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 star gamer kicked off his chess journey, a YouTube food show hit the century mark, and AI-generated fruit delivered some juicy storylines on TikTok.
Sports and games
Jynxzi wants to be a chess master, and GothamChess will help him get there. The streamer known for his Rainbow Six: Siege content just learned how to play chess, but he’s still raw, so Levy Rozman showed up on his stream to bump up his rating a few points. I don’t know if Jynxzi is the next Tyler1, but he’s a virtual lock for the next edition of the creator chess tournament PogChamps.
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The PGA shunned YouTube’s top golfers, so they’re doing their own tour. Video stars like Grant Horvat and the Bryan brothers will tee off across a four-event series that will include 16 creators and will conclude with a million-dollar event. I wonder if the PGA Tour regrets its decision to shelve the Creator Classic it launched last year.
A server co-founded by kxttydrea unites Minecraft platforms in a single place. There’s a lot of different ways to play Minecraft, and creators playing on different platforms sometimes struggle to collab — until now. Roblox and Minecraft influencer kxttydrea helped launch Forgelands, a cross-platform Minecraft server that’s tailor-made for the game’s creator community.
Creator commotion
Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals reaches 100 episodes. Host Josh Scherer initially launched his death row-inspired interview series as little more than a lark, but it has become a powerful vehicle for conversations with celebrities and restaurateurs. The Mythical Beasts are celebrating the show’s milestone, but Last Meals‘ audience now extends far beyond Rhett and Link’s core fanbase.
Clavicular got arrested for misdemeanor assault. The face of the “looksmaxxing” movement has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, and that streak continued this week. Taylor Lorenz reported that Clavicular was collared due to a warrant dated March 9. I can’t be the only one curious what his mugshot might look like.
MrBeast agreed with a critic about his “boring” content. A small creator who said that MrBeast’s videos have gone downhill probably didn’t expect Jimmy Donaldson to agree with him, but that’s what happened. MrBeast invited his detractor to work alongside him to bring a creative spark back to his YouTube videos.
Pop culture minute
The remaining Try Guys are saying goodbye to their podcast. For Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld, podcasting hasn’t been the most lucrative business, so they’re putting their weekly TryPod out to pasture. Luckily, the end of one venture is just a chance to begin something else, and trying new things is what Keith and Zach do best.
A long-running animation channel is celebrating 15 years of videos with a big-screen bash. New episodes of Inanimate Insanity reach nearly one million subscribers on YouTube. The channel’s owners are now bringing the fun to Regal Cinemas locations with a one-night even that will double as a premiere of new material. Will this be the latest kid-friendly internet hit to make a huge splash in movie theaters?
Davis Burleson is bringing his pop music credibility to SiriusXM radio. After cultivating an audience through his TikTok account What’s Poppin’, Burleson will launch two shows that are set to air exclusively on SiriusXM. TikTok will surely relish this latest opportunity to flaunt its influence in the pop music world.
The biz
The Creators Guild of America has launched its IMDb analogue. The industry nonprofit wants crew members to be properly credited for their work on social media-based productions. That’s what the CGA has launched Mosaic, which will do for creators what IMDb did for actors.
Kenya Barris is heading into the lab with a new creator platform. The showrunner behind shows like Black-ish has teamed up with the hip-hop platform Revolt to launch Revolt Labs, which will incubate creator-led programs for distribution across both traditional and digital formats. In a statement, Barris said he wants to “build the bridge from where creators start to where their ideas can ultimately go.”
KPop Demon Hunters meals are taking over McDonald’s. The animated Netflix hit is still a cultural phenomenon nearly a year after its initial release, and McD’s is getting in on the fun with two new meals. It’s a smart collaboration, because if we can’t seal the honmoon with music, we can try to clog it up with some cholesterol.
The internet is a strange place
Is Love Island better with AI fruit? On TikTok, AI-generated clips featuring philandering fruits have racked up millions of views. If this was the kind of fare that was taking up all the space on Sora servers, I can understand why OpenAI decided to pull the plug.
Extra Emily and Erobb found a literal needle in a haystack. It took them eight hours, but the two streamers eventually completed their search when Emily located the idiomatically hard-to-find item. Don’t be surprised if they decide to purchase 10,000 spoons and one knife next.
Creator prenups are a messy topic. If you’re going to go into business with your better half, you’ll want to sign a formal agreement first. That’s what a lot of creator couples are doing these days, and the details provide a fascinating look into a booming content category.
