We here at Tubefilter have written a lot about the continuing prevalence of sports content on social platforms, streaming, and traditional TV. As broadcast and linear TVs’ market share continues to decline, sports content viewership has remained strong–and sports are finding deeper connections with passionate audiences on platforms like YouTube and Reddit, too.

But while we’ve mostly focused on sports like golf and basketball, there’s been a sleeper roaring in the wings: Formula 1.

If you’ve been in digital fandom spaces at all, you’ll know Formula 1–the international, ultra high speed, single-seater motor car races–experienced a massive resurgence during COVID, with much of that fresh traffic generated by hit Netflix documentary Drive to Survive. The U.S. fanbase alone now comprises over 45 million people.

And the demographic where it’s seeing the most growth? 16- to 24-year-old girls.

In fact, Formula 1is making tracks with a lot of women–including content creators.

But Formula 1 isn’t like your local sports team or even fellow racing competition NASCAR. With a team like the Cincinnati Bengals or an average NASCAR race, fans with a little cash stand a good chance of grabbing a ticket and seeing an event in person. But Formula 1 races are often held outside the U.S., and tickets can run over $1,000 per person. The ticket cost plus travel and hotel makes attending a race prohibitive for all but 1% of fans, Financial Times reports.

So, it adds, F1-focused content creators now “form a bridge between drivers and fans,” connecting folks who can’t see the races in real life to news, driver updates, and race day experiences from the inside.

That includes a sizable number of female creators, including TikToker Lissie Mackintosh, a 25-year-old British F1 enthusiast who has 400,000 followers. She’s been making videos about F1 for four years, and now has an audience that’s nearly 80% female, and 70% Gen Z.

Her videos are targeted at both F1 newbies and experienced race watchers. “What the Formula 1 does that mean?” has become a sort of catchphrase, which she uses to give viewers an in to the sport’s lingo and practices. She also started a podcast, Going Purple.

@lissiemackintosh Refreshing! Thanks Nico 😂😭 #f1 #formula1 #formulaone #nicohulkenberg #motorsport ♬ original sound

Her digital presence and influence on the F1 fandom has gotten her partnerships with brands like cosmetics company Charlotte Tilbury, which is an official partner of F1 Academy, the motorsport series for women under 25. (Worth noting: Women are allowed to compete in Formula 1, but very few have, likely in part due to extreme pressure put on women who join male-dominated sports.)

Another well-known F1 creator is Toni Cowan-Brown, who’s been making content on the sport full-time since 2021. She has 113,000 TikTok followers, founded the fandom platform Sunday Fangirls, and also hosts two motorsports-related podcasts.

Cowan-Brown told FT she doesn’t think F1 is leaping on the opportunity to market to the 42% of its fanbase who are women. It’s “done little to cater to that audience” she said, mentioning that she–like many women in sports–has faced hate online for her content.

Her experience has been “brutal,” she said. “[I]t’s not even a question of thick skin.”

Despite this, Susie Wolff, the Managing Director of F1 Academy, tolf FT there has been an “F1 Academy effect” with more women inspired to get into motorsports and more women joining F1’s fandom.

She said the Academy is prioritizing using its social channels to reach young girls, so they “instantly know that there is a place for them in our sport, and that they are welcome here.”

While content creators across all sports have become vital drivers (no pun intended) of fan engagement, it seems F1 Academy is hoping all those Gen Z girls watching TikToks might become interested in getting behind the wheel themselves. And who knows–maybe the next crop of up-and-coming drivers will come from kids who got to connect with F1 behind the scenes thanks to Mackintosh, Cowan-Brown, and thousands of other F1-focused influencers.

Filed under: Homepage Feature by James Hale
Comments Off on Formula 1’s fastest-growing fan demographic is Gen Z girls. Female content creators are helping drive their interest.

There are a lot of adjectives that accurately describe the first season of Beast Games. The Amazon Prime Video original series started out as an ambitious, high-stakes, controversial, ballyhooed, and expensive attempt to remake MrBeast‘s signature format for streaming distribution.

Beast Games is officially coming back for a second season, and there will be some changes from that checkered first go-around. As you might expect from a MrBeast production, the most prominent update concerns the prize pool. After doling out $10 million in season one, the Amazon original will offer $15 million in prizes in season two.

MrBeast confirmed the show’s return via an Instagram account he uses to cast contestants for his video. Visitors to the official Beast Games website will find a submission form for potential participants. If you want to be part of Beast Games, the producers want to know your favorite challenges and contestants from the first season, as well as your plans for the prize money if you take it home.

It’s not surprising to see MrBeast increase the Beast Games pot for the second season. After all, he upped the ante in the middle of the show’s initial run, when he doubled the winnings from $5 million to $10 million.

Will any other changes reshape Beast Games upon its return? For that to happen, MrBeast and Amazon will have to evaluate elements from the first season to determine which ones should be left untouched. According to the Wall Street Journal, MrBeast is seeking a $150 million budget for the second season of his blockbuster show.

On the surface, Beast Games was a major success. It became Amazon’s most-watched unscripted series and inspired many more collaborations between popular creators and streaming platforms. Based on that data, the Beast Games team might want to consider an approach of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But when you break down Beast Games, you find some questionable aspects. The show’s production was marred by allegations of cast mistreatment, which led to a class action lawsuit filed by a group of Beast Games contestants. The game design was uneven as well, with creators like SLYMER critiquing Beast Games for its reliance on bribes, random chance, and overly simplistic schoolyard games.

A new season will offer an opportunity for MrBeast and co. to tweak aspects of the show that riled up participants and viewers. Here’s hoping the next phase of production involves more enjoyable twists and fewer lawsuits.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on MrBeast will give away $15 million in prizes during second season of ‘Beast Games’

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, the creator of an animated smash hit is getting choosy about platforms while a man known for dispensing emotional damage is getting his close-up.

Creator commotion

The creator of The Amazing Digital Circus has thoughts about YouTube censorship. In a tweet, Gooseworx claimed that YouTube’s stringent guidelines are requiring some edits that aren’t necessary in the Netflix version of TADC. Those issues are one reason why Gooseworx sought distribution from a major streaming service in the first place.

A YouTube guitarist shreds with metal masters. Mastodon (the Georgia-based metal band, not the decentralized X alternative) invited Ben Eller to play with them at a festival in the Dominican Republic. Shredders like Eller have been tearing it up on YouTube for years, and Mastodon’s move is a tip-of-the-hat to that community.

MrBeast shows off “grandpa” looks at Paris Fashion Week. For the record, I think the internet is being a little too harsh about Jimmy Donaldson’s styled outfits. He’s sharply dressed in his Parisian looks — but fashion might not come as easily to him as YouTube does.

Pop culture minute

The doctor is in, and his name is Steven He. The funnyman who riffs on Asian cultural stereotypes has been cast in the lead role in Doctor, Doctor, an indie comedy film that will premiere later this month on Apple TV and Prime Video. The actors who He beat for the role will just have to live with the emotional damage.

KSI heads to BET in the U.K. The Sidemen member is one of the first guests booked for Now You Know, a new interview series airing on BET UK. The show will be produced by Pangaea Group, which also chronicled KSI in the doc The Sidemen Story.

Alex Cooper is going Overboard for Love. The Call Her Daddy host is teaming with Hulu to launch a dating show set on a seafaring vessel. It’s the first unscripted series coming out of Cooper’s Unwell Network, which has primarily focused on podcasts thus far.

The biz

Alix Earle invests in margaritas. Not to be outdone, the creator who allegedly tussled with Alex Cooper at Unwell is also expanding her business ventures. With her stake in SipMARGS, Earle is hoping that margaritas are to the summer of 2025 as espresso drinks were to the summer of 2024.

Mikayla Nogueira launches makeup brand. The beauty star has sold out products whenever she has released them. Her future cosmetic efforts will be consolidated under Point of View Beauty, which will debut its direct-to-consumer collection on March 26.

Sacheu Beauty owner gets $15 million Series A. Creator Sarah Cheung helped spread Sacheu to the masses after working with Gloss Ventures to launch the makeup brand in 2020. Now Gloss is looking full after getting an eight-digit injection of VC funding.

Platform headlines

Krafton wants to make PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds the next big creator network. The pioneering battle royale game has lost much of its market share to rivals like Fortnite, but that’s not stopping it from imitating the next phase of Fortnite‘s development. If you want to stay ahead of upcoming PUBG buzz, check it out.

YouTube Shows are shaping up. A feature that was quietly announced during the last Made On YouTube presentation is starting to take form. The creators who are pitching their content at upfront presentations will want to check out the serialized collections YouTube plans to launch.

T-Pain is on LinkedIn. Look at that dapper profile photo. Forget “Buy U A Drank” — it’s “Endorse Ur Skills” time.

The internet is a strange place

Norme stood still for 38 hours. The streamer who loves to push the limits of his body has found another painful way to set a new world record. He didn’t flinch for more than a day and a half even as passersby relentlessly trolled him. The guy would make a pretty good Orpheus, since he’s an expert when it comes to not turning around.

A streamer wants to drop out of school to attend Kai Cenat’s “college.” Apparently, Corey2U has nothing more to learn at Georgia State. The knowledge he seeks can only be found at the streamer school Cenat plans to open.

A college football coach has a new team rule: no TikTok dances. Fine, Rich Rodriguez. If you’re not going to let players cut loose by busting out dances after they score touchdowns, they’ll have to keep busy by taking loudly about your disastrous tenure at the University of Michigan.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Have you heard? Gooseworx beefs with YouTube, ‘PUBG’ gets creator network, and Steven He gets cast

If you’ve been anywhere near YouTube or Spotify in the last year, you probably know they’re both trying very hard to make video podcasts happen. Podcasting in general has experienced a boom since the start of the COVID pandemic, but video podcasts are what host platforms are really interested in, because video ad spots are more lucrative than audio-only ads.

Both YouTube and Spotify have seen some notable traction with video podcasts, but so far, the format doesn’t appear to have quite taken off.

Not even with one of our most video-forward generations.

According to the latest study from Transistor, a podcast hosting and monetization platform, Gen Z “overwhelmingly chooses audio-only formats” when it comes to podcasts.

76% of Gen Z’ers involved in Transistor’s study said they primarily listen to audio podcasts, while 18% said they listen to a mix of audio and video. Only 6% said they primarily watch video podcasts.

“These findings challenge common assumptions about young listeners’ podcast consumption habits,” Transistor says–and we agree. Gen Z is known for its engagement with platforms like TikTok, where users consume hundreds of hours of short-form content a month. But it seems The Youths prefer something different for longer-form, storytelling-focused content.

There is a difference in the data between platforms, though. 58% of Gen Z said they use Spotify as their primary podcast-listening app, and 88% of those respondents said they primarily listen to audio-only. That leaves only 12% of Gen Z Spotify users watching video podcasts some or all of the time.

However, of the 21% of Gen Z that said YouTube is their primary podcast app, 52% said they watch video podcasts some or all of the time.

Basically, YouTube is still known as the internet’s video destination, and young users who go there are more likely to embrace video, while Spotify–which started as an audio-only company–is struggling to catch up.

Another interesting and perhaps unexpected point of data: The vast majority of Gen Z listens to podcasts at home, on their phone or tablet, rather than in transit or while doing an activity like exercise.

You might think Gen Z would be more keen on video podcasts, since they’re listening on their phones/tablets and not listening to audio while driving or running, but nope–they still prefer audio-only.

Now, it’s possible that preference is because Gen Z treats podcasts as a sort of “second screen” they listen to while gaming or doing another digital activity. We get it; all of us here at Tubefilter are above Gen Z age, but I’ve still been known to crank out a little Final Fantasy XIV resource harvesting while listening to podcasts.

A couple other intriguing data points:

• 28% of respondents said “Joe Rogan” when asked who the most popular podcasters in the world were. Alex Cooper was second with 8%, and Theo Von was third with 5%.
• Fictional podcasts are a big hit with Gen Z: 11% of respondents said they listen to Welcome to Night Vale, another 11% said they listen to The Magnus Archives, and 5% said they listen to My Brother My Brother and Me. WTNV and The Magnus Archives are both fictional, and MBMBAM is known for its long Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.

So what does all this mean? Should YouTube and Spotify bother continuing to pursue video podcasts?

We wouldn’t say this is an indication to stop–but it may be an indication to temper expectations that video podcasting will, in the near future, become the behemoth they’re hoping for.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Podcasts by James Hale
Comments Off on Turns out Gen Z doesn’t like video podcasts. Now what?

Twitch has a contentious history with bans. It used to ban streamers without telling them why, and–unlike on most platforms–its bans are usually a temporary slap on the wrist, ranging from just a few hours to 30 days. Since CEO Dan Clancy took over in 2023, Twitch has made some changes to its ban system, including finally informing streamers of the exact behavior that got them suspended.

But it still frequently faces backlash for how, when, and on whom it decides to bring down the banhammer.

The most recent creator to face a crackdown was Hasan Piker (aka HasanAbi), who was banned for 24 hours after saying that if people cared about Medicare or Medicaid fraud, “you would kill [U.S. Senator] Rick Scott.”

He later said this was “hyperbolic language,” and that “there’s definitely some ownership I must take” of using it.

Also recently banned was Piker disliker Ethan Klein, whose “content nuke” targeting Piker got him a 30-day stop on streaming. However, the ban was revoked and lifted that same day, and the entire situation prompted criticism from users calling Twitch’s ban system a “joke.”

Clancy, as he’s done often since becoming CEO, addressed those users’ discontent in a stream. Speaking to Business Insider reporter Peter Kafka on his podcast Channels, Clancy said issuing bans on live content is more difficult than bans on VODs, because streamers can’t polish everything in post and make sure no Community Guidelines/terms of service are broken.

“On a VOD platform, like YouTube, you can edit something or take something down. It’s hard to sit there and talk for six hours straight and not step over the line,” he said. “It’s six to eight hours, [trying] to make sure you don’t step over the line, so it is the fact that sometimes people step over the line and you can’t just edit it out as you would on a VOD platform.”

This does explain why Twitch’s ban system is more lenient than other platforms’. On YouTube, for example, getting multiple Community Guidelines strikes can result in a channel being terminated permanently. But Twitch issues bans on the same streamers over and over, usually without ever doing anything to permanently affect their channels. It understands that streamers can make mistakes when they’re spending hours live on camera, and seems willing to forgive.

(It’s worth noting, though, that usually doesn’t mean always; Amouranth, who’s been banned many times for leaning toward risqué content in her streams, said earlier this month that Clancy himself confirmed she’d been shadowbanned, and Twitch was limiting the reach of her content. Clancy went on to lift that condition off her channel personally.)

Clancy added, “I don’t think it’s contentious, it’s just tricky for both them and us to make sure, look, we keep it within the guidelines. So, we have to see when somebody steps over the line and then do something to make sure they don’t step over the line consistently.”

He also explained that he’s not personally involved with issuing bans–and bans aren’t given by AI, either.

“We have a team that does that. It’s not automated,” he said. “I’ll be aware of their decisions for certain high-profile [streamers]. But it’s not my decision, because the whole point is to keep some degree of separation.”

Based on this conversation, it doesn’t look likely that anything major will change with Twitch’s ban system in the near future. It very well may continue issuing bans and then immediately reverting them when it realizes people aren’t happy. But that’s not exactly an unusual practice at Twitch.

Filed under: Homepage Feature, Twitch by James Hale
Comments Off on Twitch is getting backlash for its bans (and unbans). CEO Dan Clancy stepped in to explain why things are “tricky.”

TikTok‘s shaky operating status is causing a lot of its employees to say goodbye, and the ones who stick around are reportedly facing new hurdles. Per Business Insider, TikTok is giving some of its U.S. staff an ultimatum by requiring them to choose between a performance improvement plan (PIP) and a severance package.

Business Insider reported that multiple ecommerce employees at TikTok received the either-or offer. The request comes after TikTok advised U.S. managers to grade their staff more harshly. The company’s performance reviews have become infamous among its workforce. “I have never met somebody who’s passed a PIP,” one staffer told BI.

News of the ultimatum comes on the heels of a previous BI report that revealed widespread feelings of burnout among TikTok’s U.S. employees. With threats of a national ban bringing a doomsday vibe to TikTok, some of the app’s teams have reportedly seen as much as 20% of their workers go on mental health leave at the same time. “I see people change from motivated to ‘I don’t care anymore,'” a TikTok employee told BI.

The fatalistic attitude also seems to be trickling up to the top level of TikTok’s corporate ladder. The Information has counted eight executive departures from TikTok since the start of the year. Music head Ole Obermann and North American ad sales chief Sameer Singh are two notables who have said their farewells to the company.

Ironically, these mass departures are coming at a time when TikTok’s U.S. operations seem to be turning a corner. The divest-or-ban law passed during the Biden Administration is on thin ice, and TikTok has established relations with the Trump administration.

Even with those positives, some TikTok employees seem frustrated with cultural clashes that have dogged the app throughout its westward expansion. Working at TikTok is a tough job, and keeping employees around is proving to be easier said than done.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Amid an executive exodus, TikTok is negotiating with burned-out employees

Meta is opening up a new revenue stream for Facebook creators, and this time, the opportunity to make money comes on Stories. An expansion of the existing Facebook Content Monetization program will enable earnings on disappearing public posts.

Stories have been available on Facebook since 2017, when Meta brought Snapchat’s signature format to several of its properties. The ephemeral posts are most commonly associated with friend-to-friend communications, but they can be a useful tool for public accounts as well. Snapchat has harnessed the potential of its Stories by steadily progressing creator monetization opportunities for the format.

Now Facebook is following suit. Its form of Stories monetization will use the same model that dictates payouts across Facebook’s consolidated revenue streams. A Meta rep told TechCrunch that earnings will scale with a post’s performance but will not require creators to hit a viewership threshold before cashing out.

Facebook shared the news of its new revenue stream through (you guessed it) a Stories post. The creator hosting the video, Keto Snackz, claimed that he has already made $5,000 by participating in the beta version of Facebook’s Stories monetization program. He noted that Reels creators can cut clips from their vertical videos and profit from those snippets on Stories.

The timing of the update suggests that Meta is still looking to improve its creator economy so that it can win over any TikTokers who choose to leave the app (or are forced to do so via federal decree). There’s another interesting pattern in play here: On both Facebook and Instagram, Meta is making serious investments in the formats that let ordinary users communicate with one another. Instagram’s DMs have gotten a glow-up, and now Facebook Stories is being revamped as well.

Perhaps, as Meta contemplates whether to launch a new app that would focus entirely on Reels, it is thinking about what monetization would look like on Reels-free versions of Facebook and Instagram. In that scenario, Stories may play a key role, but creators have to adopt them first.

Filed under: Articles, Facebook, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Creators earned over $2 billion on Facebook in 2024. Stories monetization will take earnings even higher.

Despite the rapid growth of the Shorts content, YouTube believes its TikTok-style format still has untapped potential — and it has the data to prove it. The platform partnered with eMarketer to publish a report that characterizes Shorts as a ubiquitous hub of Gen Z consumption.

The report revealed that 96% of Gen Z survey respondents watch both long-form and short-form videos on YouTube. The four-year-old Shorts hub has turned YouTube users into multiformat consumers by steadily eating up a larger percentage of platform-wide viewership. Daily Shorts viewership among logged-in users is up 25% year-over-year, per the report.

“Consumers love short-form video,” said eMarketer VP and Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg in a statement. “For young people in particular, it’s now a major entertainment channel, and that offers opportunities for brands from storytelling to sales.”

Brands that activate on Shorts can see strong results by working directly with creators. The report claimed that influencers are the most common source of product recommendations on social media, driving nearly half of all social purchases. In comparison, media companies and publishers account for just 10% of that pie.

Numbers like those are convincing advertisers to invest larger portions of their budgets in influencer marketing. Consumer goods giant Unilever recently announced that it would hire 20 times more influencers to expand its marketing plan.

YouTube wants Shorts to be part of that movement. The platform’s initial promotion of the multiformat approach occurred before ads arrived on Shorts. Now that brands can spend their money on the vertical video format, they’re experimenting with campaigns that specifically target users on Shorts. YouTube’s plan is to keep the good times rolling by getting more advertisers involved in its short-form videos.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News, YouTube Shorts by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on YouTube wants brands to run campaigns on Shorts, where logged-in viewership is up 25% year-over-year

Charlie White, the creator known online as MoistCr1TiKaL, has long been skeptical about creator products. In recent months, however, White has worked with business partners to bring a better-quality retail item to his fans. The resulting brand is Cheeky, a soap line that has reached thousands of consumers.

Shane Rostad, who runs Cheeky’s day-to-day operations as its CEO, told Tubefilter that the brand is being exclusively distributed through its official website, where current offers include a $52 “starter pack” filled with six different scents and a soap saver tray.

Though Rostad declined to share specific sales figures, he said there are “20,000 people showering with Cheeky soap now.” To him, those results have been a rousing success that encourages further expansion of the Cheeky line. “We’ve been talking to our customers about what they would want from us next,” he told Tubefilter. “We’re actively working on some new hygiene products as well as a whole lot more fun fragrances for our bar soaps!”

The skincare space has become rife with creator disruptors who see it as a stodgy industry dominated by staid brands. That idea has given rise to companies like Jake Paul’s W and AMP’s TONE, which are breaking into big box retailers.

White’s goal with Cheeky is to add another creator product to the toiletries market while focusing on quality ingredients above all else. As he explained in a video introducing Cheeky, those priorities separate his soap brand from creator products that feel like naked cash-ins.

The first test subjects for White’s shower venture were friends and family. He wasn’t initially committed to a wide release, but positive reviews changed his mind. “They’ve all loved it and keep asking for more soap from us,” he said. “So we eventually just decided, fuck it, we’ll go ahead and make it available for anyone to buy. So we called it Cheeky and it’s available right now to purchase at usecheeky.com.”

White has become immersed in Cheeky’s operations, working alongside Rostad and Head of Partnerships Matt Phillips as the brand’s Creative Director. Creator partnerships are in the works, and distribution deals with retailers could expand Cheeky’s availability in 2026.

Even with Cheeky’s big promise, its CEO is keeping simpler ambitions in mind as well. “Our customers tell us we’re crazy for trying to sell soap to people like them. ‘Don’t you know that gamers don’t shower?’ So I think success for us on a large scale looks like putting an end to the ‘gamers don’t shower’ meme,” Rostad told Tubefilter. “If we’re successful, when you think of gamers/weebs/internet-natives you won’t think of B.O. It’s a lofty mission but we think it’s a worthy one.”

Filed under: Articles, Creator Products, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on As creators disrupt the skincare business, MoistCr1TiKaL’s cheeky soap brand is cleaning up

An attempt to revive a bygone television spinoff is also a novel twist on a common marketing tactic. In recent months, studios and other rights holders have started making classic films and TV shows available for free on YouTube, where a new generation of viewers can revive interest in older productions.

For years, TV networks and streamers have used YouTube as a secondary distribution window for previous episodes of returning shows. At the start of new seasons, it’s not unusual to see full-length pilot episodes show up on network-affiliated YouTube channels. The most recent example of that phenomenon brought the entire first season of the Disney+ hit Andor to YouTube ahead of the Star Wars saga’s impending return.

That move is informed by simple logic: If viewers can get free access to a hit show, they’re more likely to give it a try. If they like what they see, they might be convinced to buy a cable or streaming subscription. The biggest blockbusters on television are frequently pirated, especially during episodes or arcs that are crucial to the plot. If fans are going to watch for free anyway, why not give them an official source and generate some goodwill at the same time?

At the start of 2025, the full-episode YouTube dump began to evolve. One catalyst for change was Warner Bros. The film studio has quietly uploaded more than 40 features to YouTube, where they can be watched for free.

The movies Warner Bros. has selected for YouTube distribution are a mixed bag that ranges from classics like Waiting For Guffman to indie darlings like SubUrbia to utter schlock Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane. What the movies have in common is that they are all due to be rediscovered by the generations that make up the bulk of the YouTube audience. If Gen Z wants to enjoy early work from zeitgeisty stars like Catherine O’Hara and Parker Posey or compare their feelings to twentysomething Gen X angst, the free Warner Bros. collection has them covered.

Enter Joey. A few months after outlets noticed Warner’s YouTube dump, the official Friends YouTube channel began hosting full episodes of the ill-fated spinoff that continues the story of Matt LeBlanc’s Joey Tribbiani character. Upon its initial release in 2004, Joey flopped and was canceled after just two seasons. Now, Tribbiani’s adventures in L.A. are getting a second look, with the pilot drawing more than 200,000 YouTube views in just two days.

It’s not just Joey. The Y2K revival that began in the fashion world is now expanding to the realm of television, with early 2000s favorites like Malcolm in the Middle earning modern-day reprises. Though YouTube is a prominent distribution point for those throwbacks, their prominence in contemporary pop culture is informed by Netflix data. Previous iterations of the streamer’s What We Watched report have shown that the most popular TV reruns earn more viewership than many of the platform’s original programs.

Joey’s predecessor Friends is a primary example. The show originally aired from 1994 to 2004, and was picked up by Netflix for syndication from 2015 to 2020. This newfound accessibility helped the program gain a significant following among younger viewers who missed its initial run and also contributed to its continued merchandising success and reunion special.

Does the staying power of time-honored television show that today’s audiences are ready for a full-on Joey reboot? Friends co-creator Kevin S. Bright certainly seems to believe that executive meddling tanked a promising spinoff. “[Joey] became a pathetic, mopey character,” Bright said in 2006. “I felt he was moving in the wrong direction, but I was not heard.” Nearly two decades later, viewers can offer a second opinion.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Can old TV shows find a Netflix Effect on YouTube?

A creator management firm is fixated on its future growth, and it has locked in the funding that will drive the next phase of its expansion. Fixated, led by Co-Founders Zach Katz and Jason Wilhelm, has announced a $12.8 million round that includes a $10 million injection from Eldridge Ventures.

The news of the funding round was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Though Katz and Wilhelm did not specify an exact valuation for their company, they told THR that Eldridge has picked up a “vast minority” stake in the firm.

Katz and Wilhelm launched Fixated last year, building on their previous experiences in the creator economy. Katz is a former FaZe Clan President who has worked alongside some of the most popular gamers on social media, while Wilhelm supported Sway House and other creators through his founding role at TalentX. Together, Katz and Wilhelm assembled a crack team of industry vets to bring Fixated to the forefront of the creator management world.

Fixated boasts a roster that includes chess-playing sisters Alex and Andrea Botez and funnyman Zach Justice. One of the firm’s most prominent clients, Sketch, is currently enjoying a moment in the spotlight after his star turn in the most recent Sidemen charity soccer match.

The company that just staked Fixated has its own connections to the soccer world. Its CEO, Todd Boehly, is a co-owner of London’s Chelsea F.C. Investments more local to Southern California include indie film distributor A24, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and THR.

With its support of Fixated, Eldridge is getting a foothold in a creator economy that is boosting millions of businesses and turning influencers into prominent cultural figures. Within that world, Fixated’s specialized knowledge is a powerful asset.

“For some of these agents, the thinking is, ‘We’re going to do what we know what we know works, and that’s brand deals,’ but most of the money creators generate comes from content,” Wilhelm told THR. “We help with their content across Snap, Facebook, YouTube, streaming. All these platforms are different from one another and being an expert on all of them is difficult.”

Fixated is not the only firm benefitting from mainstream interest in creator content. Other talent management firms that have raised VC funding include Night and Loaded.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Fixated, which reps creators like Sketch and the Botez sisters, lands $12.8 million funding round

Newsletter platforms are changing the face of journalism and achieving subscriber milestones along the way. Substack, the home of more than 50,000 moneymaking publications, now has more than five million paying subscribers.

Substack Head of Writer Relations Sophia Efthimiatou announced the milestone in a blog post. Paid subscriptions only account for a fraction of the platform’s total signups. The total number of active subs — including both paid and unpaid transactions — is north of 35 million, according to the About section on Substack’s website.

Efthimiatou noted that Substack cleared five million paid subs just four months after Co-Founder Hamish McKenzie revealed that his platform had eclipsed the four million mark in the same metric. “It is a milestone that can be enjoyed in purely transactional terms: these are real people rewarding the work of writers and creators with real money, allowing them to achieve and maintain their independence,” Efthimiatou wrote. “But to consider this purely as a financial achievement would be myopic. What we want is to create a wealth of culture.”

Substack has built that culture through several creator-friendly initiatives that have attracted big names. A $20 million Creator Accelerator Fund rewards publishers who port subscribers from other platforms to Substack, and technical upgrades like native video have opened up new creative possibilities. Notable journalists who have set up shop on Substack include CNN vet Jim Acosta and internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz.

Several Substack rivals have also wooed reporters. The beehiiv Media Collective, for example, provides services like legal support and insurance. Other journalists, such as Tara Palmieri, have gone around the newsletter ecosystem to bring scoops directly to viewers on platforms like YouTube.

This new mode of independent journalism is bringing news reporters into contact with creators like never before. At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, for example, traditional media members and influencers jockeyed for position on the floor.

The Trump administration has made clear that it is eager to welcome creators into the media landscape. On platforms like Substack, can journalists return the favor? Growing connections between social media and news reporting are sparking political fights from Congress all the way up to the FCC. As those conflicts take place, hubs like Substack and beehiiv will important news sources.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Homepage Feature, News by Sam Gutelle
Comments Off on Substack passes 5 million paid subscribers. Welcome to the new world of journalism.