TOGETHER WITH

It's Friday and YouTube’s spiciest interview show (aka Hot Ones) is celebrating its 300th episode by linking up with Grubhub to deliver wings and sauces in NYC.

TIKTOK TRENDS

Have TikTok’s search features already gone out of style?

According to CivicScience, TikTok’s popularity as a search engine might be fizzling out. That’s bad news for the Bytedance-owned app: TikTok has been investing in its image as a Gen Z-geared search engine for a while now, both by releasing search-themed commercials and by expanding the maximum length of video descriptions.

Despite those efforts…

Per CivicScience’s latest research, the usage of TikTok as a search engine by both Gen Z and young Millennials has actually declined year-over-year. In 2022, 18% of Gen Z and 10% of young Millennials used TikTok’s search capabilities; now, those percentages are down to 11% and 5%, respectively.

So, why are Gen Z consumers seeking out alternate search methods?

CivicScience’s report theorizes that TikTok’s regulatory troubles (including the looming threat of a nationwide ban in the U.S.) might have something to do with its lessening search presence. But the platform is also facing intensified competition from Google. The tech giant responded to TikTok’s beefed-up search capabilities by making its own results pages more dynamic. So far, that strategy seems to be working out in its favor.

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VidCon in Review: Catch up on the best moments and advice from Viral Nation Talent’s expert-led panels

This year’s VidCon was a whirlwind of insightful panels, life-changing creator sessions, and extraordinary brand activations. But even if you couldn’t make the trip to Anaheim, you can still catch up on Viral Nation Talent’s 3 expert-led panels. Here's just a taste of the great takeaways from Viral Nation Talent's VidCon panelists:

🌟 On diversifying your business…

Trip Taylor, Showrunner, Director & Producer: “You have to diversify or you’re going to disappear. In being an influencer, don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself to be relevant.” (Panel: Mainstream Celebrity In The Age of Social Video)

🌟 On choosing ​the right talent agency​…

Steph Grasso, Creator & Dietician: “360 services are truly so important. You have to think about growing your brand into a business instead of being a vessel for other businesses.” (Panel: Grow Your Creator Brand With 360 Services)

🌟 On generating sustainable income…

Drew Afualo, Creator & Podcaster: "I started to think about diversifying as soon as I started getting in touch with agencies. That’s when it started to legitimize [content creation] as actual sustainable income.” (Panel: Grow Your Creator Brand With 360 Services)

Looking for more industry insights? Hit the button below to learn more about VidCon and our services.

Grow your brand with Viral Nation Talent →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• In a recent interview with Glossy, makeup influencer Mikayla Nogueira offered some advice to up-and-coming creators: “Don’t strive to do this career.” (Tubefilter)
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• Per a Google spokesperson, YouTube’s latest attempt to penalize ad blockers involves disabling playback for viewers who “ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube.” (The Verge)
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• Snapchat+ has reportedly collected 4 million subscribers in the year since its initial launch. (TechCrunch)
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• A new Supreme Court ruling has narrowed the definition of what constitutes a “true threat” in cases of online harassment and stalking.  (Gizmodo)

DATA • CREATORS ON THE RISE 📈

These entrepreneurial sisters saw a problem that needed fixing. Now, they’re the founders of a viral fashion brand.

Niki and Ritika Shamdasani never expected to launch their own fashion brand. In fact, Ritika says she and Niki founded their company, Sani, completely “by accident.” The sisters were each pursuing careers unrelated to fashion (political science and computer science) when they ran into an irritating problem: they needed clothing for an Indian wedding, but couldn’t find anything they liked.

After reaching out to “a lot of other first- and second-generation South Asian-Americans,” Ritika says she and Niki “realized that the way of shopping for Indian wedding clothes was outdated.” The sisters put together their own 15-piece clothing collection to fix that problem, and then slowly expanded Sani into a “side hustle passion project.” By 2020, Ritika and Niki had a full-blown fashion brand and a newly-signed deal with Rent the Runway—making Sani the “first South Asian fashion brand” to join the clothing subscription site.

Two weeks later, a global pandemic hit.

Indian weddings ground to a halt—and so did Sani. In an effort to get things moving again, Ritika and Niki took their brand to TikTok. It was exactly what Sani needed to survive: after posting just six videos, the siblings had their first taste of virality. Since then, Ritika and Niki have collected nearly 160,000 followers, and have been recognized by TikTok as part of the platform’s 2023 API Visionary Voices list:

MIRANDA’S SWAN SONG

Miranda Sings has finally responded to grooming allegations…with a musical number

Colleen Ballinger (the alter ego of YouTube character Miranda Sings) started a recent video by clarifying that her team had “strongly advised” against what she was about to do. Then she broke into song.

Ballinger spent the duration of that 10-minute ukulele solo declaring her innocence in the face of grooming allegations. Over the course of the video, she dismissed accusations of predatory behavior as part of a “toxic gossip train” full of “lies and rumors” and sang that she’s “not a groomer, just a loser.”

Despite that attempt at levity, the allegations against Ballinger are serious.

In 2020, former fan Adam McIntyre (who is now 20) began posting about interactions he’d had with the YouTuber when he was between the ages of 13 and 16. Ballinger confirmed one of those allegations that same year, when she admitted to sending McIntyre a pair of her underwear.

McIntyre (who was one of several teenage fans involved in a group chat with Ballinger) has since posted multiple screenshots taken by another member, which appear to show Ballinger asking McIntyre (then 14) if he was a virgin. She then allegedly asked which sex position he preferred—a type of interaction McIntyre says happened frequently.

Now, McIntyre hopes Ballinger’s musical response will help others see her more clearly:

At the very least, Ballinger’s solo certainly hasn’t had the effect she was going for. The creator’s video has gotten nearly 3 million views since going live earlier this week. In that time, it’s been widely deemed one of the worst YouTuber responses of all time.

WATCH THIS 📺

Alix Earle is showing her support for students with a brand-new scholarship

Alix Earle has only been an alum of the University of Miami for a few months now, but she’s already giving back to her alma mater. In a recent video, the TikToker announced the establishment of The Alix Earle Scholarship, which will support the Patti and Allan Herbert Business School, where she majored in Business Administration.

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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.