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, a Twitch streamer-turned-rapper is taking on the White House, the Cheese Tax becomes the basis for a court case, and subscriber counts become a guessing game.
Politics as usual
PlaqueBoyMax doesn’t want Trump to use his song in a White House social post. The President loves to use pop songs in his posts without getting the artists’ consent first. A song produced by PlaqueBoyMax received that treatment, and the fiery streamer responded with a profane response of his own. It would seem that Trump is running out of songs to steal from their creators.
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Is a U.S.-style TikTok deal coming to the European Union? According to a rumor shared by the Financial Times, media company Axel Springer floated the idea of acquiring TikTok’s E.U. business from ByteDance. Like with the U.S. TikTok deal, that proposed agreement would put more power in the hands of a dominant media empire. Axel Springer already owns Politico and The Telegraph.
The so-called “YouTube tax” is the latest U.K. attempt to favor the BBC online. The Beeb is going ahead with a fresh slate of YouTube streams and videos, and the YouTube tax would continue to fund public broadcasting even if viewers watch exclusively via the internet. The U.K. government is determined the give the BBC a leg up, even as YouTube promotes the idea of a fully open recommendation system.
The ad world
Kroger and LG didn’t pay the Cheese Tax, and now they facing lawsuits. Dog owners who follow the Puppy Songs account know that when the cheese drawer opens, you must pay the tax (i.e. give your dog some cheese). Kroger and LG looked to capitalize on the popularity of the Puppy Songs ditty by using it in their ads, but the account’s creator alleges that those companies didn’t receive proper licenses beforehand. Kroger and LG clearly forgot that the rules are the rules, and the facts are the facts.
Cam Skattebo is the star of Whatnot’s first national ad campaign. The New York Giants running back moonlights as a Twitch streamer and Whatnot seller. His love of memorabilia is on display in Whatnot’s campaign, which looks to promote the ascendant platform as it turns live shopping into a multi-billion-dollar business. For Skattebo, that’s an easier gig than running through defenders on Sundays.
Domino’s has square pizzas, so of course they look like Minecraft blocks. There are six Minecraft-inspired boxes that can be collected from Domino’s locations across the country. I’m not saying that you have to do the Minecraft eating sound effect when you consume pizza from one of these boxes, but Minecraft players love to commit to the bit — just ask Steve and the chicken jockey.
Creator commotion
Hank Green dishes out advice on YouTube’s Creator Insider channel. Few creators have accumulated as much experience as the esteemed Vlogbrother, and according to his chat with YouTube’s Rene Ritchie, he won’t run out of video ideas anytime soon. “I do not have any shortage,” Green said. “The areas that I cover are the strange things about the world, and the world continues to be strange.”
Ro Pansino returns to YouTube, looks to “take control of my life” after filing restraining order against ex. Pansino’s relationship with Mike “HuskyStarcraft” Lamond ended badly, with the Nerdy Nummies host filing domestic violence charges against her ex-partner. Now, as she meets Lamond in court, she is looking to turn over a new leaf and begin a new chapter of her life.
KSI admits that his Sidemen exit could’ve been handled better — but he had to go. The British creator was the best-known member of the U.K.’s favorite YouTube group, so his sudden exit from the crew same as a shock. “It was getting to a point where I had to make a choice, and that was the choice that I made,” KSI said during a recent stream. “But, yeah, no, obviously, the way I left wasn’t great, and I didn’t want it to be like this.”
Sports and games
Michelle Khare is zooming into the F1 scene as a race commentator. Khare drove an F1 vehicle as part of her Challenge Accepted series. Two years later, she’s joining racing personality Justin Bell on Tubi, where they will team up to host an altcast during an upcoming Grand Prix event in Austin. Between that gig and her stint on YouTube Jeopardy, it’s been a big week for Khare.
The NBA is partnering with 500 creators to expand its TikTok presence. A new NBA season is tipping off, and a lot has happened since the last one. The World Cup and NFL kickoff showed that TikTok is ready to become a major force in sports content, and the NBA is doubling down in a big way. Hundreds of creators will have access to official NBA assets are the basketball season continues into 2027.
As the World Series begins, Milwaukee’s Brewers anthem is taking off. In Wisconsin, a high-pitched ode to the Brew Crew is going viral as the team prepares for its first trip to the Fall Classic since 1982. The song may sound silly, but I promise that if you listen to it a single time, it will be stuck in your head all day.
The internet is a strange place
Can you tell which YouTube channel has more subscribers? That’s the premise of a game that presents two channels and asks the player to choose the hub that reaches more subscribers. Let me tell you: When you write a weekly column about the most-subscribed channels on YouTube, you get very good at this game very fast.
Heineken has created the streaming service of bars. The beer brand took a page out of Netflix’s book with a website that lists watering holes as if they are streaming originals. If Pubscription is anything like Netflix, then you’ll aimlessly browse through bars for hours before deciding to just stay home.
AI-generated characters are getting pregnant now. An AI girl group in China wrote a member out of the outfit by pretending that she got pregnant. Of all the excuses to make up, that’s one of the weirder options, but AI is not exactly consistent when it comes to logic.
