Why You’re Being Left Behind as a Content Creator - Episode 58

Welcome back to Social Media Mastery. We are already at Episode 58!

Today’s topic is for all of you podcasters, YouTubers, and long-form creators:

Why Some Creators Are Growing in 2026, Whilst Others Are Being Left Behind

By the end of this newsletter, if you are a long form creator who feels like their growth has slowed down this year, I hope this acts as the wake-up call you need.

Most long form creators expect their 20+ minute videos not only to be seen, but to be watched in their entirety.

But the reality is, the way people consume content has completely changed.

When many creators originally started building their platforms, the landscape was very different.

There was really only one major way to consume high-quality content online.

Back 5 years ago, short form was awful. It was people dancing, or really unfunny skits, with very little reward.

Today, it is the reason why creators are going from 0 to 1.

A great example of this is John Nellis.

Back in 2022, John had around 6,000 YouTube subscribers after posting a handful of long form videos.

At the time, he was working as an air traffic controller and was genuinely happy to continue doing that long term. However, he still had that feeling in the back of his mind pulling him towards content creation.

Despite only having 6,000 subscribers, he met a man called Alex Emery, a Senior Assistant Producer at Sky.

Alex actually left his well-paid role at Sky to help John try to make the content work because they both saw a huge opportunity emerging.

And that opportunity was not more long form content.

It was short form.

They realised very early that short form content was about to explode, so they began creating high-quality clips across YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels.

Initially, the growth was slow, but then came the moment that changed everything:

The 2022 Football World Cup.

As Lionel Messi chased his first ever World Cup win, John and Alex massively increased their short form output - posting around three shorts per day and creating reactive content whilst matches were still being played.

The result?

The pair gained over 200,000 subscribers in a single month.

From that point onwards, they never looked back.

Today, John Nellis has over 13.5 million YouTube subscribers and creates some of the highest-quality short form sports content online.

And incredibly:

He has only ever uploaded around 29 long form videos.

But what’s the point of me telling you this?

I am not saying stop your long form - far from it.

But for many creators, short form content is the missing fuel needed to grow their audience.

You should start viewing short-form as marketing for your long form content.

Every major company runs advertisements to grow their business.

In 2026, every serious long form creator should be using short form content to grow their audience.

Make sure to subscribe, and remember - “Most people miss opportunities because they underestimate them early.”

- Jacob

If you’re interested in GROWING your Content in 2026 - press here