Chris comes out

A longtime MrBeast collaborator goes public about HRT.

Author

Emily Burton
April 10, 2023

MONDAY • APRIL 10, 2023

It's Monday and Star Wars fans will have a chance to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi when it returns to theaters on April 28.

GET HYPED

Pico has a brand-new name and $10 million in funding

Pico is  changing its name  to Hype and launching a brand-new product: pre-designed, link-in-bio-esque web templates meant to help creators make quick landing pages. According to co-founder Nick Chen, those "Hype Kits" provide a pre-made alternative to the company's existing link-in-bio tool, and are meant to “make it easier for different creators to quickly get started" with Hype.

Hype Kits include a variety of creator-friendly benefits, including the ability to add phone and email signup boxes. Once creators have that contact info from their followers, they can send things like newsletters, tour tickets, video links, and other content directly. So far, Chen said that creators using Hype’s tools have collected more than 4 million email and phone contacts. Hype Kits' other offerings are even more impressive. Thanks to monetization tools like subscription sales, Chen told  TechCrunch  that Hype creators have already made $30 million in revenue. (The platform itself takes a 5% cut.)

The Stripe- and Bloomberg-backed platform isn't stopping there.

Hype is also raising a $10 million Series A from lead investor King River Capital with participation from Bullpen Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, Tapestry VC, and Sterling Road. If all goes to plan, those funds will bring Hype’s total raise to $20 million

HEADLINES IN BRIEF

DATA • ICYMI

Cocomelon's reign remains unbroken. How much longer can the channel hold onto its crown?

 #1 - Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 04/02/2023 ​​
Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes kicked off April at #1 in the U.S. Top 50—the same ranking it's held since the beginning of 2023. The kid-friendly channel picked up 520.4 million weekly views to continue that first-place streak, bringing it to a lifetime total of 156 billion views.

 #2 - Chef Reactions signs with WME (Exclusive) ​
Chef Reactions joined forces with WME to work on expanding his platform beyond social media. The food content creator told Tubefilter that he is "so grateful to have the support of an incredible team that shares the same vision as I do, and I can’t wait to get started.”

 #3 - Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 04/02/2023 ​​
Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes isn't just topping the U.S. charts. The animated channel continued its reign over the Global Top 50 during the first week of April, while Alan Chikin Chow—the only other channel to break 500 million weekly views—followed at #2.

 #4 - TikTok’s 18-and-up videos have arrived. Don’t get the wrong idea about what that means. ​​
It's been a little over two months since TikTok gave creators the ability to limit their videos to viewers over the age of 18. Here's hoping the app will stay un-banned long enough for U.S. users to enjoy a few grownup-only videos.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast...

KSI gets splashed through a table at WrestleMania (while dressed as a bottle of PRIME), Snoop Dogg and FaZe part ways, and streamers earn thousands on Kick.

Is Twitch's latest rival a real threat? Find out on the latest episode of Creator Upload. It's all right here on  Spotify  and  Apple Podcasts .

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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.