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, Paul vs. Tyson leads to a lawsuit, Bitcoin losses lead to a hospitalization, and the Costco Guys lead us into the holiday season.
Creator commotion
Did Keith Lee find something wriggling in his sushi? When the TikTok food reviewer visited FOB Sushi in Seattle, some viewers claimed to notice something moving in his sashimi. Though the restaurant initially chalked up the incident to “elasticity” in the fish, it did temporarily close down to protect the health of its customers. Lee didn’t offer a strong opinion on the rumors, but the ripple effects of his visit are a reminder that he’s the most influential food critic around.
Won’t the real Logan Paul please stand up? Paul sent a lookalike in his place when the BBC showed up at his gym for an interview. Maybe Paul was getting payback for the Beeb’s coverage of his shady crypto dealings, or maybe this was all just for the lulz.
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
iShowSpeed goes Down Under. Darren Watkins’ recent Asian swing rewrote the YouTube record books. Now he’s heading to Australia and New Zealand to meet more of his worldwide fanbase. My only hope is that a race against a kangaroo is somewhere on his schedule. The marsupials might be a bit faster than Noah Lyles.
Pop culture minute
MrBallen is a New York Times bestseller. There’s a “strange, dark, and mysterious” visitor to the New York Times‘ ranking of the best-selling graphic novels and manga. His name is John Allen, and he just added another plaudit to his name after parlaying his true crime channel into a deal for a graphic novel. He can tell the story of his rise up the charts in the sequel.
The Costco Guys are riding the novelty Christmas song train. Who’s that coming down the chimney? Last week, it was JSchlatt, and now, it’s The Costco Guys. A.J. and Big Justice referenced their signature catchphrase with a track titled “Jingle Boom.” These two are definitely making the most of their 15 minutes.
Prank show ‘Tapped Out’ gets TV special. U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 first broadcast Tapped Out on YouTube, but the show became so popular that it’s now getting its day on terrestrial TV. We’re used to network broadcasters porting their content from TV to YouTube, but this announcement is a reminder that those deals can flow in the other direction, too.
The biz
A musical YouTuber ended up in the hospital after a Bitcoin fiasco. If you’re a classical piano nerd like me, you’ve likely encountered the Brazilian YouTube star Lord Vinheteiro. He made headlines in his native country by losing access to his Bitcoin collection and ending up in the hospital thanks to the resulting stress. Moral of the story: Keep a close eye on your crypto wallets, folks.
Molly Baz makes mayo cool. Baz, a star in YouTube’s food scene, is taking an infamously bland condiment and zhuzhing it up. Ayoh Foods offers multiple mayo flavors and the sort of cutesy packaging you’d expect from a creator-turned-entrepreneur. Looks good, but I’m a Hellmann’s loyalist through and through.
YouTube is starting to bring the Hype. A feature announced at the most recent Made On YouTube event is now in the next phase of testing in Brazil. A Hype leaderboard will highlight creators with fewer than 500,000 subs who are drawing attention from their peers. My channel has zero subs; anyone wanna Hype me up?
The court of law
Netflix slapped with class-action suit over ‘Paul vs. Tyson’ glitches. The frequent outages during the anticipated boxing match did not sit well with some viewers. Look, I was annoyed too, but I’m not exactly sure what the legal argument is here. The egg Netflix got on its face should be punishment enough.
MrBeast accused of withholding wages. A former employee of the world’s most-subscribed YouTuber is claiming that she worked 75 hours per week without due compensation. And no, she was not part of an “I worked 75 hours without proper pay” challenge.
GrubHub gets into trouble with TikTok integration. The food delivery app installed software created by TikTok as part of an effort to track its users. Turns out that GrubHub users don’t like having their personal data shared with China, so a class action suit is in the works.
The internet is a strange place
Rosanna Pansino got high on her dad. The Nerdy Nummies host honored her father’s dying wish by cremating him and using his ashes to grow a cannabis plant, which she ground up, rolled, and smoked on her podcast. I guess it takes about ten years to go from “petite baker who makes pop culture-inspired eats” to “MrBeast watchdog who gets high on her dad.”
Stand-up comedy: now in the metaverse. Funnyman Ron Funches is headlining the first comedy show hosted within Meta’s Horizon Worlds platform. I could do some (virtual) crowd work or make jokes about LLaMa being his opener, but I’ll leave the punchlines to the professionals.
Grocery shoppers are the new “haul girls.” Once upon a time, internet fashionistas got famous by showing off their purchases, but few creators have the budget for those shopping sprees anymore. Instead, TikTokers are turning to the #SupermaketHaul, which turns basic grocery shopping into a luxurious video format. Lululemon, meet actual lemons.
