TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and if Donald Trump has anything to say about it, Elon Musk could soon be on his way to the White House. The X owner’s response:

WHO’S YOUR DADDY?

SiriusXM’s deal with Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper could be worth $125 million

The contract: SiriusXM has inked a nine-figure agreement with media mogul and Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper. According to sources like Variety, that deal includes exclusive content from Cooper’s company Trending, plus exclusive rights for advertising, distribution, content, and events for Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast and the audio shows in The Unwell Network.

• The total cost of all those perks: SiriusXM’s deal with Cooper could reportedly be worth between $100 million and $125 million over three years.

The fine print: That coup is a tough break for Spotify, which paid $60 million to become the exclusive distributor of Call Her Daddy back in 2021. (Cooper had initially launched the show at the sports media company Barstool.) Episodes of Call Her Daddy will still remain available on Spotify, where Cooper and her Unwell brethren regularly top the charts.

The context: This isn’t SiriusXM’s first investment in the podcast industry. The company bought Conan O’Brien’s TeamCoco for $150 million in 2022, and shelled out another $100 million earlier this year in an exclusive agreement with Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes’ SmartLess podcast.

• Those multi-million-dollar splurges makes up only a min percentage of the overall podcasting market. According to a recent eMarketer report, creator earnings from podcasts could cross the $1 billion mark in the U.S. by 2026.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Brand-safe monetization platform Fanfix has paid out over $100 million to thousands of creators in just three years. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• An expanded partnership between YouTube and Shopify will let all U.S.-based Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants sign up for the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Korean Shorts hub KIMPRO brought in 697.9 million views over the course of our last seven-day count, making it the most-viewed YouTube channel of the week. (Tubefilter)
  ​

• Nielsen’s latest report found that streaming made up a record-breaking 41.4% of all TV viewing during the month of July. (Engadget)

VERY DEMURE, VERY MINDFUL 💅

Brands are racing to snag deals with the creator behind TikTok’s “demure” trend

The trend: The creator behind TikTok’s viral “demure” trend is going all-in on content—with a little help from some of the world’s biggest brands. Jools Lebron first took the internet by storm on August 5, when she posted a short video reminding viewers to keep their makeup looks professional at work. Millions of views began flooding in overnight; within two weeks, Lebron’s video had attracted 36 million views and her account had grown to over 2 million followers.

The hype didn’t end there. Lebron has now been on Jimmy Kimmel Live! alongside RuPaul, performed the Ritz-Carlton with celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, and been spoofed by Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.

The response: Brand deals followed soon after. Revenue from partnerships with major companies like Verizon, Lyft, and Synergy Kombucha allowed Lebron to quit her job as a cashier and finance the rest of her gender transition. The result of her collab with Verizon—a dedicated sponsored post in which Lebron urges viewers to swap their “musty diva” for a “demure diva” through Verizon’s old-phone trade-in program—went live on August 19. Within 24 hours, it had racked up nearly 1 million views.

Lebron’s partners aren’t the only brands eager to jump on the latest online video trends. Chains like Chipotle have added TikTok-famous food items to their menus in an attempt to woo Gen Z consumers, while others have bought into viral catchphrases like “girl math.”

KNOCK, KNOCK

Twitch’s collab-focused Knock button is already sparking controversy

The feature: Twitch’s new Knock button has the potential to kickstart collaborations across the platform—but some streamers are already expressing doubts about the tool.

The details: The button itself is part of a feature officially known as Drop Ins, which Twitch CEO Dan Clancy says is “designed to make it easier for people to just ‘drop in’ on each other while they are streaming.” Users can request Drop Ins from specific streamers’ channel pages or scroll through their Followed Streamers list to see which creators are potentially available for collabs. If a Knock is answered, the two streamers will be joined together on screen.

The potential: Twitch’s Knock button could be a valuable asset for creators like Kai Cenat (who often welcomes impromptu guests on his record-breaking broadcasts) and savvy streamers like KSI and iShowSpeed (who have secured millions of views by manufacturing a dramatic rivalry, although that content is happening off Twitch).

But as some streamers have already pointed out, the Knock button also has the potential to facilitate abuse across the platform. VTuber Shylilly recently described the feature as “unwanted,” while other creators have voiced concerns that Drop Ins will be used to harass streamers. That anxiety isn’t unreasonable: another Twitch feature, Raid, was often used for infamous “hate raids” targeting Black and female streamers.

The safety measures: Twitch isn’t taking streamers’ concerns lightly. In order to prevent harassment, the platform has blocked viewers from Knocking on other channels, and creators can change their preferences to limit the types of users who can come Knocking.

WATCH THIS 📺

The first rule of fashion: there are no rules in fashion

The creator: Parker York Smith is always in style for one simple reason: dressing up makes him feel good. Over the last four years, the TikTok creator has delighted fans by committing fashion faux pas with reckless abandon (and an undeniable flair for drama).

From donning brown-and-black looks to styling Croc loafers, Smith can make any outfit an ensemble to remember—and he’s always on hand to help his 1.6 million followers look their best, too. Check out the creator’s full OOTD library here.

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

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