Something new is coming to BrandConnect. Nearly a decade after YouTube acquired the brand x creator matchup marketplace, and after a couple years of waffling about whether BrandConnect is best geared toward self-service or not, YouTube is making a serious effort to expand its offerings (and its team).

Some of those expansions were revealed in March, around the time YouTube appeared at South by Southwest. Now it’s using its time at Cannes Lions to announce Open Call.

This new feature lets brands put out open calls for creators (as the name would suggest) to make UGC for their latest campaigns.

To do that, companies just go to BrandConnect’s creator partnerships hub and publish a brief with their campaign details. Interested creators can scroll through opportunities in their half of the hub (which you can see in our header image) and respond with potential video content. Companies receive those videos and approve or deny them within BrandConnect. Videos selected for campaigns can be deployed across YouTube as official ads.

“Open Call gives creators of all sizes the opportunity to pursue new relationships with brands,” YouTube said in a company blog post. “Lean on the relevance and trust of YouTube creators to get more from your social strategy on YouTube.”

“With the thriving creator economy, we’re greatly investing in ways to help brands tap into the influence of YouTube creators,” Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, a Director of Product Management at YouTube, said in a statement. “With our new Open Call feature, we are making it even easier for brands to identify and partner with the right creators that resonate with their audiences at scale.”

This method of matching brands and creators isn’t new for digital marketing. Many outside agencies and marketplaces have tried it before. For brands, there are lots of pluses: they get a swath of creative, ready-made content that could help shape directions for their campaigns, connect them with creators’ enthusiastic audiences, and expose them to new ideas for creative and the creators behind them.

It’s also similar to how many traditional and non-creator brand campaigns work: companies often ask multiple agencies to pitch creative ideas or campaign concepts before deciding which one to move forward with. But just like the ad agencies whose concepts aren’t chosen for campaigns, creators whose videos aren’t selected won’t be paid for their work. YouTubers who respond to Open Calls might put in hours of effort–the same amount of effort they’d put into any other sponcon–and receive no financial compensation or relationship with the brand.

That being said, Open Call could give smaller creators the chance to work with brands they normally wouldn’t be able to contact. A nascent beautyfluencer could have their Short accepted for a multinational cosmetics brand, and a booktuber might get a spot with a Big Five publisher. For these creators, it could be worth shooting their shot, even if they might not get a paycheck.

Some brands and creators have already used the beta version of Open Call, and have found it a positive experience. L’Oréal‘s Global Director of Social Media, Karla Vélez, said using the feature to partner with creators “allows us to drive deeper brand engagement through authentic, entertaining content that resonates with their communities and extends our consumer reach.”

“At L’Oréal, YouTube creators are a powerful force—shaping cultural moments and forging meaningful connections with our audiences,” she added.

And model/actress/creator Haley Kalil, who’s used Open Call from the creator side, said she’s had partnerships with “as much creative freedom as possible,” which resulted in “authentic content that truly resonates with my audience.”

Filed under: Homepage Feature, YouTube by James Hale
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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. 👇

The latest edition of our Global Sub Top 50 chart offers a mix of relative newcomers and old hands. MrBeast, who added two million new subscribers during the second full week of July, once again topped the ranking. Joining him in the top five were this week’s viewership leader KIMPRO (#4) and T-Series (#5), the channel MrBeast passed to become YouTube’s subscriber leader.

Readers of this column may be sick of hearing about MrBeast, T-Series, and KIMPRO by now, but the other members of the top five remind us that there’s always room for surprises in our charts. It’s mahbub and I Am Parrot both rose from obscurity to add more than 1.4 million new subs during the week that was.

Who will be the sports star of summer 2025?

These days, channels that want to crack the Global Sub Top 50 have to ride the coattails of a major trend on YouTube Shorts. In recent weeks, we’ve seen trends like Christianity and Italian brainrot become major short-form phenomena, and some of the channels that used their sails to catch those winds are still thriving.

But the arrival of summer also means the return of an evergreen trend that doesn’t involve any generative AI Jesuses or Cappuccina Ballerinas. That’s right: It’s sports season again on YouTube Shorts.

Sports channels can have year-round success on YouTube, especially if they invoke major stars like Cristiano Ronaldo (or if they literally are Ronaldo). That said, summertime tournaments provide palpable growth opportunities for channels that ply their trades within the worlds of particular sports.

For example, Celine Dept broke out amid the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and NBC got a jolt of YouTube viewership thanks to last summer’s Paris Olympics. In 2025, however, there’s no World Cup or Olympics — but there is an NBA Finals, and one of YouTube’s biggest basketball creators is taking advantage of the opportunity.

I’m talking about Jesser, who is 15th in the latest Global Sub Top 50 after adding 600,000 new subscribers over a seven-day period. The man behind the Bucket Squad brand is branching out beyond basketball, and he even uploads some non-sports content on his primary channel. But as the NBA Finals go on, Jesser’s basketball-themed Shorts seem to rake in ten-digit view counts every time he uploads a new one.

The NBA Finals will end soon, but Jesser will still be near the top of the YouTube ladder thanks to his diversified content. That is one of the sneaky advantages of sports content: It provides a strong subscriber floor for creators who might be interested in exploring other topics.

Take iShowSpeed, for example. The global streaming star arguably made his name just because he was (and still is) a Ronaldo superfan. Since his breakout, however, he’s been all over the map. His recent videos include some sporty stuff, like an attempted hang with Ronaldo’s rival Lionel Messi, as well as more artistic fare. His music video for the song “Higher” already has more than 1.2 million views, and it helped his main channel get 700,000 new subscribers during the second week of July.

Data via Gospel Stats

The sports creators of YouTube Shorts will have a few more months to jockey for position. This year’s summer highlights include soccer tournaments like the Club World Cup, golf majors like the Open Championship, and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. At all of those tentpoles, we’ll see creators jockeying for screen time, and thanks to the support of professional leagues, they’ll get more access to players than ever before.

Channel Distribution

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

• India: 18
• United States: 15
• Hong Kong: 3
• Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Vietnam: 1

This week, 41 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. 👇

It’s been nearly four months since YouTube announced that it would change the way it counts Shorts views, a shift that inflated view counts on the platform’s TikTok competitor. Though the new view-counting meta is still producing some eye-popping numbers, it feels like the dust is starting to settle.

South Korea’s KIMPRO is in first place in the Global Top 50 with more than 2.5 billion weekly views, but that actually represents a step back for a channel that approached three billion weekly views just seven days ago. Meanwhile, five other channels got at least one billion weekly views, but it’s now only taking about 486 million weekly views to crack the Top 50. Again, that represents a decrease from previous weeks.

Mr. 99cm Kindness is short and sweet

One great thing about YouTube is its ability to deliver the perspectives of creators who previously struggled to make their voices heard. In a previous era, the diminutive host of the Mr. 99cm Kindness channel may have been an unassuming man among a sea of faces in Vietnam. But thanks to YouTube Shorts, the short-statured gentleman now runs one of the biggest channels on the entire internet.

Mr. 99cm Kindness is not the first person with dwarfism to break out Shorts — that honor may go to some of Peet Montzingo’s family members — but thanks to his positive attitude and short-form skills, the 99-centimeter man is currently one of the Top 50 most-watched creators on YouTube.

During the second full week of July, Mr. 99cm Kindness got 694 million weekly views, which was good for an 8% increase over our previous seven-day measurement period. That uptick allowed him to move from 38th place in our worldwide ranking up to 22nd.

How does he do it? Like many other top Shorts creators, Mr. 99cm Kindness teaches moral lessons to his viewers. Anyone who makes fun of his condition tends to get the karmic response they deserve.

Kindness is a feeling that translates across linguistic and national borders, which is why so many Shorts creators focus on it. In addition to Mr. 99cm, another creator who imparts morals into his YouTube videos is Alan Chikin Chow, whose Alan’s Universe channel reached 44th place in the latest Global Top 50.

Any positive emotion can bring in millions of YouTube views, so long as it successfully tugs on the heartstrings of Shorts viewers. That has recently become a winning formula for Endless Love, a channel that distributes content from Chinese dramas. After briefly seeing its numbers dip, Endless Love has rocketed back up to 27th place in the Global Top 50 thanks to its 654.4 million weekly views.

Data via Gospel Stats

Can an Endless font of Love beget endless views on YouTube? That’s what these positive channels are trying to figure out, and I’m happy they’re happy. I would rather see cheerful, uplifting creators get rewarded than see hateful individuals profit on YouTube. Luckily, love is proving to be the more powerful of those two emotions.

Channel Distribution

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

• India: 15
• United States: 9
• Hong Kong and Vietnam: 4
• Australia, Canada, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan: 2
• Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Peru, and South Korea: 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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Publicis Groupe is out to prove its two big creator-industry acquisitions are worth what it paid.

After spending $500 million to pick up influencer marketing business Influential last summer, it recently acquired Captiv8, a company that says it “unifies creators, commerce, and campaign performance” by using a data-central approach to hooking up creators and brands for campaigns.

Now Publicis–a France-based marketing agency that makes over $14 billion a year working with clients like Walmart, Cartier, Nestle, L’Oreal, P&G, and Heineken–is taking those companies to Cannes Lions.

Its annual Cannes ad campaign this year (running on displays at the airport in Nice and on billboards throughout the festival) centers around how brands can get Super Bowl-sized reach while spending a “fraction of the cost” by tapping content creators instead. The campaign video (themed for Cannes’ lion) stars wildlife content creator @shandorlarenty as well as Gen Z media outlet Pubity. Per Campaign, Publicis plans to tap resources from Influential and Captiv8 to bring in other influencers who will share the vid, remix it, and talk about it.

The video debuted June 16, and its reach will be tracked in real-time, then displayed at Influential Beach, the company’s sponsored spot at Cannes Lions.

Publicis’s goal is to meet or beat the Super Bowl’s reach of 127 million viewers, with a 30-second spot costing $8 million. Ryan Detert, founder and CEO of Influential, told Campaign he thinks the video will accomplish this in 48 hours, and will show brands that with content creator-led marketing, they could spend between $450K and $2 million and achieve what the Super Bowl wants $8 mil to do.

The campaign also has a cheeky shot at Cannes, with one tagline saying, “Get Super Bowl reach for the price of 25 Cannes passes.”

Publicis isn’t throwing everything into creator marketing, though; it is still, at its bones, a traditional ad company, and wouldn’t want to steer its clients away from spending on one of the most lucrative events of the year. Detert told Campaign Influential views creator marketing as an “and” instead of an “or.”

“We think that there is a play for not just the big moments like the Super Bowl to amplify, but really having an always-on campaign with creators. They become your media channel,” he said.

Still, Publicis making its entire 2025 Cannes presence about creator-led marketing is a major deal. Publicis Groupe is perhaps the largest traditional ad company to commit serious resources to influencer marketing thus far, and we’re intrigued to see what comes of this campaign–and its future endeavors in our space.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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Thanks to companies like Whalar Group, creator campuses are coming back into vogue, and FOX wants in on the action. Through its FOX Advertising wing, the media corporation is making a “strategic investment” in The Lighthouse, Whalar’s network of IRL creator spaces.

FOX announced the Lighthouse funding at the Cannes Lions festival in France. The size of the deal has not been revealed, but FOX is expected to double down on its investment by establishing a creator-facing initiative. The unnamed initiative will focus on IP development by building franchises alongside select creator partners.

In a statement, Lighthouse president Jon Goss dubbed the deal a “defining moment” in the brand’s history. “At FOX, we see the future of entertainment and advertising will be driven by bold culture-shaping IP,” added FOX Advertising Chief Strategy and Operations Officer Stephano Kim. “Our investment in The Lighthouse signals our commitment to building original franchises with visionary Creators who are redefining storytelling and influencing culture in real time.”

Whalar established The Lighthouse in 2023 to equip creators with a long list of services, ranging from studio spaces to career development programs to networking opportunities. The first Lighthouse location opened in January 2025 in Venice, California. A second space, housed inside a former pencil factory in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, is set to open during the fourth quarter of 2025.

In many ways, The Lighthouse is a successor to the YouTube Spaces, Google-established facilities that popped up across the globe before closing their doors in 2021. In the years since that mass shuttering, the growth of the creator economy has led to rekindled interest in real-life influencer hangouts. Whalar, for example, parlayed its diverse array of creator products into a May 2025 investment that valued the company at $400 million. Kai Cenat’s more irreverent take on a creator campus, Streamer University, drew interest from potential buyers like Amazon before Cenat indicated that he was not interested in a sale.

FOX’s own creator-related ambitions have been growing as well. Its FAST hub Tubi has given it a foothold in the digital ecosystem, and its right-leaning news brand has ranked among YouTube’s most-watched channels in the months following the reelection of Donald Trump. FOX’s February 2025 acquisition of Red Seat Ventures gave it a direct link to some of the loudest political voices on the internet. Now, through The Lighthouse, the massive media firm will forge another connection to influential digital-native voices.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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TikTok has a proposal for brands: advertise with us, and we will help you confront climate change. The app’s partnership with Scope3 will provide emissions data for on-platform campaigns.

Scope3 is a media sustainability firm that has worked with tech companies like Google and Meta. According to a TikTok blog post, the partnership will help advertisers pursue in-house goals related to climate change and emissions. “Scope3’s platform makes it easy for brands, agencies, and media partners to visualize, measure, and reduce emissions across the advertising supply chain,” reads the post.

In recent years, carbon neutrality has become a top priority for many social platforms. Snap pledged in 2021 to become carbon negative by 2030. Platforms like YouTube have also published content that discusses the climate crisis.

Climate-conscious initiatives are not just good for the planet – they also align with the needs of younger generations. Gen Z has repeatedly identified climate change among the issues it cares about most. Even the youngsters of Gen Alpha have already expressed a preference for brands that prioritize environmental conservation in their business practices. 

Brands advertise on TikTok to reach those cohorts, so the Scope3 partnership provides crucial context consumers want to know. Whether the brands choose to share that data publicly (or update their practices to become more efficient) is up to them.

Though the new resources are a useful step forward, there’s still a lot of work to be done to address the climate impact of ad campaigns. Research from the World Economic Forum has shown that digital marketing creates more emissions than the aviation industry. Factors like server usage, electricity requirements, and single-use data all contribute to the problem. 

Per the Forum’s report, “more than half of the digital data firms generate is collected, processed and stored for single-use purposes.” TikTok and Scope3 are trying to change the narrative. Now it will be up to advertisers to do their part. 

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Three words: Let them fight.

Almost immediately after AI image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney entered the wider public consciousness in 2021/2022, a single, unified meme emerged. People were concerned that millions of artists’ works had been scraped without permission and used in generators’ datasets. But, since 99.999% of independent makers don’t have the cash to challenge AI companies in court, it seemed like there was no avenue to financial recompense or a court ruling that could keep no-consent scrapes from happening again.

People knew, though, that there is one copyright-obsessed company out there with lots of lawyers and absolutely zero tolerance for anyone else making money off its IPs.

Disney.

As the meme went, the Mouse would be the one to bring down AI. Disney just needed incentive to join the fight.

Now, it’s happening.

This week, Disney and NBCUniversal filed a joint suit against Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement.

“By helping itself to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney’s and Universal’s famous characters–without investing a penny in their creation–Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,” the duo said in their suit. “Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing. Midjourney’s conduct misappropriates Disney’s and Universal’s intellectual property and threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television, and other creative arts.”

Among the images Disney/NBCU cited in their suit are generated shots of various Star Wars characters, Elsa from Frozen, Shrek, Minions, and a semi-spicy shirtless shot of Wolverine with Deadpool, which is objectively very funny because if the suit succeeds, we are looking at a future where Poolverine yaoi saved the world from AI slop.

The suit does not mince words. On top of the above statement, it accuses Midjourney of having a “bootlegging business model” that is in “defiance of U.S. copyright law,” and argues Midjourney’s existence is “a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy.”

Disney and NBCU are, of course, seeking financial compensation for damages (amount undisclosed), as well as “preliminary and/or permanent injunctive relief enjoining and restraining Midjourney” from using Disney/NBCU material in its datasets or generating images related to their IPs.

They are the first major Hollywood stakeholders to file suit against AI companies, so if they win their case, it will set a new, protective precedent for studios–and potentially for the littler guys, too.

Midjourney has so far declined to comment.

Now, to be clear, despite all the “the Mouse will save us” memes, Disney isn’t some AI-battling Avenger here. Yes, it’s taking on Midjourney, but it’s not doing that because it’s unhappy about the general existence of gen AI. In fact, Disney has embraced gen AI across numerous areas of its business, impacting a significant amount of those “millions of jobs” it mentioned in its suit. So while this court case may set precedent for creatives to protect their IPs, it won’t protect them from being replaced by robots to save a buck in Disney’s production pipeline.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
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Kane Parsons is already one of the foremost tellers of spooky stories on the internet. Now, the creator also known as Kane Pixels is set to become one of the youngest directors in Hollywood history.

The 19-year-old Parsons is going full speed ahead on a feature film adaptation of The Backrooms, a found footage horror series Parsons initially premiered on his YouTube channel. A24, which picked up the project in 2023, has now attached some big names to it. The film’s cast includes Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor as well as Renate Reinsve, who played the lead role in the international hit The Worst Person in the World.

With a venerated indie distributor steering the ship and several notable actors on board, The Backrooms is set to be the next big horror project led by a digital content creator. As influencers make inroads in Hollywood, the horror genre is becoming one of their most significant areas of expertise.

The projects keep adding up: First there was David E. Sandberg’s Lights Out, which moved from YouTube to the big screen, turning Sandberg into an in-demand director; he’s since helmed blockbusters like Shazam. The Australian twins behind the RackaRacka channel frightened filmgoers with Talk To Me, which ended up as one of the top movies of 2023.

Other horror impresarios coming from the internet include Curry Barker — who enjoyed a sleeper hit with his low-budget production Milk & Serial — and Chris Stuckmann, the film critic-turned-director who is working with acclaimed distributor Neon on his upcoming film Shelby Oaks.

No shade to any of those other creator-directors, but Parsons might be the most talented of the bunch. His creative, resourceful style has earned him a reputation as one of YouTube’s most daring artists. His first Backrooms video now has nearly ten million views on YouTube.

What exactly makes the creator-to-horror director pipeline so potent? The genre’s penchant for low-budget thrills helps. The Backrooms, like many other horror hits, is filmed in a found footage style that gives audiences the jitters without breaking the bank. That makes it a safer bet when studios and distributors take chances on creators like Parsons.

Of course, there’s still some risk involved. The 2018 adaptation of the Slender Man meme, for example, was a critical and commercial flop. But recent developments suggest that meme culture is becoming the hot new hack for studios that want to put Gen Alpha butts in movie theater seats. A Minecraft Movie cashed in on silly memes even as it rankled adults by encouraging kids to shout references at the screen.

The Backrooms could be the meeting point of all these trends: It is a chilling horror project helped by a creative whiz, and it has plenty of potential for cheeky meme references as well. I’m not saying Kermit the Frog should get a cameo in Parsons’ adaptation (and Disney probably wouldn’t allow it), but if he did, he might just be the next Chicken Jockey.

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, one major TikToker had a run-in with the law, another started slinging pies, and some of the app’s other users auditioned for a Hollywood blockbuster.

Creator commotion

Khaby Lame leaves the U.S. after ICE detention. After immigration police accused the most-followed TikToker of overstaying his Visa, he ended his trip to Las Vegas. Lame has designs on become a global entertainment star, but for now, he’s playing soccer in Brazil and laying low for a bit.

Tyipcal Gamer is breaking more Fortnite records. The enterprising creator is building some of the biggest worlds in Fortnite through his studio JOGO. His tribute to departed rapper XXXTentacion got more than 220,000 players, which is a bigger base than Fortnite‘s popular Battle Royale mode.

Ingrid Nilsen returns to YouTube to reflect on her coming-out video. Ten years ago, one of YouTube’s biggest beauty gurus told the world that she is a lesbian. Years later, she revived her dormant channel to express the joy and gratitude she has felt ever since her momentous video. Happy Pride!

The biz

Step into Casa Cugine. The TikToker Danny Mondello, better known as Cugine, has become a notable food influencer by introducing millions of followers to the joy (and excessive caloric content) of Italian-American fare. Now he’s getting into the restaurant business himself with a sandwich spot in Williamsburg.

Nick DiGiovanni expands retail footprint for his OMSO brand. Speaking of TikTok foodies, former MasterChef contestant Nick DiGiovanni is bringing his seasoning line to Walmart shelves. If you’re more of an ecommerce type of person, you can also find OSMO’s blends on TikTok Shop.

Trisha Paytas has a RelationChip update. The influencer posted a YouTube video featuring Tinder‘s new snack brand. Each bag of Relationchips comes with a complementary Tinder Gold subscription. In pure Paytas fashion, her promotional effort offers peak drama.

Movers and shakers

Dhar Mann Studios bulks up with five new hires. The media company led by the titular social media moralist is taking its enterprise to the next level. The headlining hire is Toni Gray, a Fremantle and MrBeast vet who is coming on board as Dhar Mann Studios’ Head of Production.

UScreen has a new CEO. Former LTK and Compass exec Allison Yazdian has compiled two decades of experience across fields like media, finance, and content. Now, she’s taking the reins of a video monetization platform that works with creators and media companies.

Adam Collins is Reddit’s first Chief Communication Officer. The former Molson Coors exec can crack open a cold one to celebrate his move to a major social platform. Here’s hoping his official communiques get more upvotes than anything else.

Agency dealings

Range Media Partners signs Bretman Rock. The gender-bending beauty star has parlayed their social media fame into several potent opportunities, including an MTV show. Now they’re joining forces with Range while retaining their representation with UTA and Goodman Genow Schenkman, Smelkinson + Christopher, LLP.

Vinnie Hacker lands at WME. The TikToker is exiting CAA to sign with another big-name agency for representation in all areas. He made his name as a member of the Hype House creator collective, and he currently has more than 15 million followers on TikTok.

WME is working with Nigel Ng on an animated series. The comedian known for playing the character of Uncle Roger will take the lead in an upcoming project. There’s nothing to say other than “Fuiyoh!”

The internet is a strange place

YouTube playlist creators are making it clear that they aren’t including any videos with AI. Generative AI may be the next big thing in tech, but content without AI is becoming a major selling point as well. Perhaps the masses aren’t as willing to accept LLMs as it may seem on the ssurface.

A Hunger Games open casting call caught TikTok’s attention. As you would expect, the TikTokers who are going out for a role in an upcoming blockbuster are hamming it up big time. If any of them make it to Hollywood, they may be reminded who the real enemy is.

A teenager raised $150,000 for charity by running across the U.K. The length of TheHullBoy’s slogan is an opportunity for a little editing, but no changes are needed for the creator’s big heart.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Kick is going into business with a controversial creator crew. Through its nascent Kick Studios arm, the Stake.com-backed streaming hub is partnering with Austin-based OTK for an exclusive event series.

The first event on the docket will take place on June 13 at OTK HQ. Per a press release, several OTK streamers are confirmed to appear during the broadcast, including ExtraEmily, Cyr, Sodapoppin, Esfand, and Esfand’s fellow OTK Co-Founder Asmongold. The two parties announced their partnership a few days after Asmongold made his debut on Kick.

“OTK has long been a leader in digital media innovation and an incubator for some of the best casual gaming and lifestyle talent. We’re thrilled to join forces with them to propel livestream content to the forefront of entertainment media under our KICK Studios banner,” said Kick CMO Akhil Sarin in a statement. “Authentic in-real-time content, organic must-see moments for viewers, and undeniable growth for creators—that’s the future.”

Though OTK may have some bright spots in its future, its past is decidedly checkered. Launched in 2020 by a handful of Twitch’s top draws, the organization initially shot to the top of the streaming world thanks to its fun, low-key vibe.

By 2023, numerous scandals had soured the mood. Allegations against OTK Co-Founder Mizkif led to his ousting from the org’s board, though the claims were later found to be unsubstantiated. Funnily enough, one of the people who led the crusade against Mizkif was Trainwreck, a founding member of the Kick team who will now be working with Mizkif’s former OTK chums.

Last year, things went from bad to worse for OTK. Longtime member Tectone resigned from the org amid allegations of sexual abuse, and Asmongold found himself in hot water after making hateful comments about Palestinians on his stream. An ensuing exodus saw creators like Will Neff cut ties with OTK.

At that low point, OTK set the stage for its resurgence. A March 2025 pact allowed it to fast-track its creators onto Kick, circumventing preexisting prerequisites. Now, OTK and Kick are doubling down on streamer events, despite warning signs about how difficult it is to make money in that business.

A partnership with OTK is in line with Kick’s previous maneuvers. In the platform’s early days, it recruited streamers who had run afoul of Twitch rules. Kick’s status as a haven for bad boys has caused some PR headaches for the company, especially after claims of nasty behavior at last year’s TwitchCon.

In spite of all that dicey press, Kick is growing fast and looking to shake its reputation as a new home for rule-breakers. It just so happens that OTK is out for redemption as well, which may be why the alliance between the two parties makes so much sense. The event series will “roll out over the next year,” so stay tuned to Kick if you want to get in on the fun.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, Kick, News by Sam Gutelle
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YouTube isn’t the only platform to reach a significant anniversary in 2025. As Google’s video hub goes all out for its 20th birthday, Instagram is turning 15. To celebrate, the Meta-owned app is rolling out its “Anyway” ad campaign, which encourages creators to be bold and share their work.

According to Adweek, “Anyway” is Instagram’s “biggest campaign yet.” The app teamed up with Uncommon Creative Studio to show off the work of artists like  Tyler, The Creator, Rosalía, Nadia Lee Cohen, and Cole Bennett, all of whom have found success on Instagram since the app’s 2010 launch.

The “Anyway” campaign is a celebration of risk-takers and a nudge in the arm for budding creators who may be too shy to share their work with the masses. In the ads, which are airing during the NBA Finals, Instagram promises that creators can achieve great things if they are brave enough to post. Once they do, “everyone else will follow.”

The timing of the campaign isn’t just linked to Instagram’s 15th birthday. In recent years, as terms like “creator economy” have come into vogue, Meta has made concerted overtures to the influencer class through initiatives like Creator Week, which kicked off in 2021.

Those developments have become more numerous in the past few months as TikTok has faced a ban attempt in the United States. Meta clearly sees TikTok’s (potential) loss as Instagram’s (potential) gain, which is why it’s dangling cash in front of creators’ faces and adopting features that have proven popular on the ByteDance-owned app.

“Anyway” is yet another recruitment effort. If a user is strong enough to overcome their fear of public sharing, they become another creator for Instagram’s growing tally.

To sweeten the deal even further, Instagram is rolling out new features to accompany the launch of “Anyway.” Emboldened by the success of Trial Reels, Instagram is introducing another form of low-key sharing. For users who upload “quietly,” posts will show up on profiles before they get pushed out to followers’ feeds.

“We are investing in creativity more this year than ever before, just as Instagram turns 15,” Instagram Head Adam Mosseri wrote in a blog post. “From launching Edits for video creatives, to introducing new work with some of the most creative people on the planet, to new creator programs and features like Trials, we want to make it easier for anyone to take a creative chance.”

One of those new creator programs is Drafts, an initiative designed to support up-and-coming creators by equipping them with “financial support, connections, co-ideation and collaboration opportunities.” Those who enroll in Drafts aren’t guaranteed to become as famous as Tyler, the Creator, but as Instagram would be quick to remind them, they should probably take the leap anyway.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, Instagram, News by Sam Gutelle
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Snapchat‘s first paywalled subscription service was a hit, and the social media app is now going back for round two. The new Lens+ tier will expand options for the creators of Snap’s augmented reality (AR) effects, while also setting the table for the arrival of the company’s Specs wearables.

Subscribers who pay $8.99 per month to access Lens+ will get access to “Lenses built by Snapchat and select creators,” according to an introductory blog post. Snapchat plans to expand the Lens Plus program over the next few months by letting some creators “build and monetize exclusive Lenses.”

Lens+ is being launched as a premium add-on for Snapchat+, the app’s pre-existing subscription tier. Snapchat+ debuted in 2022 and quickly reeled in a strong customer base. Powered by its appealing price point ($3.99 per month) and its feature-rich design, Snapchat+ reached 12 million subscribers within two years.

Snapchat is now looking to use its successful subscription tier to boost its AR operation. “In addition to all of the value from our Snapchat+ subscription, Lens+ provides access to hundreds of Lenses and AR experiences that let you play, create, and share Snaps with friends in whole new ways,” reads the introductory post.

Though Snap has a rocky past when it comes to AR, the company is bullish about the potential of the Specs line, which is set to launch next year. If Snap’s next AR push is going to fare better than some of its previous attempts, it will need a dedicated community of Lens creators. That’s why it has started paying the creators of top-performing effects.

Lens+ will open up additional monetization opportunities while also expanding the size of the app’s AR community — at least in theory. Subscriptions and wearables have catalyzed stock market upticks for Snapchat in the past, and it now has the chance to make more progress on both of those fronts.

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