Blindside
Blindside Weekly
5 structural threats the market isn't pricing — and where each one sits on the scale.
Gavin Bridge
Former Amazon Studios FAST exec, former Variety VIP+ senior analyst.
Creator Economy
Brands Cut Out the Middleman
Brands now run three-quarters of creator campaigns themselves, up 16 points in a year. That leaves about $159m of yearly agency income at risk — and the weaker networks are already being sold or folded.
Creator Economy
States Lock Out Teen Ad Money
About 25 states passed age-check laws since 2023, and Australia is already locking half a million teen accounts per platform. The likely hit is $267m a year off an $11bn teen ad base — and it rarely comes back.
Creator Economy
TikTok's Rebuilt Engine Scrambles Creator Pay
TikTok is rebuilding its US recommendation engine on US-only data through mid-2026, while ByteDance keeps the original. The gap can erase 70-90% of a creator's views and puts $3.7bn in yearly US creator value at risk. The market hasn't priced it.
World Cup
72% of Relegated Clubs Outscore the Championship. Most Still Don't Go Up.
Stronger forwards, sharper finishers, the bigger reputation. Of 43 relegated Premier League clubs over 26 seasons, 31 outscored the Championship in their first season down. Then they stayed there. And the efficiency signal that should explain it points the wrong way.
Creator Economy
Brands Stop Overpaying for Creators
Brands now pay creators only when posts drive sales. Results-based deals doubled in two years, quietly stripping out the premium creator pay was built on — even as total spending keeps climbing.
Creator Economy
The Vanishing Search Click
AI answer boxes settle the question before anyone clicks through. Our model puts the loss at $2.4 billion a year on a $12 billion affiliate base — and the click is disappearing, not migrating.
Blindside
Blindside Weekly
4 structural threats the market isn't pricing — and where each one sits on the scale.
Gaming
Gaming's Money Engine Is Breaking Down
Chips are being redirected, loot boxes are being outlawed, and $300M games sell for $70. Gaming's profit logic is breaking in too many places at once to call any one of them a blip.
Gaming
Roblox Kids May Never Buy Big Games
A generation raised on Roblox spent 124 billion hours there in 2025. If they never start buying the $70 game, $9.4 billion in yearly sales the industry counts on may simply never arrive.
Intricate Sub-Behavior
DRIVEN, RESILIENT, FRAGILE: The Three-Way Endorsement-Sensitivity Model
Why a pop-star bashing the NFL moves nothing, but the Super Bowl halftime pick moves everything. Three sensitivities, twenty-four classified brands, the half-time-show fork.
Gaming
Laws Force Games to Stay Playable
Europe and California are moving to force game makers to keep titles playable after servers close — or refund buyers. Our estimate: $1.8 billion a year. The market still prices it as a lobbying fight.