Up until this past summer, there were two VTuber talent agencies most Western viewers would be familiar with: Hololive, and VShojo. The latter, which was based in San Francisco, housed creators who dominated on Twitch, while creators with Hololive–based in Tokyo–streamed on YouTube.

But in July, VShojo abruptly shuttered due to financial mishandling. Since then, Twitch’s VTuber presence has been largely led by independent creators and folks signed with Mythic Talent, the Seattle-based management company co-founded in 2023 by OTK members Asmongold and TipsOut. (That’s not to say VShojo’s talents–who, unlike Hololive’s VTubers, got to keep their names, models/rigs, and online brands in general after the agency went under–aren’t still top performers. They’re just getting back on their feet as solo acts, and potentially tangled in the legal mess that is recouping their revenue.)

With all that having happened, and interest in VTubers continuing to increase, Hololive is looking to stake a larger presence on Twitch. Cover Corporation, the tech/entertainment company that owns Hololive, has entered into a partnership with Twitch that’ll see its creators regularly streaming there.

Per PC Gamer, the deal won’t result in Hololive’s creators abandoning YouTube for Twitch; instead, they’re likely to multistream (that is, stream on both YouTube and Twitch simultaneously, reaching separate audiences on both platforms). But still, this marks Hololive’s first time establishing a real presence on Twitch, and gives Twitch its biggest contingent yet of non-independent Japanese-language VTubers.

To kick off the partnership, Hololive and Twitch are hosting a “Holoday” event Nov. 20, just a few days before American Thanksgiving.

“Talents from hololive Indonesia, hololive English, and HOLOSTARS English will take over the front page of Twitch for an all-day […] celebration,” Hololive said in a statement. “Fans can look forward to a variety of fun streams hosted by the participating talents during the online event.”

Participating VTubers include:

• Kureiji Ollie
• Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame
• Octavio
• Crimzon Ruze
• Axel Syrios
• Banzoin Hakka
• Josuiji Shinri
• Vestia Zeta
• Takanashi Kiara
• Nerissa Ravencroft
• FUWAMOCO (aka Fuwawa Abyssgard & Mococo Abyssgard)
• Raora Panthera
• Moona Hoshinova
• Koseki Bijou
• Gigi Murin
• Cecilia Immergreen

Each of these VTubers already have their own Twitch channels set up and ready to go. Hololive itself also has a channel with 28,000 followers.

Like we mentioned above, Hololive’s creators won’t leave YouTube, and will likely remain among the top VTubers on that platform. But multistreaming on Twitch will give them access to a new audience, and continue to grow the VTuber community as a whole. Hololive’s “Holoday” front page takeover should generate more awareness, too, in case someone out there on the ‘net has somehow missed the deluge of witty and buxom anime ladies topping viewership charts.

Holoday runs all day (PST time zone) Nov. 20.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Twitch by James Hale
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The 2025 installment of the official NASCAR video game hit shelves earlier in October, and the racing league is promoting its pixelated tie-in through collabs with big-name streamers. Creators like TimTheTatman, Emiru, and StableRonaldo are among the participants in the NASCAR 25 Creator Series, which pits pro drivers against streamers on Twitch.

The NASCAR 25 Creator Series was born out of a partnership between NASCAR and Night, the talent management firm that has grown into an expansive network of creator-facing services. NASCAR was one of the first clients for Night Advisory, a newly-launched division that fosters connections between brands and creators.

Through its work with Night Advisory, NASCAR hopes to connect “the next generation of fans to the sport,” as NASCAR VP of Interactive & Emerging Platforms Nick Rend put it in a statement. To accomplish that goal, Night began developing a series that resembles other recent unions between the worlds of sports and creators. Leagues like the NBA and NFL have launched initiatives that pair star athletes with influencers, and F1’s Amelia Dimoldenberg interview series showed how that concept could be applied to the realm of motorsports.

Add up all those industry trends, and the result you get is the NASCAR 25 Creator Series. Beginning on October 29, racing fans can tune into NASCAR’s official Twitch channel to spectate a four-event series that will run until February. The participants will be put into pairs to compete for a $100,000 grand prize. Racer-turned-broadcaster Mamba Smith will host the official NASCAR broadcast, with driver Carson Hocevar — a Twitch streamer himself — joining for the first episode.

“Over the last ten months we’ve worked closely with NASCAR to help them better connect with younger audiences online,” said Night Founder and CEO Reed Duchscher in a statement. “The NASCAR 25 Creator Series is a first-of-its kind sports initiative that puts personality and entertainment first.”

The NASCAR 25 Creator Series may be the first initiative of its kind, but it’s not the stock car league’s first foray into the creator economy. NASCAR’s Roblox integration has introduced it to the young fans it seeks, and its Twitch channel has grown by 30% year-over-year. Those results show that NASCAR doesn’t need to waive any yellow flags as far as its digital efforts are concerned. The road forward is clear, and the streamers participating in the Creator Series are hopping into the driver’s seat.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Night Media by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube‘s dominant performance on TV screens is dictating contemporary digital media trends while turning Google’s video hub into a legitimate alternative to traditional channels. To keep its foot on the gas, YouTube is turning to an idea that has influenced much of its activity on TV screens: It’s making its living room app look more like a streaming service.

That’s the gist of a slew of announcements covering YouTube’s TV app and the viewer experience therein. Among other improvements, YouTube is introducing crispier resolutions for its TV screen audience and is making creators’ channel pages more immersive.

By raising the thumbnail file size limit from 2 MB to 50 MB, YouTube will let creators upload dazzling preview images that match a bigger-screen format. In a related move, YouTube will put AI to work with a feature that automatically generates higher resolutions for videos. If you’re one of the creators who sees those tools as invasions of creator autonomy, don’t worry — you can opt out of the quality enhancements if you’d prefer.

A snappy look on TV screens isn’t just about high-res imagery, which is why YouTube is also switching up channel pages. The platform is continuing its Netflix-style makeover with a homepage feature that arranges each user’s favorite YouTube channels on a scrollable shelf. Once they visit those channels, users will be able to find related videos by employing a contextual search that will steer results toward favored hubs.

These moves build on the announcements YouTube has made at annual events like Made On and Brandcast. Investing in TV screens has become an overall theme of the platform’s development, since more living room viewers leads to more ad formats and more marketing dollars (at least in theory).

YouTube’s goal isn’t just to replicate Netflix’s layout: It also wants to continue offering features that can’t be found on other streaming services. That mission explains the launch of shoppable QR codes that connect tagged videos to relevant product listings.

The ultimate plan is to turn YouTube into a one-stop entertainment and shopping destination, so billions of hours of watch time may just be the beginning. Check out the YouTube blog for full coverage of the TV-focused features that have just been announced.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube by Sam Gutelle
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At the annual “creativity conference” Adobe MAX, software company Adobe detailed new products, features, and integrations that will ensure its services are up to date with the latest tech trends. One of the most exciting partnerships concerns the video editing software Adobe Premiere, which will now be equipped with an integration that enables direct exports to YouTube Shorts.

“Create for YouTube Shorts,” as the upcoming integration is known, will be available on the Adobe Premiere mobile app. By pairing Adobe’s editing tools with YouTube’s trends and culture, the virtual studio space aims to supercharge short-form performance. Key features will include the ability to save and create templates, as well as coveted editing options like effects and transitions.

“We’re excited to partner with YouTube to give creators the power to produce, share, and grow on the world’s biggest stage, YouTube,” said Adobe CTO and SVP for Digital Media Ely Greenfield in a statement. “YouTube Shorts has become the ultimate launchpad for creators and bringing Adobe Premiere mobile’s pro-grade video editing tools to millions of YouTube creators helps them make amazing content and reach new audiences.”

All major short-form social video platforms already offer comprehensive editing suites. TikTok-affiliated CapCut crossed 200 million users in 2023, and Instagram looked to encroach on that market share with the launch of the Edits app two years later. YouTube responded to all that activity by enhancing Shorts’ viability as an all-in-one editing hub.

The YouTubes, Instagrams, and TikToks of the world are so eager to originate short-form content that they have placed watermarks on their respective short-form uploads while deranking clips that feature their rivals’ digital signature. Adobe’s integration offers a new solution for creators who want to build out their YouTube Shorts channels while still remaining active on Reels and TikTok.

If Adobe’s software is going to convert users from first-party experiences, those programs will need top-of-the-line features. That’s where the rest of the Adobe MAX slate comes in. Partnerships with pioneering firms like ElevenLabs, Google AI, and ChatGPT will keep Adobe competitive in the era of generative AI.

Bottom line: Across services like Photoshop, Premiere, and Lightroom, users can expect a lot of new developments. Check out the Adobe MAX announcements here if you want to learn everything the company is doing to get creative juices flowing.

Filed under: Adobe, Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on If you want to “create for YouTube Shorts,” fire up the Adobe Premiere mobile app

Steven Bartlett just landed a big payday that will help him turn his media company into a nearly half-billion-dollar business. Bartlett, the host of the popular Diary of a CEO podcast, has closed a major investment led by Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment Group.

The exact size of the investment hasn’t been made public, but Podnews describes the capital injection as an “eight-figure” deal that comes with a $425 million valuation attached to it. That estimate applies to Steven.com, the holding company that unites Bartlett’s growing network of ventures and channels.

An investment described as “Europe’s biggest ever creator holding company fundraising round” is somewhat out of the ordinary for Slow, a firm known for its early-stage deals. Slow’s activity in the creator activity has seen it target individual creators who are looking to build businesses in what the firm describes as “high-value verticals.”

By targeting eclectic creators like bookworm John Fish and woodworker Jonathan Katz-Moses, Slow showed that it would not limit its $60 million Creator Fund to the biggest categories on platforms like YouTube. With its investment in London-based Bartlett, however, it can target both a high-value vertical and one that is drawing more eyeballs as creators like MrBeast and Rhett & Link flex their entrepreneurial muscles.

Bartlett’s “curiosity, authenticity, and relentless pursuit of growth have made him one of the most influential voices in modern entrepreneurship and personal development,” Slow Investor Megan Lightcap wrote in the firm’s Slow Upload newsletter. “Through Diary of a CEO, his Behind the Diary channel, and constant speaking engagements and live events, he’s cultivated a deeply loyal community committed to building a happier, more expansive and successful life by applying lessons from the world’s most accomplished figures.”

Now flush with capital, Bartlett will be able to renew his resources as he continues to push his personal brand outward. He has taken a leading role for Flightcast, a video podcast distribution service enhanced with generative AI features. In the U.K., Bartlett has also been seen as an investor on Dragon’s Den, the British equivalent of Shark Tank.

Bartlett already works with many top creators through his FlightStory media arm. If he continues on his current trajectory, he’ll soon become the star CEO dispensing business acumen on a hit podcast.

Filed under: Uncategorized by Sam Gutelle
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Twitch community members are still enraged about an incident involving the streamer Emiru, so much so that the platform’s CEO has issued a second statement in an attempt to put out the ongoing fires. Dan Clancy issued a public statement on Twitch’s official X account, in which he admitted that his team “failed” to protect a vulnerable streamer.

Emiru, whose real name is Emily Beth Schunk, was sexually assaulted by a fan at a meet-and-greet held during the first day of TwitchCon, the annual streamer gathering held in San Diego. The assault sent waves through the Twitch community, validating the concerns of female streamers who were hesitant to attend TwitchCon in the first place.

As the CEO of Twitch, Clancy bore the responsibility of a public-facing response to the Emiru situation, and he initially fumbled that opportunity. At TwitchCon, Clancy sat for an interview with internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz, and viewers construed some of his comments as deflections that shifted some blame onto Emiru and her security team.

“The challenge we face is a challenge in today’s society, it’s not limited to Twitch, it extends throughout our society,” Clancy told Lorenz. “I do think that when you’re livestreaming, in many ways, since you control your community and can ban people, you can make it so that those people you don’t want engaging with you and participating with you aren’t there.”

Clancy’s follow-up statement on X featured a bigger dose of contrition. He admitted that Twitch did not live up to its promise to protect streamers like Emiru. “We failed, both in allowing [the incident] to occur, and in our response following,” Clancy stated. “We mismanaged our communications about the incident, and that includes the comments I made. I apologize to Emiru for all that took place.”

First, I want to be upfront and take accountability for the security incident that occurred during Emiru’s Meet and Greet. It shouldn’t have happened and we take that very seriously. We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following. We mismanaged our…

— Twitch (@Twitch) October 24, 2025

The statement outlines several measures Twitch is enacting in response to its TwitchCon security lapse. The convention’s meet-and-greet structure will be analyzed in search of potential reforms, and a “comprehensive review” will delve into the TwitchCon team’s approach to safety concerns. The practice of IRL streaming at the gathering will also go under the microscope.

Those efforts are all well and good, but they might be too little, too late. Female streamers of Emiru’s caliber were already considering skipping TwitchCon, and the meet-and-greet incident — when combined with Clancy’s lackluster initial response — could cause big names to forgo the convention in coming years. Between the Adriana Chechik injury of 2022, the Kick-related chaos of 2024, and this year’s Emiru situation, the TwitchCon controversies are really starting to pile up.

Will Clancy’s CEO status also be called into question? The well-traveled operative has tried to be a relatable everyman during his tenure as Twitch’s top exec, but communication breakdowns between the platform’s streamers and its brass have become all too common. If parent company Amazon needs a fall guy to quiet its critics, Clancy could be the one in the hot seat.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Twitch, TwitchCon by Sam Gutelle
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[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by GospelStats. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart. 👇

During the last full week of October, three different YouTube channels added at least one million subscribers. Two of those rounded their gains to one million, while another rounded up to two million. You won’t be surprised to hear that the creator getting twice as many new fans as his competition is also the most-subscriber creator on YouTube overall. Yup, it’s MrBeast.

No one seems particularly close to catching Jimmy Donaldson in our Global Sub Top 50. The North Carolina-based creator is keen to build on the massive subscriber count he has already amassed (Now over 448 billion.) The other channels in our chart don’t have a realistic shot at the top spot, but some of them do have some accumulated knowledge they’re sharing with the world.

Pop quiz: What’s the hot new content format expanding across the world?

If the inquisitive framing of that question didn’t give away the answer for you, allow me to now reveal the correct response: Trivia  videos are trending up.

It’s been a minute since the heyday of HQ Trivia, but online video denizens are still eager to share the knowledge they accumulated during all those years of school. The desire to tackle trivia questions in a competitive format has given rise to several short-form channels that challenge guests to spit some facts.

To my knowledge, this trend first took hold in the world of sports. Bebida‘s quizzes, often set in stadium parking lots during pregame tailgates, mixed athletic knowledge with drunken revelry. Meanwhile, in the world of soccer, Celine Dept‘s rise to the top of our charts was powered by (among other formats) a number of challenges based around football trivia.

Sports trivia is great — at least for those of us who can name every year’s World Series winner — but there’s potential to expand YouTube’s trivia fever to other categories. That’s where Tariq and Ayaan Vines comes in. Though the Pakistani channel’s name conjures up visions of the Vine rebirth that was promised, its list of top Shorts videos feels more like an episode of Jeopardy than a six-second salutation. If you’re hoping to be a contestant on a Shorts trivia contest in the future, you might want to brush up on the alphabetic geography quiz featured in Tariq and Ayaan’s most-watched clip.

There’s no doubt these videos are popular. Tariq and Ayaan Vlogs finished sixth in the Global Sub Top 50 ranking after adding 750,000 new subs during our most recent seven-day measurement period. That put the duo ahead of chart stalwarts like Double Date and Topper Guild.

But why exactly do these videos work so well? One theory concerns timing: Like with comedy videos, quizzing content thrives within a short-form milieu because its offers a natural sense of suspense that keeps viewers watching until the very end.

The presence of channels featuring words like “facts” and “curiosity” shouldn’t be ignored, either. Though those channels don’t always feature trivia, they demonstrate that there is a healthy appetite for learning on the short-form side of YouTube. How else do you explain the rapid rise of CurioVerse, which has reached for the top of our charts in recent months?

Data via Gospel Stats

Since there are a lot of kid-friendly channels in the Global Sub Top 50, I’m happy to see that there’s room for smartypants hubs like Tariq and Ayaan Vines as well. Kids are being exposed to all manners of AI slop on Shorts — but at least they have opportunities to learn a few things when they venture into the more human side of their recommendation algorithms.

Channel Distribution

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:

• United States: 13
• India: 11
• South Korea: 3
• Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, and Spain: 2
• Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon, Peru, and Russia: 1

This week, 38 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all our news by subscribing to our newsletter. You’re going to love it. 👉  Newsletter.Tubefilter.com.

Filed under: Articles, Homepage Feature, News, statistics, Statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Top 50 Most Subscribed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 10/26/2025

[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by GospelStats. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart. 👇

Move over, KIMPRO: There’s a new leader at the front of our Global Top 50 ranking. The channel that got the most YouTube views during our most recent seven-day measurement period was Double Date, the Australian hub that is part of a wave of couple channels. It collected 1.98 billion weekly views.

There was only one other channel that even got half as many weekly views as Double Date, but even if the chasers are far from the leader of the pack, there are some interesting storylines to uncover. And yes, that reference to a proverbial wolfpack was intentional: We’re headed back to the animal kingdom.

Need an idea for a children’s book? Check out this channel.

Adorable animals have made hay on YouTube ever since the days of Tillman the skateboarding dog, and that trend still holds true in 2025. There are multiple animal-focused channels in this week’s Global Top 50, but the furry friends featured therein aren’t exactly riding around on four-wheeled extreme sports equipment. In the era of YouTube Shorts, the humble genre known as the cute animal video is going back to its roots.

The best example of that phenomenon can be found on a channel called Infi’s Diary. Though the thumbnail image for that hub depicts a human, the channel’s top-performing Shorts are all about animals. There are dogs who can’t sleep without one another, tenacious kittens, and at least one very polite hedgehog. It’s animal content distilled down to its purest form: Cute, brief videos that are uploaded with virality in mind.

To me, Infi’s Diary has more in common with children’s books than children’s YouTube videos. Some of the titles within the channel’s Shorts library would fit nicely into the kids’ section of a literal library. Can’t you imagine going to a Scholastic book fair and picking up a tome about the smartest crow ever? And then there’s “the otter who tried to hard.” If no one has picked up that idea yet, I’m about to write it out.

Though these videos would work well in the literary world, Infi’s Diary doesn’t need any hard-backed adaptations to achieve virality. Its YouTube library is enough — that’s why the upstart channel was able to reach 49th place in our most recent Global Top 50. It picked up 361 million views during the last full week of October.

The Infi’s Diary approach to animal videos is tailor-made for the current era of Reading Rainbow revivals, but that’s not the only way to turn mammalian adventures into a Global Top 50 entry. MEOWJI‘s feline mascot has been a mainstay in our charts for much of 2025, and we’re still seeing that purring face — even if it’s connected to videos that have little to do with animals. The cat draws kids in, and the actors do the rest.

Data via Gospel Stats

Personally, I prefer the Infi’s Diary method of videomaking and hope to see more channels like that in the Global Top 50 moving forward. In an era defined by rampant and often disturbing examples of AI slop, some old-school animal content is always refreshing. And since I’m not the one who has to clean up all that dog hair, well, that’s even better.

Channel Distribution

Here’s a breakdown of the Top 50 Most Viewed channels this week in terms of their countries of origin:

• India: 17
• United States: 8
• Australia, Canada, Pakistan, and South Korea: 2
• China, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, and Vietnam: 1

This week, 40 channels in the Top 50 are primarily active on YouTube Shorts.

As always, keep up to speed with the latest Tubefilter Charts and all our news by subscribing to our newsletter. You’re going to love it. 👉  Newsletter.Tubefilter.com.

Filed under: Articles, Homepage Feature, News, Statistics, statistics, YouTube, Youtube Chart by Sam Gutelle
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British media companies have complained that there’s not enough visibility for traditional broadcaster content on YouTube, but a new study suggests that the disconnect isn’t personal. Instead, it may be true that British YouTube viewers watch less local content compared to users from other countries.

That’s one central thesis in a report published by Digital i. The U.K.-based software company, which has previously delivered insights related to platforms like Netflix and YouTube Shorts, has set its sights on the international flavor of digital communities. The firm found that, in most countries, the top YouTube channels belong to native creators. In the British Isles, however, it’s a different story, with numerous top ten channels coming from foreign individuals and groups.

Across five European countries — Germany, France, Italy, the U.K., and Spain — Digital i determined the top ten most popular channels in each of three categories: Entertainment, Gaming, and News/Politics. The channels that reached the largest percentage of accounts in each country ranked the highest. Digital i also performed the same piece of research in the United States, where all but one top 30 channels were homegrown accounts.

U.S. viewers weren’t the only YouTube users to prefer local fare. In France, for example, 28 of the 30 ranked channels are native. In Italy, 27 out of 30 entrants match that description.

The U.K. is a totally different story. Only 12 of the top 30 accounts hailed from the land of the Union Jack. In the Gaming category, none of the top ten channels are British. Sorry to DanTDM, Ali-A, and others, because the gamers ranked in the top ten are international superstars like iShowSpeed and Asmongold. Most of the remaining spots went to U.S.-based media companies and developers, such as IGN (#1) and Rockstar (#2).

Photo credit: Digital i

The U.K.’s relative lack of top local channels may seem like a mere curiosity, even if it explains why the Sidemen have made their charity football matches more international in recent years. One crucial takeaway from this data, however, concerns TikTok. With the U.S. set to get a new version of the short-form video platform, there is a question about what will happen to the international content that thrives on the main TikTok app.

Digital i’s findings show that U.S. viewers might not miss British TikTok content if they can no longer access it. If American content is removed from the international version of TikTok, however, it could result in a major shakeup. British viewers seem to prefer creators from all across the globe, so they better watch those channels while they still can.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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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, there’s another TwitchCon-related scandal brewing, there’s a Halloween promotion booing, and there’s a large language model dooming. 

Creator commotion

Gifts left for VTubers at TwitchCon didn’t reach their intended recipients. After the conclusion of TwitchCon, multiple VTubers apologized to their fans after learning that convention staff had thrown out tributes left by IRL fans. The Emiru situation isn’t the drama coming out of TwitchCon this year, as the titular platform continues to struggle with creator relations.

MrBeast’s animated shorts are set to arrive this weekend. MrBeast has been working with Moose Toys to develop an animated series that will promote some of his brand’s physical products. Fans can catch the first two installments of the series on October 26, and the releases will continue throughout the rest of the calendar year.

Justin Bieber’s new Twitch streams are high-concept affairs. The singer has promised to stream every day on his brand new account. Rather than providing fans with formal streams, The Biebs has offered slice-of-life snippets as he shoots hoops and plays video games. Is the man once known as kidrauhl on YouTube innovating once again, or will he bore of his Twitch presence in the near future?

The ad world

Chipotle’s Boorito adds a TikTok challenge. It’s hard to fathom that Chipotle’s Halloween-themed discount is now 25 years old, but the chain is pulling out all the stops for its signature promotion’s big birthday. If you share your burrito Halloween costume on TikTok, you’ll be entered to win a gift card — and you’ll show all your friends how fly you look.

TikTok Shop is trying to enforce new rules for sellers. If you’re planning to use TikTok’s vending hub during the Black Friday rush, you’ll want to read this one. Sellers participating in the platform’s upcoming promotions will need to buy ads using the app’s GMV Max tool. Not all TikTok Shop partners are happy about the power play, but TikTok has enough ecommerce volume to pull off a move like this.

Meta looks to add skippable ads to Instagram Reels. The tech giant wants its short-form ads to be more like YouTube’s — that is, less interruptive and easier to blow past. If you want to see how this feature plays out, you’ll have to “skip ahead” to the end of Meta’s testing period.

The biz

Esfand is now a Red Bull partner. At TwitchCon, the popular streamer announced a pact with one of the most digital-savvy brands in the esports biz. Esfand is a former college football player and a longtime Red Bull aficionado, so the team-up makes business sense for both parties involved.

With each passing season, the NBA’s creator strategy becomes more sophisticated. Here are some details on the league’s latest partnerships with social media influencers. I’m sure the league’s coaches will have these creators running the high screen-and-roll in no time.

Syracuse’s Creator Economy Center is drawing headlines. The private university made a big move when it opened a new program dedicated to digital and social content. The rest of the country is now catching on to the opportunity ‘Cuse has provided (and some current students are showing off their work).

Movers and shakers

YouTube alum Pete Cory will steer the Sidemen’s expansion. As the Chairman of Arcade Media, Cory will take a prominent role at the management firm that has worked with the Sidemen for years. The septet’s future could be expanding far beyond YouTube and Netflix.

Victoria Bachan is the new SVP at Wasserman. Bachan, a veteran creator economy operative with experience at management firms like Sixteenth, is moving on to entertainment company Wasserman. On LinkedIn, Bachan hailed her arrival at “an agency that already houses the #1 music agency and the #2 sports agency,” where she will “help lead and develop the creators division into a world class and innovative arm of the business.”

Epidemic Sound adds a Head of Strategic Creator Initiatives. That’s the name of the role that will be occupied by Gracie Schram, who revealed the move on LinkedIn. Epidemic Sound already provides usable music for thousands of creators; now, it can step up it partnerships with those digital tastemakers.

The internet is a strange place

Even ChatGPT get brainrot. So claims a study that explored AI learning by feeding unappealing content to large language models. One result was a “cognitive decline” among the LLMs that viewed the brainrot. If even AI can’t get us out of this hole, I guess we need to invent technology that can.

FAST content is literally fast. Free, ad-supported streaming television is becoming more common as an amenity in new vehicles. I don’t think the FAST acronym was ever meant to be literal, but I guess some jokes just write themselves.

There’s a new AI app that lets users pay for fake photos from their fake vacation. Just be careful with how you use this service. If you visit the Red Hands landmark in New South Wales, Australia, the AI model might have some trouble rendering it.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Digital scams get more sophisticated with each passing year, but YouTube is fighting back. Google’s video platform teamed up with cybersecurity company Check Point to bust a malware operation known as the YouTube Ghost Network.

By uploading deceptive videos, the Ghost Network convinced its marks to install info-stealing software like Rhadamanthys and Lumma. The installers were hidden behind seemingly innocuous videos that promised hacks for Roblox games and workarounds for paywalled programs like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

The Hacker News noted that the YouTube Ghost Network had been operational since 2021 and had uploaded more than 3,000 fraudulent videos, some of which collected more than 290,000 views. As Check Point researchers explained, those significant traffic numbers are part of the malware scheme. By using multiple accounts devoted to specific tasks — such as posting the trap videos or engaging with them — the YouTube Ghost Network made its content seem legitimate.

A statement from Check Point commented on “the remarkable adaptability and resourcefulness of threat actors,” who are finding new ways to circumvent platform-level security measures. “This operation took advantage of trust signals, including views, likes, and comments, to make malicious content seem safe,” said Eli Smadja of Check Point. “What looks like a helpful tutorial can actually be a polished cyber trap. The scale, modularity, and sophistication of this network make it a blueprint for how threat actors now weaponize engagement tools to spread malware.”

Malware has long been a thorn in YouTube’s side, and recent developments have only made bad actors harder to uncover. Generative AI aids scammers while also eroding trust in on-platform content — a problem that makes the Ghost Network’s “trustworthy” library harder to avoid.

YouTube certainly isn’t the only platform grappling with this technological conundrum. Viewbotters on streaming hubs like Twitch and Kick are also adopting more advanced technology, requiring security teams to work harder to keep users out of trouble. Individual viewers can protect themselves by watching out when a Roblox tutorial seems too good to be true. And despite what YouTube might want, you should take its viewership numbers with a grain of salt.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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The 15th edition of international digital film festival Marseille Web Fest wrapped up earlier this month, handing out 11 awards to exemplary online-first series.

The fest, which ran Oct. 9-11 in Marseille, France, showcased 29 fictional and documentary features from creators of nine different nationalities. Along with screenings of each contending series, it offered workshops, conferences, masterclasses and roundtables with industry experts. Discussions this year focused on short-form content, “new digital writing styles,” video podcasts, legal advice for creators, and generative AI, organizers say.

Submitted series were judged by French TV exec Anne-Sophie Maxime, writer Marine Gacem, and documentary director Damien Miloch. Organizers say their judging was “particularly close” this year, “as the 2025 selection was distinguished by its demand and creativity.”

Judges were particularly complimentary toward Grand Jury Prize winner Sam, by Iranian creator Yazdan Tabrizi. The webseries follows three women–Sadaf, Azadeh, and Mona–living in modern Tehran and share “universal experiences of love, heartbreak, conflict, and reconciliation” despite the “stringent legal restrictions that permeate their society.”

Judges also gave a nod to Focus, which won for Best Web Documentary. Made by creator Agathe Breton, Focus chronicles interviews with premier female athletes Ysaora Thibus, Magda Wiet-Hénin, Élodie Clouvel, Marie Patouillet, and Madeleine Malonga, all talking about the pressures of being at the top. Maxime, Gacem, and Miloch said Focus received its award for “its sensitivity, sincerity, and the strength of its perspective on reality.”

The complete list of winners included…

International Selection Winners

• Jury Grand Prize: Sam, by Yazdan Tabrizi
• Best Director: Moonbird, by Nathan Maynard
• Best Screenplay: Buried, by Charlotte George and Miriam Glaser
• Best Performance: Miriam Glaser in Buried
• Best Original Score: Sadra Imanpour for Sam

Web Documentary Selection Winners

• Best Web Documentary: Focus, by Agathe Breton

French Selection Winners

• Best French SACD Series (tied): The Cart Before the Horse Syndrome, by Marion Lefeuvre, and El’sardines, by Zoulikha Tahar
• Best Director: Breathe Hard, by Arthur Fanget
• Best Screenplay: Kaouther Adimi and Zoulikha Tahar for El’sardines
• Best Performance: Mathieu Coniglio in Mojo, by Charlie Fargialla
• Best Original Score: Thibault Dolmeta for Super-meuf, by Grégoire Lenoir

Episodes of all competing series will remain free to the public on Marseille Web Fest’s official website through Nov. 10, 2025.

The fest will return next year–and between now and then, its organizer Imago Production is working on other projects, including the recently debuted PIXEL.IA, a two-day conference about storytelling in the age of generative large language models.

The first PIXEL.IA was held last month in Nice, France, and brought in speakers including The Man in the High Castle creator Franck Spotnitz, Brotherhood of the Wolf director Christophe Gans, Blueberry director Jan Kounen, and The City of the Lost Children director Marc Caro, plus producers from studios Pathé, Banijay, and Dramanation.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Marseille Web Fest by Tubefilter Staff
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