TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and if you’re planning to consult AI-generated recipes this Thanksgiving…well, maybe rethink that strategy.

Today’s News

CREATOR COMMOTION

For some pro athletes, Twitch is part of the injury rehab routine

The rookie: After accumulating five touchdowns and nearly 400 rushing yards over the first seven games of his NFL career, New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo quickly became a fan favorite. Then, during an October 26 game, disaster struck: he suffered a dislocated ankle that brought an early end to his rookie season.

That injury might have taken Skattebo off the field, but it didn’t take him out of the public eye. While rehabbing in recent weeks, the rusher has grown his Twitch account (aka sk4tpack) into one of the platform’s most popular entertainment hubs.

At the time of this post, Skattebo’s follower count has reached 124,000. (He celebrated hitting six digits earlier this week by drinking out of a cleat—so basically, when it comes to streamer culture, the man known as “Skat” fits right in.)

The context: As silly as Skattebo’s Twitch activity may be, it represents an important strategy utilized by several high-profile athletes. Serious injuries don’t just shorten careers and damage bodies; pros can also lose their marketing potential if they sit outside the public eye for too long while rehabbing.

That danger has led sports stars to Twitch since at least 2019, when wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster collaborated with streamers like THump and TimTheTatMan while dealing with a knee injury. Two years later, when a heart condition forced soccer star Sergio “Kun” Agüero into retirement, the Argentinian striker took his talents to Twitch and quickly became one of the most familiar faces within the platform’s Latin American community.

Now, it’s Skat’s turn. If the rookie’s Twitch career takes off, it will serve as a safety net that can support his football activities—and maybe even lead to generational wealth after his playing days expire. With that in mind, the “Twitch rehab” is something of a no-brainer for any professional athlete who finds themselves on the injured list.

🌟 SPONSORED 🌟

Creators like Zach Justice are earning 10M+ views/month with clipping. Here’s how:

Clipping (aka the process of turning long-form content into TikToks, Shorts, and Reels) has exploded over the last few years. 

Today, everyone from major networks to musicians is clipping content—and paying a lot of money in the process. Hulu recently spent $40K on a single clipping campaign, while Airrack spends $300K/month on clipping operations alone. In other words: Creators and brands are spending big on clipping—and giving up control in the process.

The solution: OpusSearch.

As the world’s #1 clipping platform, OpusClip launched OpusSearch—an AI tool that identifies viral moments in your long-form content, clips them, and posts the resulting shorts—to put creators back in control.

Creator Zach Justice is bringing in 10M+ views/month with OpusSearch.

Before using tools like OpusSearch, Zach Justice (who reaches 10M+ followers) spent $50K/month on clipping agencies and saw 25% of the provided clips taken down because he didn't control the channels.

Then he tried OpusSearch—and saved tens of thousands of dollars while scoring 10M+ views in 30 days. The result: more control, no takedowns, and 64% new viewers (with 97% from the U.S.).

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• BRIDGE Summit is bringing together the creator economy, media, tech, marketing, and more with seven programming tracks, 400+ expert speakers, and 300+ exhibitions. (Tubefilter - Partner Story)
  
  

• YouTube is testing a new “Custom Feed” feature that lets users “update your existing Home feed recommendations by entering a simple prompt.” (YouTube Help)
  
  

• TikTok has tapped Boeing vet Ziad Ojakli to serve as its new head of public policy for the Americas. (Axios)
  
  

• Spotify reportedly plans to raise subscription prices for U.S. users in early 2026. (TechCrunch)

STUDY HALL

Brainrot is officially a scientific phenomenon

The study: A sweeping study from the American Psychological Association has uncovered tangible connections between short-form video feeds and an array of cognitive and behavioral issues.

The APA structured its report as a meta-analysis that incorporated findings from 71 different studies and data from more than 98,000 participants. The main takeaway:

The details: APA researchers separated the studied effects into two categories: 1) the cognitive domain (which covered outcomes related to attention, memory, and reasoning) and 2) the mental health domain (which included topics like anxiety, stress, sleep quality, and overall well-being).

On the whole, the most significant effects occurred within the cognitive domain. Frequent short-form video viewership was most significantly linked to inhibitory control issues, with attention issues ranked second on that axis. As for the mental health domain, the most significant negative effects concerned anxiety and stress.

In some ares of study, however, there was no perceptible negative correlation between short-form video consumption and undesirable outcomes. Despite widespread concern regarding the impact of social media on teenage body image and self-esteem, for example, those topics produced negligible correlations in the APA study. Researchers hypothesized that the “diverse content and creators featured on these platforms” may have alleviated potential effects.

So while the study may provide evidence for those who believe that figurative brainrot begets literal cognitive issues, it also offers counterarguments to particular components of that position. To get a bigger picture, more research will need to be done—meaning the APA’s study is likely just the beginning.

SHOPPING SPREE

There are 4M+ retail channels on YouTube. What does that mean for brands?

The study: Pixability has some solid data for brands hoping to engage YouTube viewers ahead of Black Friday. The firm known for providing insights related to YouTube ads has released a report that (as stated in its title) outlines Retail Strategies for YouTube.

The topline takeaway of that study is simple: “retail-based” creators (aka those operating in categories like fashion, beauty, and consumer tech) have become ubiquitous, with 4.12 million retail-related channels active on YouTube between Q3 2024 and Q2 2025. Over that same one-year timeframe, retail and shopping content hauled in 688 billion views.

Many of those views (and the associated ad dollars) flow through the channels of top retail creators. By blending product analysis with entertainment and radically honest reviews, notables like Marques Brownlee and James Charles have become important assets for their sponsors.

The X factor: The wealth, however, isn’t concentrated at the top of the retail content pyramid. Rising creators like Clara Afua and TheSamFindz are thriving, too—in large part because of one of the biggest X-factors of influencer marketing: authenticity.

According to Pixability’s report, users are 98% more likely to trust recommendations from YouTube creators compared to creators on other platforms. 78% of consumers claimed that creators help them make quicker purchasing decisions—and 80% don’t even mind when creators introduce products through paid endorsements.

For a more granular analysis of the ad formats, cross-category opportunities, and AI models informing optimized YouTube campaigns, check out the full Retail Strategies for YouTube report on Pixability’s website.

WATCH THIS 👀

ChatGPT wants to be your “personal shopper” for the holidays

The personal shopper: OpenAI wants in on this year’s holiday shopping sprees. The company has announced the introduction of “shopping research” to ChatGPT, which it says can now operate as users’ “personal shopper.”

OpenAI isn’t being coy about the timing of its new feature release, either.

In a post explaining the ins and outs of shopping research, the AI giant added that “to help with holiday shopping, we’re making nearly unlimited usage available to all plans through the holidays.” Check out a trailer for the feature here to see it in action.

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