The Colin and Samir Show

Today on The Colin & Samir Show we sit down with Markiplier and YouTube's Tim Katz, live from the Fox Studios lot in front of 650 creators at Press Publish LA: The Hollywood Creator Summit. After more than 15 years building one of YouTube's most personal channels, Markiplier put Hollywood on notice with Iron Lung, the horror film he financed, wrote, directed, and starred in. The film pulled in close to $52 million in theaters and is now on YouTube. We get into why he treated a feature film like a YouTube video, what he learned leading a hundred-person crew, why he stays his own harshest critic, and how he sees this collision of YouTube and Hollywood playing out for creators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Colin & Samir Show we sit down with the creator and host of SubwayTakes, Kareem Rahma. We dive into the origins and mechanics of what makes the show one of the most popular today on the internet. We also discuss the launch of his longform show Keep the Meter Running on YouTube. Kareem shares his pov on the future of attention and what it means to build a "show" in the modern media landscape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Colin and Samir Show we’re joined by Mark Rober, the former NASA engineer turned YouTube’s most prolific scientist, along with his Chief Content Officer, Scott Lewers. In this episode we explore why Mark is spending tens of millions to replace outdated classroom videos with free, high-production STEM content for teachers. We also dig into YouTube vs Netflix and the growing scale of the Mark Rober cinematic universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We recorded this episode from Big Sky, Montana at the annual Spotter Creator Summit - four days with some of the top creators in the world talking about where this industry is actually headed. And one idea kept coming up over and over again: We’ve officially entered the era of abundance. There is more good content, more creators, and more competition for attention than ever before. Streamers are courting creators. AI is accelerating production. And brands have more options than they know what to do with. So the real question going into 2026 isn’t “How do I grow?” It’s: How do I become memorable? In this episode, we break down what we’re hearing directly from creators, platforms, and brands—including insights from Issa Rae, conversations happening inside the summit, and Adam Mosseri’s New Year’s post about authenticity and AI. We talk about: Why “just making good videos” isn’t enough anymore How creators need to start telling the story of the story What’s changing in brand deals (and why short-form and long-form are diverging) Why streamers are suddenly paying closer attention to creators How AI changes the meaning of authenticity And what it takes to make something that can’t be summarized This episode is about the next phase of the creator economy—and the shift from chasing views to building something people actually remember. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instagram is coming to your TV. YouTube creators are showing up on Netflix and Hulu. And Disney just invested $1 billion into OpenAI. In this episode, we break down three headlines that point to the same shift: the living room is becoming the most important screen in the creator economy. We unpack what Instagram’s new TV app actually signals, why creator content is increasingly being syndicated to streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Tubi, and how Disney licensing its characters to AI models could change the future of IP, entertainment, and creators themselves. The big takeaway? Platforms are changing—but the creators who win are the ones building shows, not just content. To close, we run through a rapid-fire “ins and outs” of creator economy trends heading into 2026—and ask you what trends you’d buy or sell next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Something big is happening in the creator world: creators are turning their online audiences into real-world destinations. From tours to immersive pop-ups, we’re entering the Experience Economy — a shift that resembles the early days of Disney. In this episode, we talk about why creators are moving offline, what it says about the volatility of digital media, and where the creator business model is heading next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on The Colin and Samir Show we break down how Instagram became the center of the creator universe in 2025. We explain why Instagram is now the first app people open, how it “owns the phone screen,” and why the DM has become the most powerful way to share and grow. We also talk through revenue on Instagram and what we're seeing on the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably don’t think of your inbox as part of the creator economy, but email is a big business, and Substack is leading the charge. In this episode, Colin and Samir sit down with Rachel Karten, writer of the Substack newsletter Link in Bio, which covers the world of social media and has grown to more than 105,000 subscribers. Rachel left her role at Bon Appétit to build her own business as an independent creator, and today she earns income through paid subscriptions and brand partnerships on Substack. Colin, Samir and Rachel break down how email newsletters became one of the most powerful tools in the creator economy and why Substack’s model of direct audience ownership is changing how writers, journalists, and creators make a living. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices