TOGETHER WITH

It’s Monday and a single event united 65 million households on Friday night: Netflix’s Mike Tyson v. Jake Paul match. As Tyson said, it’s “one of those situations when you lost but still won.”

Today’s News

THE SUITE LIFE

TikTok and YouTube just announced AI-driven ad products one day apart

The big reveal: TikTok and YouTube are going all in on AI-driven advertising. On back-to-back days, the two platforms unveiled new product suites that harness genAI to enhance the rollout, tracking, and customization of campaigns.

TikTok’s announcement: The vertical video app’s reveal focused on upgrades to TikTok Symphony, an AI-powered suite that rolled out in June. A new Creative Suite will let brands optimize by developing and deploying multiple versions of the same ad. In a blog post, TikTok noted that brands can increase their return on ad spend 1.5 times by including 5-7 creative assets in their campaigns and refreshing those assets at least once per week.

The Creative Suite will make it easier for brands to assemble those assets by offering AI-powered generation tools that incorporate videos, images, sounds, and avatars from partners like Billo and Getty Images. The resulting ads will be cleared for commercial use and informed by top-performing content.

Brands will also have access to “generative AI avatars of real people,” which can be configured to appeal to viewers across age, geographic, and linguistic barriers. Those “Symphony Digital Avatars” will serve as presenters for Symphony-generated ads.

YouTube’s announcement: While TikTok upgrades Symphony, YouTube is doubling down on the power of Shorts. Several of the platform’s latest features revolve around vertical video and are integrated into Demand Gen campaigns, which are deployed across YouTube, Gmail, and Google services.

According to YouTube Ads Director of Product Management Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, new format buying controls will allow Demand Gen campaigns to specifically target the Shorts feed or limit creative to horizontal assets. Users will also be able to fill their ads with animated images from Google Merchant Center listings and use Google AI to enhance videos—such as by flipping ad orientation to fit the vertical format of Shorts.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Join the creator economy’s top experts, influencers, and industry tastemakers at 1 Billion Followers Summit

In 2024, 8,000 attendees from 95 countries traveled to Dubai to take part in 1 Billion Followers Summit: an unparalleled three-day experience exploring the future of the creator economy. 

This January, Summit attendees will have the opportunity to interact with the world’s top creators and industry leaders.

From January 11-13, globally-renowned brand executives, agency leaders, and creators will come together to discuss digital trends, creator partnerships, engagement opportunities, and more. Exclusive tracks will be led by experts like VidCon CEO Jim Louderback, while a diverse speaker lineup will deliver invaluable industry insights.

Here’s a sneak peek at the Summit’s 2025 speaker lineup:

• Georgio Khoury is the first creator in history to reach 1B views on YouTube Shorts
  
  

• Digital editing wiz Zach King has built a multiplatform following of over 150M followers
  
  

• Viral comedian Sundeep Fernandes reached 500M viewers in just one year on social media
  
  

• Award-winning creator Airrack has attracted 15M+ YouTube subscribers with pranks, challenges, and vlogs
  
  

• Pocket.watch CEO Chris Williams oversees a studio that reaches 1B subscribers and has generated 681B lifetime YouTube views across its network of family-friendly channels

Tickets are still available for 1 Billion Followers Summit 2025. Book yours now to reserve your spot:

Become a ticket holder → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Facebook is following Instagram’s lead when it comes to content analytics. The platform has announced that views “will now be the primary metric” for Reels, videos, posts and Stories. (The Verge)
  
  

• According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Threads is testing out “dedicated feeds” that users can customize to feature their favorite topics and profiles. (The Verge)
  ​

• As a new AI training policy hits X, Bluesky has clarified that it has “no intention” of leveraging users’ content “to train generative AI.” (Engadget)
  ​

• Disney+ is reportedly planning to roll out a “pause” function that would allow users to take a temporary break from their subscriptions instead of canceling altogether. (TechRadar)

GOING INDIE

beehiiv is investing millions to make indie journalism more sustainable

The program: beehiiv has millions of dollars and a plan. Months after receiving a hefty $33 million injection of venture capital, the newsletter platform has announced the beehiiv Media Collective: a coalition of writers who will publish through beehiiv in exchange for a variety of support resources.

The program will provide members like CNN vet Oliver Darcy, Emmy winner Catherine Herridge, and Garbage Day author Ryan Broderick with health insurance, legal services (including up to $1 million in errors and omissions coverage), access to editorial and accounting tools, and on-platform support from dedicated account managers. Those and other perks will help level the playing field for working journalists, who face rising competition as the news landscape pivots away from traditional channels and towards a rising class of influencer-reporters.

The plan: This is the latest step in beehiiv’s quest to appeal to disaffected journalists, reporters, and creators. The three-year-old platform—which powers more than 20,000 active publications, including Tubefilter—doubled down on that mission in early 2024 with the hiring of Twitter vet Katherine Rundell. Now, beehiiv’s Media Collective will further establish it as a sustainable choice for writers by easing the transition from legacy media to independent journalism.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

The boss man: Dude Perfect has a new captain at its helm: NBA vet Andrew Yaffe. On the latest episode of Creator Upload, hosts Josh Cohen and Lauren Schnipper sat down with the new Dude Perfect CEO to find out more about his decision to leave the league, his vision for the future of Dude Perfect, and more.

Check out the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for an insider perspective on Dude Perfect’s upcoming content and thriving brand ecosystem.

Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.