Amazon MGM Studios' Anais Baker talked up creator content Feb. 2 at the Realscreen Summit's first keynote "conversation." (Photo by Media Play News staff)
Creator Content — and YouTube — the Talk of the Town as Realscreen Summit Opens
February 3, 2026
MIAMI — The buzz around creators, and YouTube becoming synonymous with TV, dominated discussions as the Realscreen Summit opened Monday, Feb. 2.
The focus of the three-day event — co-located at the InterContinental Hotel with NATPE Global, which starts Feb. 4 — is unscripted content, a category that includes everything from reality shows to talk shows, docuseries, lifestyle and travel shows, and of course creator content that is increasingly moving from YouTube onto other streaming platforms as the popularity of YouTube continues to mushroom.
YouTube now has more than 2.5 billion monthly active users and last year surpassed Netflix to hold the largest share (over 13%) of daily TV usage, with more than 150 million U.S. viewers each month on connected TVs.
Anais Baker, head of international formats at Amazon MGM Studios, in a keynote “conversation” talked up the success of several Prime Video unscripted shows, particularly “LOL: Last One Laughing,” a standup comedy show that has been produced in over 20 territories. The British series, based on the Japanese show “Documental,” features 10 comedians competing to make each other laugh without laughing themselves. The last contestant to keep a straight face wins the trophy.
“Comedy has done really well for us,” Baker said. “I think we are known for that in a lot of regions.”
An even bigger hit is “Beast Games,” which launched on YouTube in 2012 as a gaming show when host Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, was just 13. The show, which now consists of high-production videos featuring extreme endurance challenges, huge cash giveaways, and elaborate stunts, premiered on Amazon’s Prime Video platform in December 2024 and during Amazon’s Upfront presentation in May 2025 was renewed for two more seasons, with Amazon executives saying “Beast Games” was Prime Video’s most-watched unscripted show ever, snagging 50 million viewers just 25 days after its debut.
Expect more creator content in the future, Baker said. “I think it’s [all about] talent, right?” she said. “And I think what’s interesting is that talent can come from a variety of groups.” Referring to “LOL” contestants, she said some promising young comedians come out of the traditional standup pool, “but it can also mean from the more of a digital platform. We see a lot of comedians come out on digital forums, whether it’s TikTok or Instagram. They’re comedians, they’re funny, but they’ve done things a different way — they followed a different path.”
Baker also dispelled the belief that creator content only appeals to young viewers. “MrBeast is very broad ranging — lots of people watch it,” she said, adding that she can think of a number of comedy shows on Prime Video “that I know my mum could sit down and watch and laugh her socks off.”
AI also created a buzz on day one of the Realscreen summit, with Michael Gelman of A&E, Lifetime and Home.Made.Nation and WEtv’s Angela Molloy talking about ways to optimize unscripted content, with AI and former FilmRise and Shout! Studios executive Max Einhorn announcing that Gennie, the newly launched generative AI content studio he cofounded, is working on a new conspiracy documentary series, “Birds Aren’t Real,” with U.K. production company Phoenix Television that will use AI to create realistic re-enactment and “what if” scenes that are difficult to produce in traditional shoots.
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