lines, studios, events, financial services and telecom offerings. Data cited from eMarketer and industry sources show accelerating brand spend on creators and narrowing revenue gaps with traditional publishers. The newsletter section also reports personnel moves and corporate activity across legacy and new-media firms, including Hearst, Business Insider, Track Star, Smooth Media and Perfectly Imperfect.

Sony scales up PlayStation advertising push

Sony appears to be building a larger advertising business around PlayStation after posting multiple ad-specific roles on its Sony Interactive Entertainment Media Solutions team in mid-2026. Openings include a global director for client partnerships (posted mid-July 2026), a director-level ad operations and technology role in San Mateo, and regional sales and operations roles in Tokyo and London. The hires signal a global ad infrastructure and monetization push covering programmatic, FAST, CTV and privacy-first data activation. Sony previously experimented with in-game and virtual-world advertising (2008) and reportedly worked on game ad insertion in 2022. Analysts note gaming captures substantial attention but currently earns a small share of digital ad spend, creating opportunity for monetization.

AMD Stock Falls After Disappointing Guidance

AMD reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results driven by sustained server-processor demand, but warned that growth momentum will slow. Q2 revenue rose about 50% to $11.54 billion and adjusted EPS increased 246% to $1.66. Shares fell roughly 9% in after-hours trading despite the gains. AMD said it expects next-quarter revenue between $12.7 billion and $13.3 billion and a maintained adjusted gross margin near 56%. The company is preparing shipments of a second generation of AI servers and has business ties with AI developer Anthropic (including chip orders totaling two gigawatts and an equity commitment of up to $5 billion). AMD remains the world’s second-largest AI-processor supplier after Nvidia.