Special Announcement: Quartermast brokers Bent Pixels acquistion of SSA

Good Morning,

We’re excited to announce that Quartermast acted as the exclusive advisors to Sunny State Agency (SSA) in their sale to Bent Pixels for $23M. This unites the world’s largest gaming network with a top-tier Snapchat publisher. This acquisition creates a powerhouse in the creator media space, combining 72B annual views with a sophisticated enterprise sales infrastructure.

A sunny outlook for pixels: combine SSA’s mastery of short-form reach with Bent Pixels’ enterprise-grade infrastructure. By blending Snapchat-native scale with sophisticated monetization data, the deal solves the fragmentation puzzle for brands. We’re excited to see how the next chapter unfolds!

In other news, social commerce agencies Orca and Sapphire Studios have merged to create a unified powerhouse focused on TikTok Shop and live shopping. DeleteMe has acquired Block Party to integrate sophisticated social media privacy tools into its consumer data protection suite. Deaku has secured $480k in pre-seed funding to build a centralized platform for managing creator-led marketing workflows.

Nestlé recently reported the theft of over 400,000 KitKat bars. Just how much are 12 metric tons of stolen KitKat bars worth? A lot of PR gold, it turns out.

Quartermast Creator Economy Index:

Layoff Watch:

• Oracle: software giant started the layoffs- some 10,000 people are believed to have lost their jobs so far

The Weekly Roundup:

1. Rec Room Shuts Down Service: After amassing 150 million users, the Roblox competitor is shutting down its service, marking a major exit for the social-VR space (The Verge)

2. Billion Dollar Boy Fights Burnout: The agency launched a new creator payment platform designed to provide instant payouts and tackle financial burnout among influencers (PR Week)

3. Ad Spend Hits Record Heights: New data suggests the U.S. creator economy is entering a "mature phase" with ad spend projected to hit $43.9 billion this year (MSN)

4. IZEA Launches New AI Tool: Launched "ZED," a new marketing operations platform that uses AI to manage creator campaigns and contracting (GlobeNewswire)

5. NBC Strategy Wins Young Viewers: Final results show NBC’s "Creator Collective" strategy significantly boosted viewership among younger demographics for the Paris Games (The Ankler)

6. Washington Post Pivots To Video Deals: Following significant newsroom cuts, the legacy publisher is pivoting toward creator-led video deals to regain audience relevance (Digiday)

7. Creator Equity Models Gain Steam: Industry analysts argue the next phase of the creator economy will shift from one-off "ad deals" to creators taking meaningful equity in brands (Forbes)

8. Senator Warren Challenges MrBeast Empire: Senator Elizabeth Warren has publicly challenged MrBeast regarding his recent business practices and the "influence gap" in digital media (Newsweek)

Upcoming Events

• Social Media Week, New York: April 14-16, 2026

• Scalable Summit, Los Angeles, May 6th, 2026

• Press Publish, Los Angeles, May 28th, 2026

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