Own. App and Ghost Gaming Prove Audience-Driven Creator Discovery Can Outperform Traditional Talent Scouting

Four-week competition generated 3.6M+ impressions, 90K+ engagements, and crowned Ghost Koby as Ghost Gaming’s winning creator via real-time audience validation

Atlanta, Georgia, United States, May 25, 2026 -- Own. App, the performance-based platform for the creator economy, and Ghost Gaming, the leading North American esports organization representing gaming creators across a network of 30M+ followers, today released performance results from the four-week Ghost Gaming Recruitment Challenge, a live creator competition that tested a new model for talent built on audience engagement rather than follower counts, opaque algorithms, or traditional scouting pipelines.

The challenge concluded at Creator Summit 2026, the year’s largest creator gathering, during Games Week Georgia, hosted by Resurgens Gaming, Ghost Gaming, and Skillshot. It generated more than 3.6 million combined impressions and over 90,200 total engagements across Own. App, Ghost Gaming, and creator-generated community content. More than 450 creators participated organically, producing over 750 pieces of content without paid promotion. The results point to a significant shift in how creators are being discovered, evaluated, and recruited in the future.

Hosted on Own. App from April 19 through May 14, the Recruitment Challenge invited creators to compete across weekly identity, content, collaboration, and community-based challenges for a chance to join Ghost Gaming’s creator roster. Rankings were determined entirely by real audience engagement on Own. App, creating a transparent alternative to legacy creator discovery systems increasingly criticized for inflated metrics and biased algorithms. With the advertising industry estimated to lose more than $100 billion annually to ad fraud and bot-inflated engagement, the Recruitment Challenge served as a live proof point for a more transparent, performance-based discovery model.

Own. App and Ghost Gaming were at the center of industry-leading partners across multiple verticals, from platforms to brands to networks, including top streamer platforms Twitch and Kick. Most notably, the challenge demonstrated that creators without massive followings could outperform larger accounts when measured on audience response rather than existing reach. Through Own. App’s “Fresh Shot” system, which reset leaderboard rankings every week, creators were required to continually earn engagement from a live audience rather than benefit from accumulated followers or platform bias.

 “What a magical week. This served as platform validation for Own. App at the largest possible scale, with 1,500 creators in one room and every option in the industry available to them. There were legacy brands, but also almost every other alternative available to the creator economy. Among this impressive assemblage, Own was a leader. There is no cleaner signal in this industry than where creators choose to actually show up, and Creator Summit was a referendum on that question,” said Amir Kaltak, CEO and CTO of Own. App.

For Ghost Gaming, the competition transformed recruitment into a public-facing content engine rather than a closed-door scouting process. The organization saw engagement rates increase 35% during the challenge, while comments rose 131% and reposts more than doubled as audiences actively followed leaderboard movement and creator submissions.

“What made this challenge successful was the ability to evaluate creators in real time based on authentic engagement, consistency, collaboration, and community response, not just existing reach or industry visibility,” said Julian Caggiano, Managing Director at Ghost Gaming. “In many ways, it proved more effective than traditional creator discovery because it gave us a more authentic view of talent and opened the door to creators who may have otherwise been overlooked.”

Own. App itself recorded a 4.8% engagement rate during the challenge, significantly above the 1–2% industry benchmark for comparable accounts, while generating engagement levels close to Ghost Gaming despite operating with a fraction of the audience size. The data suggests that smaller but highly engaged communities may provide a stronger signal of creator influence than raw follower totals alone. Since launching the Recruitment Challenge, the platform has also been growing at roughly 2x week-over-week.

“Sharing a stage with Twitch, Kick, and the other platforms defining where creators build was not a coincidence. It was a placement that signaled where the conversation is heading. It is the most complete platform and esports org partnership the industry has seen executed in a single event window. Other orgs and partners are already watching, and thinking about how to build on this incredible demonstration,” said Katia Zaitsev, COO of Own. App.

The winning creator, Ghost Koby (@Ko6ys), secured a place on Ghost Gaming’s roster through sustained performance across all four weeks of competition, demonstrating audience connection, consistency, collaboration, and content quality in real time.

By turning recruitment into an interactive community event, the challenge created a continuous flywheel of creator participation, audience engagement, and branded content amplification across Own. App, X, Instagram, TikTok, and Discord.

According to Own. App and Ghost Gaming, the Recruitment Challenge was not simply a marketing campaign — it was a proof of concept for a broader shift in the creator economy: replacing subjective creator scouting and vanity metrics with measurable audience validation.

By the Numbers

• 3.6M+ combined impressions
• 90,200 total engagements
• 450+ participating creators
• 750+ creator-generated posts
• 4-week live competition
• 4.8% engagement rate on Own. App
• 35% engagement increase for Ghost Gaming during the campaign
• 131% increase in comments/replies on Ghost Gaming channels

For more information about Own. App, visit www.ownapp.co. and follow @ownapp_ on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Discord.

About Ghost Gaming

Ghost Gaming is a leading North American gaming lifestyle organization with over 100+ managed content creators and esports competitors, cultivating and representing gaming talent across a network of 30 million followers. Ghost Gaming provides platforms for creating unique partnerships across sports, music, and entertainment, with strategic partners including Intel. Learn more at www.ghostgaming.com.

About Own. App

A subsidiary of NEMO Enterprises, Own. App is a next-generation, gamified social platform purpose-built for the creator economy. With performance-based discovery, fair global pay, and full content ownership, Own. App is redefining how media, money, and creativity flow online. Founded by Amir Kaltak and Katia Zaitsev, Own. App is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Learn more at www.ownapp.co.

Media Contact: own@transformgroup.com 

Contact Info:
Name: Lynessa Martin
Email: Send Email
Organization: Own. App
Website: http://www.ownapp.co/

Release ID: 89192825

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