TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and Google’s AI overviews might still be hallucinating fake backstories about licking badgers, but they’re also reaching a massive number of users—1.5 billion per month, to be exact.

MONEY MOVES

Jynxzi made $452K on Twitch in 30 days. (He just didn’t mean to reveal it on-stream.)

The reveal: As the creator economy continues to grow, more people have shown an interest in tracking stats like follower numbers and view counts. Sites like Streams Charts, MrBeast‘s ViewStats, and Tubefilter‘s own Gospel Stats have answered that demand by plugging into the backend of YouTube and Twitch.

But one kind of stat is still notoriously difficult to predict: creator revenue. Even now, the best way to find out how much creators make is to hear it from creators themselves—and sometimes they do share those numbers. Most of the time, they even do it on purpose.

Unfortunately for Jynxzi, that’s not how things played out on April 24. The creator—who has 7.2 million Twitch followers—was chatting on-stream when he accidentally switched to his Twitch analytics tab. That slip-up revealed that he’s made $452,448 in the last 30 days, has 80,000 active channel subscriptions, and has streamed 236 hours over the past month with an average of 24,513 concurrent viewers—none of which was meant to be public knowledge.

After a gasped “Oh my god,” Jynxzi switched the tab back, then sort of froze for a moment and asked, “What just happened?”

The cause-and-effect: While Jynxzi’s live analytics reveal was unintentional, we would argue that the resulting public knowledge is a positive thing for our industry.

Over the past five years, movers-and-shakers in verticals like sports, entertainment, and consumables have begun to view content creation as the powerhouse it is. Seeing how much Jynxzi makes from his position as the #10 top-performing streamer on Twitch will only serve to reinforce that legitimacy.

The accidental revenue reveal also offers valuable insight to other creators, who may be able to better contextualize their own earnings after learning how much a high-level creator makes.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Viral Nation Talent is an award-winning talent agency unlike any other. Here’s how they’re building the creator economy’s future:

With a roster of 900+ diverse creators, Viral Nation Talent represents talent across all platforms, verticals, and facets of the entertainment ecosystem. That means Viral Nation Talent isn’t just shaping individual brand deals or channels—it’s building creators and brands into media empires.

So, how does Viral Nation Talent help creators and brands grow in that evolving industry?

A fully in-house, 360° approach is at the center of it all. Viral Nation Talent experts do it all, from securing lucrative deals with brands like Meta, Universal, and Warner Bros. to managing OTT and streaming syndication, original programming, Facebook monetization support, and merchandise/product development.

Viral Nation Talent is in the business of building personal empires that go beyond viral content. Get in touch with an agent to get started:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• According to a raft of data released by Twitch, the most popular game on its platform in 2024 was Grand Theft Auto V. Will the series’ next installment be just as big of a hit? (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Netflix is introducing subtitles that “show only spoken dialogue” in order to accommodate the 50% of U.S. viewers who “say they watch content with subtitles most of the time.” (Netflix)
  
  

• TikTok’s latest step towards accessibility is a big one. The platform is rolling out support for ALT text that can be added to photo posts during or after upload. (TechCrunch)
  ​

• Meta is introducing a series of new features to the desktop version of Threads as it migrates from Threads.net to Threads.com. (Meta)

THE BIZ

Kids’ content makes big money on YouTube. Execs from Disney, Nick, and more want in.

The mission statement: Kids’ content giants like Moonbug, Pinkfong, and WildBrain are making tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars from IPs built on YouTube. Now, a new company wants a piece of that pie.

Helmed by executives from YouTube, Nickelodeon, Disney, Apple TV+, and Max, The Kids’ Table describes itself as “a premium content company for creators and brands.” The company launched this week with the promise that it “will provide the expertise to deliver high-quality, evergreen stories and build franchises that reach kids wherever they are.”

As part of that mission statement, The Kid's’ Table is offering original IP development, help with adapting existing IPs into other mediums, content slate building, production resources, and licensing to individual creators and companies. It is specifically looking for content that will be parent-approved, and is actively developing partnerships with YouTube creators, “celebrity talent,” consumer product manufacturers, retailers, and brands.

Digital distribution on YouTube “will play a key role” in The Kids’ Table’s overall strategy:

The team: At launch, The Kids’ Table is comprised of industry vets. Longtime digital content strategist Brent Coble, for instance, has worked with Google, YouTube, Nickelodeon, and Jubilee Media, and built digital IP for brands like the NFL and Hulu. Joining him are:

• Writer/producer Chris Viscardi, who formerly headed Nickelodeon Animation and wrote for films like Alvin and the Chipmunks
  
  

• Creative exec/producer Nikki Reed, who worked with Max, Disney, and Paramount Television on IPs like National Treasure
  
  

• Exec/producer/filmmaker Michael Sammaciccia, who worked on 30 films as the former head of Nickelodeon Original Movies
  
  

• Creative exec Angela Silak Vargas, who worked at Nickelodeon and Apple TV+ on series like Slumberkins

BACK TO REALITY

Meta is addressing the “unfortunate reality” of spammy content

The anti-spam strategy: Last year, social media users and outlets noticed a concerning rise in the number of spammy posts appearing in individuals’ Facebook feeds. Much of that growth seems to be tied to Meta’s ongoing investment in generative AI, which has emboldened accounts to overload feeds with so-called “AI slop” (aka low-effort posts that often target kids).

That type of content isn’t just annoying. It’s a hindrance for authentic creators trying to break out on a noisy platform—and Meta plans to do something about it.

In a recent blog post, the company revealed a number of ongoing and upcoming strategies designed to target content that manipulates recommendation algorithms to invade users’ feeds. Those steps include:

• Demonetizing accounts that utilize “long, distracting captions” that are “completely unrelated to the content.”
  
  

• De-ranking comments and posts designed to engineer “fake engagement” through tactics that artificially inflate reach.
  
  

• Targeting accounts that impersonate other creators. (Meta says it removed 23 million profiles for unauthorized mimicry in 2024, and there’s “more to be done” on that front this year.)

The context: While fighting spammy content is a worthwhile endeavor, Meta’s moderators should take care to avoid the kind of collateral damage that affected creators during YouTube’s adpocalpyse. If the company can achieve that balance, it will be one step closer to resurrecting the “OG Facebook” experience that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is so determined to bring back from the grave.

WATCH THIS 📺

Doechii’s “Anxiety” is taking social media by storm

The song: The story of “Anxiety” is a masterclass in the power of social media. If you’ve been on TikTok at all this year, then you’ve probably hummed along to Doechii’s hit song at least once or twice—but you might not know that it was originally released way back in 2019.

The revival: TikTok has a knack for reviving older songs, but “Anxiety” is in a class of its own. After seeing her six-year-old hit rise to fame on the platform at the start of the year, Doechii re-released the song at the beginning of March. The official sound for “Anxiety” quickly popped up in more than 100,000 videos on TikTok, making it “the single most popular sound of the year” on the platform (per Sherwood).

That buzz has extended beyond TikTok, too. The official music video for “Anxiety” has earned nearly 9 million views in less than a week on YouTube, where a month-old “visualizer” for the song already claims over 50 million views.

Creator economy marketing starts here. Get in touch to advertise with Tubefilter.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.