Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. This week, one creator retires while another takes his colleagues to school, YouTube puts stock in Shopping, Joe Rogan faces being #2, and Mamrie Hart is back with a mouthful.
Creator commotion
The Outdoor Boys are over. Or are they? Longtime hiking/camping/hunting/etc creator Luke Nichols is retiring from his YouTube channel Outdoor Boys after a decade, saying he’s worried about the effect fame will have on his three sons. “My wife and I, we both have real concerns about what this will do to our family if I keep growing my YouTube channel at this pace. And the time to stop is before this problem gets so out of hand that my family and I can’t live normal lives,” he said in an upload to his 15 million subscribers. But his future plans seem to contradict that statement: He closed the video by telling people he’s going to help his young son Thomas grow his own YouTube channel, which currently has 888,000 subscribers. Hmmm.
Clock in for Cenat school. The first class of Kai Cenat’s Streamer University is officially in session–but it may also be the last. Streamer University is a free-to-attend boot camp for any creator with internet access; ~150 of those creators, though, were hand-selected by Cenat to congregate (again, for free) at the University of Akron for some in-person gnoshing and networking. Backlash against some of the streamers Cenat selected led to a rough moment on stream where Cenat said he’s splashed out big to pay for this event, and probably won’t do it again because “no matter which way I try to make sure things is good, I always get the bad end of the stick.”
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Movers and shakers
Todd Sherman hops from YouTube Shorts to YouTube Shopping. We all know TikTok Shop is big biz. Does YouTube want to reach those ecommerce heights? Maybe–and if so, it’s shifting resources from Shorts in the attempt. Sherman, who was a product lead for YouTube’s short-form division, will now do the same job for Shopping. “People spend so much time researching and discovering new products on YouTube and it should be easy for them to purchase them as well,” he said in a LinkedIn post.
TikTok’s creative solution. The ByteDance-owned app has brought in San Francisco-based agency Pereira O’Dell to lead its global creative efforts after “a competitive review.” That includes competitive efforts in the U.S., where TikTok is still on the banhammer chopping block…and layoffs are looming.
The biz
LATAM gets a leg up. Twitch just made it easier for streamers in Latin America to reach revenue-share status. They now need 50 points down from 100 to hit 60/40 revenue split, and 200 points down from 300 for 70/30 split. (Deets on how points work here.) “The data we have tells us that cultural nuances and economic realities in LATAM have made it difficult for creators of similar size to meet Plus program requirements compared to those in other regions,” Twitch said. So, it’s making this move to level the playing field.
Goodbye, Joe Rogan. Okay, we’re being a little hyperbolic. He didn’t go anywhere, his podcast just got knocked out of the #1 spot on YouTube’s brand-new podcast charts. They only dropped last week, and The Joe Rogan Experience being top dog wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was the instant knock-down this week. He was taken to #2 by true crime ‘cast Rotten Mango.
Platform headlines
Wait, bro, it was just a prank. After a five-year hiatus, streamer SoLLUMINATI returned to Twitch, and maanged to get banned twice. Once for allegedly saying a transphobic slur, and again right after talking sh*t at fellow streamer Zoe Spencer. Off the back of that second time-out, SoLLUMINATI promptly–and publicly–appealed to Kick for a streaming deal…and just like that, his Twitch ban was lifted. Coincidence?
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. The nonprofit responsible for our favorite meme is entering the short-form game with its own TikTok-style feed. Its app, which hadn’t received a significant update since 2010, now boasts a swipeable section of clips from past TED Talks and other original content. Like everything else these days, it’s being promoted as “powered by AI.” Don’t get us wrong, TED Talks are cool, but the constant AI shmarketing? Yawn.
Pop culture minute
Just like the ancient era, sensei. Aniplex is going back to the old-school days of waking up at 4 a.m. to catch InuYasha on Cartoon Network. Not that anyone here did that. Ahem. Anyway, the Japanese entertainment company is streaming an episode of popular anime Demon Slayer on its YouTube channel every day at 6 p.m. EST. The episodes won’t be archived, so if you’re not there to watch it when it’s on, you’re SOL–just like old times.
We wanted hot robots, but not like this. Tesla’s newest unholy creation will apparently be able to DIY by watching YouTube videos. Elon Musk said that right now, Optimus is learning by watching humans wearing motion-capture gear, but it’s on the horizon for the thing to learn from YouTube just like a person. Supposedly.
A Sidemen success. The six-man supergroup’s Netflix reality show Inside is the first content creator production to be nominated for the U.K.’s National Television Award. “Among I’m a Celeb, Love Island and Traitors, the flagship shows from ITV, BBC and Channel 4 etc…There’s Inside,” Sidemen manager Jordan Schwarzenberger wrote on LinkedIn. Congrats, guys. Emmy next?
Mamrie Hart is back, baby. This double Streamy Award winner has been offline for a while, but she’s making a dramatic re-entrance with a “sexy” vegetarian cookbook. Dig in.
