James Hale

• Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Would you drown for $500K? Jack Link’s wants to know.
• Will gen AI make YouTube’s next Elsagate?

  Like the OG Elsagate vids, these feature kid-bait characters like Minions, Thomas the Tank Engine, and even Elsa herself. There are cute cats and dogs, too. Except those dogs and cats are likely to be the subjects of horrific transformations, and Elsa--again, just like the old days--is likely to be kitted out in lacy lingerie, with a swollen pregnant belly.

  
• America’s Funniest Home Videos is a TV legend. Reaction content creators are helping give it new life online.

  Creators make content. That's the most basic tenet of our industry. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok are, at their bones, massive troves of user-generated content, all made by creators.But some creators also need content.

  
• Brands don’t have to spend big on Roblox worlds anymore. The studios that once made them are consolidating.

  Studios have to pivot to less expensive offerings to avoid shutting down, he added. Or, as we expect we'll see in the coming months, they can merge with competitors (like Super League?) who are successfully navigating this shift.

  
• Dream is entering his VTuber era
• TikTok beats Twitch to become the #2 most-watched streaming platform on the net–and says creators are making $10 mil a day
• Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Beast Games, Saddam Hussein, JRE and DraftKings
• Digital video is dominating ad budgets, thanks to connected TV and live sports
• Creators are building their own streaming services. Dropout, the Try Guys, and the Sidemen all used Vimeo to do it.
• Kids’ content makes hundreds of millions on YouTube. A new company–filled with execs from Disney, Nick, and more–wants in.
• Jynxzi made $452,000 on Twitch in the last 30 days. Here’s why that’s good for our industry.
• PBS pulled a documentary about a trans speedrunner. So the director put it on Twitch instead.