The Upload

Devin McGovern, aka Devin the Dad, joins The Upload to talk about one of the best reinvention stories in the creator economy. After nearly a decade producing reality TV, including as an executive producer on Bar Rescue, Devin got let go at 45. Instead of chasing another TV job, he pointed his producer’s instincts at his own life as a dad, and in under two years turned it into 100M+ views a year, 3...

Julie Walsh Smith, CEO of Complexly, joins The Upload for a conversation about building a creator company designed to last for generations. Complexly is the company behind some of the biggest educational channels on the internet, Crash Course, SciShow, PBS Eons and more, with 10,000+ videos, 32 million subscribers, and billions of views. But after 14 years, founders Hank and John Green made a move...

Jim Louderback, editor of Inside the Creator Economy and the former GM of VidCon, joins The Upload for a wide-ranging conversation about where this whole industry is actually heading. Few people have watched the creator economy longer or more clearly, and Jim doesn't hold back. We get into YouTube's big Partner Program overhaul and what it really means, why organic virality has stopped bei...

Josh Mattingly, founder of Upright Media and the self-described "Operating Partner to the Creator Economy," joins The Upload to pull back the curtain on the business behind some of the biggest channels on the internet. After 16 years working with the likes of Maker Studios, Smosh, Donut Media and Preston, Josh has a clear point of view: the next generation of creator businesses won't...

Ant McCormack, co-founder of Changer and one of the people building in the creator economy before the term even existed, joins The Upload to talk about what it actually takes to build a creator business that lasts. We get into his big theory that most creators, once they have an audience to protect, start operating from fear instead of the experimental mindset that got them there in the first plac...

Lia Haberman, writer of the ICYMI newsletter and one of the most trusted voices tracking the creator economy, joins The Upload to unpack where things are actually heading. We get into why follower count matters less than everyone thinks, the rise of superfans and smaller, more loyal communities, and why audiences are craving offline experiences (and how creators and brands can meet them there). Li...

Gross is the number you screenshot. Net is the number that pays your rent. Why smaller creators out-earn bigger ones, and the one question that reveals your real business. No names, all the lessons.

I've spent years in the creator economy helping others build in public. At some point I realized the best thing I could do was actually do it myself. In this episode I share the LinkedIn strategy that's worked for me, the AI system I use to find ideas from conversations I'm already having, and why I challenged the entire Uscreen team to climb the cringe mountain — one post at a time.

Rob breaks down what he’s seeing at Cannes Lions and VidCon: creators are no longer asking for permission. They’re building their own platforms, owning their audience, and doing it smart. Plus, a first look at Uscreen’s new MCP feature that’s changing how creators run their membership businesses, the Hammer Media playbook for YouTube AND owned platforms, and why he’s heading to Coach360 in Vegas n...

YouTube has started rolling out dynamic ad slots, a feature that lets creators swap sponsor reads in and out of older videos without re-uploading anything. The implication is bigger than most creators realize: every video already in your back catalog just became live ad inventory. Most creators are still treating their old work like a diary instead of a portfolio, and the gap between those two min...

Hey, I'm Rob Balasabas — and if you've ever typed "what is Uscreen" into Google or YouTube, you're in the right place. In this video, I'm breaking down exactly what Uscreen is, what it does, and whether it might be the right platform for your video business. So what is Uscreen? Simply put, it's an all-in-one platform that lets video creators build their own streaming...

OpenAI just made its first ever acquisition of a media company — a daily creator-style tech show called TBPN that launched in 2025, has 58,000 YouTube subscribers, and is on track to generate $30 million in revenue this year. In Episode 9 of his 20-episode daily challenge Rob Balasabas shares his honest, unfiltered reaction to this story — which is that he’s still processing it. No hot take, no ne...

Rob Balasabas just got back from SXSW in Austin where he was repping Uscreen, co-hosting a Creator Mixer with 325 attendees, and watching the creator economy show up in full force alongside legacy brands and traditional media. In Episode 8 of his 20-episode daily challenge he shares what he actually saw and felt on the ground — from creators thinking seriously about scaling their businesses, to la...

Day 7/20: YouTube sponsorships jumped 54% year over year — 65,000 sponsored videos, 19 billion views, and none of it showing up in Google’s official revenue numbers. This is a separate creator economy happening on top of YouTube, growing faster than almost anything else in the space. In Episode 7 of his 20-episode daily challenge, Rob Balasabas breaks down what the data actually means, why creator...

Day 6/20: The Cannes Film Festival just added a full creator economy summit to its 2026 program. The Clio Awards launched Clio Creators. Hollywood is showing up to creator economy conferences in numbers we haven’t seen before. Legacy institutions are no longer just acknowledging the creator economy — they’re reorganizing around it. In Episode 6 of his 20-episode daily challenge, Rob Balasabas brea...

Say 5/20: The creator economy heading to $500 billion is genuinely exciting news. This industry is real, it’s growing faster than almost anything else, and the opportunity for individual creators is bigger than it’s ever been. But the number on its own doesn’t mean anything for your business. What matters is whether you’re building something that actually captures value from that growth. And that...

Day 4/20: Long-term ambassador contracts are up 47% this year and brands are increasingly treating creators as media partners rather than ad placements. Sounds like good news for creators — right? In Episode 4 of his 20-episode daily challenge, Rob Balasabas breaks down why longer term brand relationships come with their own risks, shares a real cautionary tale from the tech creator space, and mak...

Day 3/20: YouTube paid out $100 billion to creators between 2021 and 2025 — more than Netflix spent on content over the same period. YouTube now tops TV viewership every month. And this week YouTube launched a brand new Creator Partnerships hub while Netflix’s own co-CEO called YouTube a “straightforward direct competitor.” So who wins — and which platform should creators actually be betting on ri...

Day 2/20: A creator’s organic reach has dropped 90% in five years. But a brand new creator today has the same algorithmic potential as MrBeast. So which is it — is the algorithm democratizing the creator economy or destroying it? In Episode 2 of his 20-episode daily challenge, Rob Balasabas breaks down the paradox, why depending on the algorithm is the real problem, and what first-party data actua...

Day 1/20 👉 Subscribe to The Upload Newsletter: https://balasabas.substack.com Thank you to our partners: Opus Clip: https://www.opus.pro/?via=rob Streamyard: https://streamyard.com/?fpr=golive Uscreen: https://www.uscreen.tv Ecamm: http://ecamm.balasabas.live Connect with Rob: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbalasabas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rob.balasabas Business + Partners...

👉 Subscribe to The Upload Newsletter: https://balasabas.substack.com Thank you to our partners: Opus Clip: https://www.opus.pro/?via=rob Streamyard: https://streamyard.com/?fpr=golive Uscreen: https://www.uscreen.tv Ecamm: http://ecamm.balasabas.live Connect with Rob: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbalasabas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rob.balasabas Business + Partnership Inqui...

What does it really take to grow on YouTube in 2026? In this full interview, YouTube growth expert Derral Eves shares his playbook for building successful, sustainable YouTube channels in today's creator economy. Derral has advised some of the world's top creators and brands, and in this conversation we break down how YouTube actually works — beyond the surface-level tips. In this episode,...

This episode breaks down how to choose your niche the right way — and how to validate your membership idea before you build content. You’ll learn five practical steps to niche by problem, test demand quickly, and launch with confidence. 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss future episodes! Subscribe to The Upload Newsletter + https://balasabas.substack.com Thank you to our partners: + Op...

Most creators overbuild before launching their membership. In this episode, I share the exact structure you need on day one: how many videos, what kind of lessons, what resources to include, and the one recurring experience that increases retention. If you’re thinking about launching soon, this is your blueprint. 👉 Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss future episodes! Subscribe to The Uplo...

Wondering how to start a membership or whether your audience is big enough to launch? In this episode, we walk through a simple five-step process to validate your idea, build a minimum viable membership, and attract your first paying members — even with a small following. You’ll learn how top creators pre-sell their memberships, what type of content to include on day one, and the easiest way to te...