Everyone sees the glossy stage photos, but no one sees the invisible work it tak
By Joelbjarni · October 12, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Everyone sees the glossy stage photos, but no one sees the invisible work it takes to get there. THANK YOU, MIAMI! 🇺🇸🎤
Last week, I spoke on stage at Jupiter Festival Miami, moderating ‘The Creator Landscape, Recharted’ alongside Evan Shapīro, Jon Goss and Shira Lazar.
We unpacked the new 2026 Creator Ecosphere Map, which charts the biggest players, platforms and creators shaping the new media landscape (making sense of the pure CHAOS that is the creator economy).
A big part of our conversation was around the beginning of the Affinity Era. Where reach and scale once reigned supreme, we're now asking a different question. How much does having millions of followers actually tell us about someones influence?
We dug into the Affinity Quotient, a metric that looks at engagement relative to views. For context, Mr Beast ranks #85 on the Affinity 100 Top Creators list!
I also spoke about the emerging class of accidental influencers who are winning in the creator economy.
These aren't your stereotypical Alo Yoga-wearing lifestyle influencers who always set out to monetise their image. These are your niche experts who've built fandoms based on how they think (and not just dress).
One of my favourite lines came from Evan: “Reach is such a last decade metric. It is a vanity metric, it is empty calories.”
And one of my own lines, which in hindsight feels quintessentially British on an American stage: “You could go to the toilet, come back and five platforms have completely changed.”
35 minutes was NEVER going to be enough when you're joined by some of the sharpest minds in the biz.
Huge thank you to the Jupiter team and my fellow panellists for making this happen! 🤝
Here's to many more conversations on American stages. We're now taking enquiries for 2027 speaking and workshop engagements across the UK, US and beyond.