The D’Amelio sisters are making their next move in the world of Roblox. Alongside their partners at Invisible Universe, TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are launching a Roblox experience called Dress Up BFF.

The game’s official description characterizes it as “a softer, funnier, and less serious take on the wildly popular dress-up game genre.” The characters featured in the Roblox world come from Charli and Dixie’s Squeaky & Roy animated franchise, which is inspired by the sisterly duo’s favorite childhood toys. After working with Invisible Universe to launch the Squeaky & Roy brand in 2021, Charli and Dixie (who rank second and 27th, respectively, on the list of the most-followed TikTokers) are bringing their keepsakes to new platforms like Roblox.

With Dress Up BFF, the D’Amelios are joining a growing list of creators who have engaged with fans through Roblox and Fortnite worlds. Some experience designers, like Andre “Typical Gamer” Rebelo, have found so much success that their metaverse pursuits now rival their work on platforms like YouTube.

Roblox’s payouts to experience designers have started to stretch into ten-digit territory, so creator activity in that area makes financial sense — especially for savvy brand-builders like the D’Amelios. Along with parents Marc and Heidi, Charli and Dixie have set up D’Amelio Brands to break into fields like footwear. Meanwhile, the family’s other pursuits have included a $20 million talent management play and, for Charli, roles on Broadway and Dancing with the Stars.

The sisters’ Roblox venture, however, requires special care. Dress Up BFF is debuting amid a period of fierce scrutiny for Roblox. Some brand partners have expressed concern about the safety of Roblox’s Gen Alpha users, who are sometimes victimized by predators. The company’s harsh treatment of the Chris Hansen-esque figure Schlep has raised eyebrows as well.

Amid that turmoil, the D’Amelios are playing it safe with a squeaky clean (or should I say Roy clean?) bit of family-friendly fun. By working with a trusted partner like Invisible Universe — which has touted deals with tastemakers like Charli and Dixie as it builds “the Pixar of the internet” — the D’Amelios will ensure that Dress Up BFF connects with its target audience. If you want to see what those collaborators came up with, you can check out Dress Up BFF‘s Roblox homepage.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, Roblox by Sam Gutelle
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At its annual Made On presentation, YouTube revealed that it paid out $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies between January 2021 and December 2024. With a slew of new products, the Google-owned hub is looking to push those payouts even higher.

YouTube’s Made On address included abundant details about the current and future states of its advertising and ecommerce businesses. On the ad side, YouTube is introducing dynamic ad insertion for branded segments of long-form videos. That means that creators will be able to swap out their ad reads once deals are fulfilled in order to resell the space. Testing for the dynamically-inserted spots will begin with a select group of creators early next year.

While creators across the platform will be able to find uses for the new feature, YouTube seems to be developing that product with podcasters in mind. Dynamic ad insertion has become a key ad format in the business of audiovisual shows, and YouTube is clearly looking to build on the progress it has already made among podcasters. According to data shared at Made On, YouTube users now consume more than 100 million hours of podcasts each day.

“Typically, when I do a brand deal, the sponsored segment is burned into the video, and it’s there forever. I can’t change it,” said makeup creator Christen Dominique at the Made On event. “Soon enough, I’ll be able to update and remonetize these segments or even sell sponsored segments in different countries to different brands.”

As YouTube builds out its ad suite, it’s also keeping direct purchases in mind. Updates to shoppable URLs will let creators link out to brand websites from their Shorts, and automated timestamps will ensure that product tags show up at the proper moment (i.e. when the linked item is being discussed on screen).

For the 500,000 creators enrolled in YouTube Shopping globally, those tools will provide flexibility and (theoretically) increase earnings. And for everyone else, an update to YouTube’s merch platform will let creators rope off exclusive merch for top viewers — allowing the video hub to operate similarly to third-party platforms like Patreon.

AI has been a major theme at YouTube’s recent Made On events, and that trend continued in 2025. YouTube is employing its Gemini model across multiple facets of its business, from content creation (an AI-powered tool that turns engaging podcast clips into Shorts) to analytics (an Ask Studio that will deliver AI-generated statistical insights) to security (a likeness detection tool that will help creators defend against deepfakes.

Between all those updates and the enhancements YouTube is bringing to its live-streaming empire, this year’s Made On event featured one of the busiest slates to date. Keep an eye on this space if you want to find coverage of YouTube’s newly announced products as they arrive over the coming days, weeks, and months. In the meantime, the official YouTube blog has the skinny on the features discussed at Made On.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Some of the biggest news to come out of YouTube‘s latest Made On event is the grand reveal of a livestreaming revamp–a revamp that will finally introduce some much-needed quality-of-life updates, including a major one for ads.

Over on Twitch, one of YouTube’s top livestreaming competitors (alongside TikTok and, to a lesser extent, Kick), pre-roll and mid-roll ads are a massive headache for both streamers and viewers.

Despite CEO Dan Clancy admitting pre-rolls are disruptive and can drive potential new viewers away, negatively impacting Twitch’s already difficult relationship with discoverability, nothing has changed.  It’s been two years since he made that comment, and people who decide to give a new-to-them livestreamer a chance still have to sit through at least one ad before being able to see the creator’s stream.

And even when a viewer makes it through pre-rolls, mid-rolls can pop up during inopportune moments: tense end-of-match virtual gunfights, the closing moves of a chess game, or while a streamer is telling a personal story.

Streamers and viewers have complained about these interruptions for years. To help mitigate them, Twitch introduced Stream Display Ads, aka banner ads that pop up for 15 seconds but don’t stop viewers from seeing and/or hearing the streamer. These ads seem to be more accepted by viewers, but they don’t offer the same punch to marketers as full-fledged, full-screen video ads.

So where’s the middle ground?

YouTube found it.

A core part of its revamp includes adding side-by-side ads. These are full-fledged video ads that will take up half of a user’s screen, while still showing the streamer and what they’re up to on the other half.

YouTube says it developed side-by-side ads because it knows “creators are often hesitant to run ads that interrupt key moments on their streams,” and it wanted “a less intrusive format for viewers, while helping creators get paid without pulling their audience away.”

YouTube is also addressing discoverability, a pain point for all streaming platforms, by adding three things:

• First and most importantly, simulstreaming across formats, which lets creators broadcast on YouTube in horizontal and vertical at the same time, “with a single unified chat room to bring the entire community together in one seamless experience,” it says.
• Next, it’s broad-releasing react live, a function that lets creators start a vertical livestream on mobile that reacts to current live events and/or streams from other creators. Think of it like TikTok dueting, only for livestreams. YouTube says the goal here is to “turn any stream into a shared event, letting creators of all sizes share commentary, analysis, and real time reactions.”
• Last up, it’s (predictably) doing more AI: A new tool will “find the most compelling comments from the livestream and automatically [create] ready-to-share Shorts.” Human clippers begone, we guess.

A few other updates:

• YouTube is tweaking Channel Memberships to allow creators to transition a stream from public to members-only mid-broadcast. That means they can lead with free content and change over for the juicy stuff, paywalling non-subscribers and potentially giving them an incentive to cough up membership dollars.
• Livestreamers can now practice with their full tech setup before actually going live on YouTube for all to see.
• And finally, YouTube is chasing the mobile game streaming craze by wrapping in Playables, its suite of low-commitment, second-screen-esque games. Streamers can now pick from 75+ games to play live, “while interacting with their audience through chat, and [monetizing] the stream like any other broadcast,” YouTube says.

“We know that livestreaming is hard work. It takes courage to push aside stage fright, skill to keep an audience engaged, and dedication to stay true to yourself while fostering connection in real time,” YouTube added in a company blog post. “But it’s work that pays off by building one of the most powerful things on the internet: a true community. This significant update, our most comprehensive yet, is a direct result of our commitment to making that work easier and more rewarding.”

This update goes a long way to pull YouTube’s livestream offering up alongside Twitch’s and TikTok’s–which is something it needed, considering it says over 30% of daily logged-in viewers watched live content in Q2 2025 alone. (We think these changes might also make Ludwig a little happy.)

We’re curious to see how this pays off for YouTube, which has been the most dominant entity in VODs and living room TV viewership for years now, but just hasn’t been able to catch up in streaming market share.

Yet.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, YouTube by James Hale
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Welcome to our rundown of the most-watched branded YouTube videos of the week.

We’re publishing this snippet of a larger Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Report in order to analyze sponsorship trends in the creator economy. Any video launched in tandem with an official brand partner is eligible for the ranking.

And – as the name up above would imply – all the data comes from Gospel Stats. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here.

Chocolate milk and sour candy aren’t the only new things on the Feastables menu. In our first video of the week, MrBeast talks about how he came up with the idea for his brand’s new limited-edition hazelnut cups. Our second video of the week is an even bigger score for Jimmy Beast: a creator-stacked NFL partnership to promote YouTube‘s exclusive Chiefs-Chargers game. Interestingly, both these videos were posted on his secondary channel, MrBeast 2, which has nearly 400 million fewer subscribers than his main channel…Yet they’re still in first and second place.

Check out those clips and the rest of this week’s Gospel Stats Brand Report right here:

#1 The Story Behind Feastables Hazelnut Cups
Channel: MrBeast 2
Brand: Feastables
Views: 12,630,787

Feastables started in 2022 with a simple chocolate bar. Now it’s got nine flavors of bars and is expanding rapidly to other products, including chocolate milk and sour candy. Those will be sticking around for some time, but its other new addition–hazelnut cups, to complement its peanut butter cups–is limited time only. Of course, all of this (including this self-promo Short) is precisely timed for Halloween, so maybe some of the millions of kids in MrBeast’s audience will get a full-size Feastable in their bag this year.

#2 I Bought The NFL
Channel: MrBeast 2
Brand: NFL
Views: 29,399,587

OK, the title is clickbait……But not by much. MrBeast is setting up one of his biggest collabs of the year with YouTube and the NFL. As YouTube gears up to stream its first-ever exclusive regular-season game, MrBeast claims to use his new ownership to expand teams’ rosters from 53 players to 54 each. And that new player? Has to be a YouTuber. Cut to Dude Perfect scrambling to compete for a spot on their preferred team, IShowSpeed getting in with the Dolphins, and Haley Kalil going out for the Raiders. We already knew the Chiefs/Chargers matchup was going to be a creator event, but now? It’s looking to be one of the creator events of the year.

#3 We Opened A 5 STAR Cruise
Channel: Beta Squad
Brand: Odoo
Views: 4,258,485

Why pay thousands of dollars to book a cruise with a company that’s been providing opulence at sea for decades, when you can give five British YouTubers who’ve never run a boat before the chance to wow you? That’s the question answered by Beta Squad‘s newest video, which divides the creator group up into two teams, both of them vying to provide the ultimate five-star cruise experience on a YouTube production budget. That budget was (presumably) helped out a little by their sponsor Odoo, which provides open-source business management apps. Sounds like exactly what these fledgling stars of the sea need.

#4 I cooked him a secret recipe👩🏻‍🍳 #fyp #couple #relationship #ChatOn #ChatOnapp
Channel: NickandCarrie
Brand: ChatOn
Views: 4,238,283

Gen AI feels inescapable these days. More and more chatbots are popping up–enough that the FTC is formally investigating their effects on humans’ mental health. In this case, though, YouTuber couple Nick and Carrie turn to AI bot ChatOn for something we used to read books about: making dinner. Carrie offers Nick a menu, and once he picks his preferred meal, she hits up ChatOn for instructions on whipping up homemade pizza. The final product looks good, but there are plenty of culinary YouTubers who probably could’ve helped with expert opinions on how to make it even better.

BONUS #855 The Most SANE Guest On Financial Audit Follow Ups
Channel: Financial Audit–Follow Ups
Brand: InVideo AI
Views: 120,252

Though financial advisor Dave Ramsey hasn’t popped up in our top 5 for a few weeks, he’s still very active on YouTube, deploying 40+ sponsored Shorts each week across his stable of channels. However, he has a creator challenger in Caleb Hammer, who sits down with three guests a week on his channel Financial Audit. Part of his onboarding for guests includes license to bully them–which, as you’ll see when you tune in to some of his videos, is usually the kind of tough love they need. And for those viewers who get attached to guests and want to know if they managed to pull things together, Hammer’s secondary channel Financial Audit–Follow Ups catches guests a few months or years after their episode to see what’s improved…and what hasn’t.

…and there’s a lot more data where that came from. If you’re interested in learning more about Gospel – and which brands are sponsoring what creators on YouTube – click here.

Filed under: Articles, Brands, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by James Hale
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The messaging platform Discord is used for many purposes: It can be a home base for a remote role-playing game, the meeting place for an old friend group, and now, the ballot for a national election.

On September 12, Sushila Karki — a former justice for Nepal’s Supreme Court — became the first world leader elected via a Discord server. Karki took over as Nepal’s interim PM after a period of chaos in the Himalayan nation. After at least 22 protesters died during clashes with police, a movement led by Gen Z overthrew the sitting PM and agreed on Karki as a temporary replacement.

That consensus came after several candidates debated one another in front of more than 10,000 observers on Discord. Karki was the clear favorite in an ensuing vote that will go down as the most famous Discord poll of all time (so far).

Amid a tumultuous moment for Nepal’s 31 million citizens, the Discord election may seem like a curiosity, but it reflects some of the actions that intensified the ongoing uprising. The deposed government looked to curb the protests by banning the social media platforms that were being used as organizing tools, but that restriction failed to achieve its goal. Protesters weren’t cowed by the bans; they simply fired up their VPNs and moved over to a platform that is known to be cost-effective and easy to use.

If other governments are savvy, they will pay attention to the machinations of Nepalese youth. Restrictions on social media use have become a common strategy for administrations that are looking to quell unrest. (A blackout in Turkey offers a recent example.) The Discord election shows that Gen Z dissidents will not be slowed down by those measures. Their ability to find new means of access to banned platforms moves too fast to be stopped by federal decree.

Let’s bring this back to the United States. President Trump claims to have closed a deal that will avert a previous ban enacted during the Biden administration, but that agreement will seemingly come with some changes to TikTok. By looking to shepherd TikTok’s U.S. user data under the watchful eye of a steward like Oracle, Trump could keep the lights on at TikTok’s U.S. offices, but if the app’s young users decide that they prefer the old experience, they will find a way to restore it.

Keep in mind that the original TikTok ban materialized due to political pressure. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), one of the original architects of the bill, explained that many lawmakers chose to support it to slow the rise of pro-Palestine, anti-Israel rhetoric of the app.

As we can see from the Nepal situation, policing the topics Gen Z talks about on social media will not change the conversation. If anything, it only makes the voices grow louder.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News 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. 👇

Another week, another three million new subscribers for MrBeast. The North Carolina-based creator’s YouTube-leading subscriber tally is now up to 435 million, and since he just released yet another blockbuster video, his progress toward 500 million only figures to accelerate.

Meanwhile, all the other channels in the Global Sub Top 50 added at least 300,000 new subscribers during the week that was. Those gains were due to a multitude of factors, and in some cases, current events came into play in a big way.

Charlie Kirk’s legacy is alive on YouTube

Charlie Kirk, who died on September 10 after being shot at a campus event in Utah, was many things. He was an organizer, a public speaker, a podcaster, the founder of Turning Point USA, and arguably one of the main reasons why Donald Trump performed so well among young men during the 2024 presidential election.

Among all of his other roles, Kirk was also one of the most visible right-wing personalities on YouTube. In the wake of his passing, the official channel of Turning Point USA has experienced a surge of interest as Americans learn more about the man whose death has led to a widespread debate about political violence.

Kirk’s YouTube presence often stemmed from his college campus debates, which produced energetic soundbites that fed the YouTube algorithm. The Turning Point USA social team also makes expert use of YouTube Shorts, turning some of Kirk’s zingers into short-form clips that racked up millions of views.

Turning Point USA already had a solid YouTube following of more than three million subscribers, but Kirk’s assassination has pushed that number much higher. The organization’s official YouTube channel added 470,000 subscribers while bringing its all-time viewership above 2.6 billion.

Those sorts of numbers have become commonplace for major right-wing entities on YouTube, and Kirk was a big reason why. His ability to turn out young conservatives has made the Republican Party into a titanic force on social media, which is not something I thought I’d be writing a decade ago.

Even the mainstream media has caught on. By adopting strategies pioneered by influencers like Kirk, Fox News has become one of the most prosperous news outlets on YouTube. Though it’s not in our charts this week, it did just have its biggest week on YouTube since Trump’s inauguration.

Data via Gospel Stats

Charlie Kirk may be gone, but his legacy is as strong as ever. It can be felt in the alliance between Trump and influencers, which is giving creators more federal privileges than ever before. And with other right-wing personalities serving as guest hosts for Kirk’s podcast, his message will continue to spread to right-wingers across the country.

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
• Hong Kong: 6
• Brazil and Mexico: 3
• Indonesia: 2
• Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, and United Arab Emirates: 1

This week, 36 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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[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. 👇

KIMPRO has spent all of September (so far) in the driver’s seat in our Global Top 50 ranking. The Korean short-form hub achieved two round-number milestones this week: Its 1.6 billion weekly views brought its lifetime total above 105 billion, and it now has 120 million subscribers as well.

Few other channels in the Global Top 50 are as prolific as KIMPRO, but all of the entrants in the chart got at least 441 million weekly views. What does it take to reach a viewership number that big? Let’s take a look:

Back-to-school season means it’s DIY crafting season

Kids who are returning to school want to make good impressions with their new classmates, so they’re turning to YouTube channels to get some ideas for fun, cute, and colorful crafts. Creators like Tahreen Khanam are trending up as they teach young viewers how to be creative, artistic, and handy.

Khanam’s channel is one of 13 India-based hubs in this week’s Global Top 50, but like many of her compatriots, she reaches millions of subscribers by uploading videos that feature universal themes and activities that can easily translate across regional and cultural lines. Sure, she caters to her homeland with numerous crafty ideas for the holiday known as Republic Day, but she also teaches art to any young viewers who care to pay attention.

And then there is her back-to-school empire. Many of Khanam’s most-watched YouTube Shorts clips feature crafts that belong in the classroom, such as cute pencil sharpeners and homemade bookmarks. If you’re a student with right-brained tendencies and a working internet connection, Tahreen Khanam can help you create the gear of your dreams.

This time of year is high season for Khanam, even though most Indian schools start earlier in the calendar year. Boosted by her audience of 9.5 million subscribers, Khanam reached 11th place in the Global Top 50 by collecting 765 million weekly views. That brings her lifetime YouTube tally above nine million.

DIY videos have long been favored by YouTube’s youngest viewers, especially since Shorts became a thing. Channels that offer crafting tutorials can dazzle toddlers with bright colors while encouraging kids to lean into their latent design skills.

The end of the summer typically brings viewership declines to channels across YouTube, but the DIYers seem to be immune to that slump. PurrToon Fun, a channel that offers similar projects to those shared by Khanam, just posted its highest weekly viewership of the year. (It got 562.9 million weekly views to reach 33rd place in the Global Top 50.)

Data via Gospel Stats

As far as YouTube Shorts trends go, this one is pretty innocent. Hopefully kids don’t based their entire self-worth on how cool their pencil sharpener looks, but if they’re engaging with art and design, that’s an overall win in my book.

Channel Distribution

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

• India and the United States: 13
• Hong Kong: 5
• Indonesia: 3
• Australia, Canada, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey: 2
• China, Egypt, Germany, and Japan: 1

This week, 42 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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This week, a cadre of “professionals, students, and curious minds” gathered in the French Riviera for the first edition of PIXEL.IA, a two-day conference about storytelling in the age of generative large language models.

The event was organized by Imago Production in partnership with MédiaClub Méditerranée–an offshoot of MédiaClub Paris that aims to support creative projects in Southern France. Imago Production, meanwhile, is a 20-year-old creative/cultural organization that offers events like the annual Marseille Web Fest, which recognizes short-form content and other “new audiovisual formats.”

PIXEL.IA 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.

Its keynote came from Logicomix founder Yann Chapellon, who spoke on AI and the future of storytelling.

General topics addressed at the conference included:

• “Can writers still work alone in the age of AI co-authors?”
• “Who really owns an idea, a style, a story–when machines can remix it all?”
• “Should producers embrace AI…or push back?”
• “What does it mean to direct a film when the camera sees with synthetic eyes?”
• “And for actors: where is the line between the human and their digital double?”

PIXEL.IA dubbed itself a hub where attendees could “explore how creators can harness AI as a tool–not a threat–and rethink what it means to tell stories in 2025 and beyond.”

It added that while its speaking schedule was comprised of accomplished directors and business owners, PIXEL.IA “isn’t just about VIPs–it’s also a platform for emerging voices, local talents, students, researchers, and startups to explore what comes next.”

While PIXEL.IA has concluded, its sibling creator event, Marseille Web Fest, will run Oct. 9-11 this year in its titular city. Those interested in attending can check out more info here.

PIXEL.IA and Marseille Web Fest are Tubefilter partners.

Filed under: Marseille Web Fest, Pixel.IA by Tubefilter Staff
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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, MrBeast is as busy as ever, a top podcaster has new agency representation, and Gen Z is locking in for the fall season.

Creator commotion

MrBeast has more lobbyists in North Carolina than several major corporations. A post on X revealed some of the individuals — including former Republican State Senator Tom Apodaca — who are lobbying on MrBeast’s behalf in his home state. Given the amount of legwork that goes into a typical MrBeast clip, his desire for close relationships with local government officials makes sense.

Kai Cenat celebrates Mafiathon 3 with a custom Fortnite skin. The streamer chose a black-and-orange get-up as his form of representation within the world of Fortnite. If you’ve been following along with Cenat’s Twitch subathon, you’ll want to get your hands on these virtual items by Any Means Possible.

Megan Thee Stallion hit Adin Ross with a musical lawsuit. The rapper hired a mariachi band to travel to Ross’ house and deliver court papers to the contentious streamer. Meg alleges that Ross made defamatory statements in the wake of a 2022 shooting involving rapper Tory Lanez. That sure sounds like him.

Agency dealings

Joely Live signs with WME. The host of Pucker Up — a sour candy-themed take on Hot Ones — has a new deal. “Pucker Up is just getting started, and the best is yet to come,” Joely told Tubefilter. “The team at WME truly understands the vision and the amazing Pucker Up community, and together we’re ready to take things to the next level. Can’t wait for this next chapter!”

Vanillamace links up with UTA. The TikToker and Twitch streamer is a jack-of-all-trades whose content ranges from vlogs to gameplay videos. Her deal with UTA will allow her to build on the momentum she has already accrued online.

Movers and shakers

Roblox finds an exec to oversee its growing crop of ad partnerships. As the sandbox engine expands its network of branded worlds, it has brought on Mike Schoelch as its Head of Agency Partnerships. So if we do end up with a Roblox Adpocalyse, we know who will be charged with resolving it.

The former head of CBS News is taking a role at beehiiv. In an advisory position, Wendy McMahon will work alongside beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk. The newsletter hub wants to attract esteemed journalists to its shores, and McMahon will play a crucial role in that mission.

Netflix’s Chief Product Officer is leaving the company. Over a five-year stint at Netflix, Eunice Kim played a role in the streamer’s password-sharing crackdown and the redesign of its landing page. Now she’s moving on, though Netflix did not provide an official reason for her departure.

Shavone Charles is moving on from TikTok. Charles was one of the key execs in charge of diversity, equity, and inclusion at TikTok. Her next move is a fashion-forward web series, so circle New York Fashion Week on your calendar if you want to see what she’s up to.

The biz

Logan Paul’s investment in a massage company is his sweet Aescape. Given the abuse Paul endures in the WWE ring, he could use a good massage. That’s why he’s joining Aescape — a service for booking customized massages — as an investor and partner.

Feastables is now certified kosher. MrBeast already claimed that his candy brand contains better-for-you ingredients and a new-and-improved taste. Now that it is officially kosher as well, I’m kvelling over here.

Twilight is the latest film getting the free-on-YouTube treatment. Studios are using YouTube as a long-tail distribution window, and fans of the Twilight saga are sparkling with delight. During a week-long event, all five films from the franchise are streaming for free on YouTube. Now I’ll finally learn which of you readers have been Team Jacob all along.

YouTube’s NFL audience was actually a bit bigger than we thought. After resolving an “internal issue,” YouTube announced that it actually registered 18.5 million U.S. viewers during its free broadcast of the week one matchup between the Chargers and Chiefs. I assume this audit was initiated after Neal Mohan threw a red flag onto the floor at YouTube HQ.

The internet is a strange place

RIP to Maru the Cat. The feline who was known for her ability to fit into small boxes has passed away at age 18. Maru once ranked among the internet’s most-watched animals, and I hope she is loafing up a storm in kitty heaven.

Is “the great lock-in” Gen Z’s new autumnal tradition? Zoomers are seeing off summertime fun and getting ready for a full season of hard work and personal growth. I appreciate the bootstrapping attitude of today’s twentysomethings, though I think I’ll stick with the much simpler fall tradition that I know and love — decorative gourds everywhere.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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I’ve spent my career building businesses around how fans move culture–from co-founding Rawkus Records, the indie label that defined late-90s hip-hop, to launching Big Frame, one of the first digital talent management companies, to starting UPROXX with will.i.am to reimagine what a modern media brand could be.

One thing has always been clear: put the audience first, and they’ll move mountains.

The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement proves it once again. One announcement triggered a tidal wave across platforms, setting another world record with New Heights numbers, and turning fandom into a full-fledged distribution network. What happened next wasn’t just coverage–it was coordination. Fans clipped, shared, and spread the moment so widely it felt like a broadcast premiere unfolding in real time, only without a network. That’s fandom acting like its own syndication arm, carrying content across every major platform simultaneously.

Fandoms as infrastructure

For creators, this is the lesson: Fandoms aren’t just a nice-to-have–they’re essential infrastructure. Algorithms get the headlines, but fans do the heavy lifting. They cut clips, amplify memes, and spark secondary waves of attention. A loyal fanbase can make a single podcast episode feel like a season premiere.

The Swift-Kelce crossover is the clearest proof yet. According to Mondo Metrics, the New Heights episode and its clips have already generated 826.8M views and 37.9M+ engagements across platforms. If it hasn’t crossed a billion already, it will–all off the strength of fandom acting as its own distribution system.

We see the same behavior across music video culture. After this year’s VMAs, fans surged to Warner Music Group artist channels powered by UPROXX:

• Sombr’s weekly YouTube video views jumped +150% to more than 200M
• Alex Warren soared +43% past 25M weekly YouTube views as he took home Best New Artist
• Busta Rhymes climbed +23% beyond 15M weekly YouTube views tied to his Visionary Award moment

These aren’t isolated spikes–they’re proof that fandom energy translates instantly into action across screens.

The convergence effect

The Kelce-Swift phenomenon also highlights how categories are collapsing. Sports is pulling in music fandom, music fandom is amplifying sports media, and the halo effect boosts engagement across both.

This convergence mirrors what’s happening in digital media at large. Fans don’t just live in silos; hip-hop audiences spill into basketball, indie kids fuel festival content, and a single podcast guest can spark crossover waves across entertainment, sports, and lifestyle. When fandoms converge, the cultural multiplier effect is far greater than the sum of the parts.

What this means for YouTubers, agents…and brands

• For creators: Think of your content as a spark, but your fandom as the accelerant. Prioritize engagement, not just views. Foster spaces (Discords, comments, livestreams) where fans feel like co-creators.
• For agents: The new “prime time” is wherever fans converge. Packaging talent for cross-platform moments–whether it’s a podcast guesting, a co-stream, or a music collab–has outsized returns.
• For brands: Fandoms are the most reliable path to attention in a fragmented media world. Partnering with creators who have real fandoms (not just inflated follower counts) means plugging into distribution networks that move at the speed of culture. When that energy channels through connected TV, completion rates approach universality, showing how attention deepens when fans are in control.

Why this matters now

Connected TV–in large part thanks to YouTube’s popularity in the living room–is quietly becoming the biggest stage for these fandom moments. More than half of U.S. YouTube viewing now happens on TV sets, turning creator drops into shared living-room experiences again.

We’ve seen entire premieres unfold this way: Millions experiencing a release on the biggest screen in the house, then carrying it back into their feeds where the conversation multiplies. Culture once flowed from broadcast down into social. Today, fandom makes it flow the other way around–from feeds to the living room, powered by the same fan energy that just proved itself with Swift, Kelce, and the post-VMA surges.

My perspective from the front lines

At UPROXX, we see every day how fandom turns content into cultural events. A music video drop becomes a living-room premiere. A star podcast guest turns into a billion-view conversation. A VMA moment drives artists from breakout to household name overnight.

The bigger lesson is clear: Fandom is no longer a byproduct of media–it is the infrastructure of media. The creators, agents, and brands that recognize this shift won’t just ride culture. They’ll move it.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, UPROXX by Jarret Myer
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Tinder‘s search for more Gen Z users has led it to a YouTube-based take on Love Island. The long-running British reality show is the clear inspiration for Double Date Island, which pairs off influencers and invites them to go on four-person outings in a lush setting.

Double Date Island shares a lot in common with Love Island, from its title to its thumping club jam soundtrack to its Balearic setting. Key differences include the branded show’s focus on double dates, its mix of British and continental European talent, and the location of its villa. Double Date Island takes place on Ibiza, whereas Love Island has long been filmed on Mallorca.

Tinder has already gotten busy in the world of influencer marketing, and its new show features a crop of creators who are big across the social universe. Participants include TikToker Carmie Sellitto, musician Spencer Elmer, and fashionista Ellie Smith.

Ever since Tinder burst onto the dating app scene in the 2010s, parent company Match Group has followed internet trends to ensure its star platform stays as hip as possible. After diving into short-form video, ASMR, and scripted content, Tinder is getting new features that line up with Gen Z’s dating habits. Double Date Island is a glorified advertisement for the new Double Date Mode that aims to put Tinder users in comfortable group settings (while simultaneously curing Gen Z’s dating app burnout).

“We’re tapping into the formats Gen Z already loves: entertainment, creators and social-first storytelling, to show what dating with your best friend can look like,” said Tinder VP of EMEA Marketing Paolo Lorenzoni in a statement. “Double Date reflects a growing shift in how young people approach dating. They’re prioritising fun, authenticity and shared experiences over pressure or performance – and our campaign is too. It’s designed to meet young daters on the platforms they love, in the formats they engage with, while reflecting how dating is evolving.”

Double Date Island is more than just an overture to Gen Z — it’s also following current trends in the reality TV industry. There is a growing pipeline that turns the stars of shows like The Bachelor into influencers, even as viewers and former contestants complain that cast members are not interested in finding love.

In theory, a reality show cast consisting entirely of established influencers gets rid of that pretense. Sure, the creators appearing on Double Date Island could grow their followings by appearing in the show, but if they don’t need to use the series as a big break, they can be more open to the central premise. That logic also helps explain why the Bachelor franchise chose to cast an established influencer — Taylor Frankie Paul of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives — as the next Bachelorette lead.

YouTube viewers are the perfect target audience for that kind of reality show. If you’re intrigued by the premise of Double Date Island (or if you’re just looking for a dose of the dram-drams), you can find new Double Date Island episodes as they drop on the Tinder Europe channel.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Once upon a time, BuzzFeed Video was the go-to source for Millennial-tinted comedy and documentaries led by recognizable and gregarious personalities. The shifting winds of internet culture caused BuzzFeed Video to lie dormant for more than a year, but it’s back in a big way. A collab with The Try Guys — who are former BuzzFeed employees themselves — kicked off a bold BuzzFeed Video relaunch that will bring multiple new web series to the titular media company’s flagship YouTube hub.

The refreshed channel will look to build on a strong foundation of existing BuzzFeed fans. The BuzzFeed Video channel has accrued nearly 20 million subscribers, and those viewers will be treated to new and returning shows helmed by a mix of veteran and upstart talent.

“I’m thrilled to announce the relaunch of BuzzFeed Video, the internet’s original happy place,” said BuzzFeed Studios President Richard Alan Reid in a statement. “We’re bringing that spark back with new voices, fresh shows, and the same signature humor and honesty reimagined for a whole new generation.”

The appeal to a new generation is a key piece of BuzzFeed Video’s relaunch strategy. The name BuzzFeed was once synonymous with Millennials and our nostalgic, “lol so random” cultural tendencies. These days, however, Gen Z is the cohort dictating digital tastes, so BuzzFeed is reaching out to that younger audience. A game show called Feed Feud will pit Millennials and Zoomers against one another in an internet trivia battle, while the sentimental series And That’s Why I Walked Away will explore the Gen Z-coded topic of creator burnout.

Of course, BuzzFeed isn’t abandoning its core demographic anytime soon. The relaunched BuzzFeed Video will include plenty of programming that will interest Millennials. With a new season of Mom In Progress, for example, BuzzFeed will continue to serve thirtysomethings who have grown up and become parents.

But before those shows (as well as a buddy comedy called Gay and Trying) premiere, BuzzFeed Video is giving us The Try Guys — and puppies. The experimental duo’s canine-powered conversation is a nostalgic remembrance of what BuzzFeed used to be like back before its biggest stars moved on to independent projects.

Nearly a decade after that talent exodus, BuzzFeed is primed for a comeback. Some savvy money moves, such as the 2024 sell-off of Hot Ones distributor First We Feast, have set BuzzFeed up for a return to its roots. In addition to its YouTube programming slate, the media company is developing a social media hub called BFisland, which will look to provide a more positive alternative to today’s feeds.

But before Jonah Peretti and co. can redefine the world of social media, they must focus on their bread-and-butter. New episodes will drop weekly on BuzzFeed Video throughout the fall, so if you’re feeling nostalgic (i.e. if you’re a typical BuzzFeed fan), there will be plenty of content to keep you sated over the next few months.

Filed under: Articles, Buzzfeed, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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