TOGETHER WITH

It’s Monday and these two Fortnite content creators aren’t just putting their names on the map—they’re earning millions by making the maps.

🗞️ Today’s News 🗞️

• 💔 What happens when creator power couples break up?

• 🧑‍⚖️ TikTok, Meta, and Google confront multiple lawsuits

• 🔫 YouTube sparks an exodus of firearms creators

• 📉 VTubers face falling viewership numbers

• 🎙️ This week on the podcast…

CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING

Millions of creators make content with their significant others. What happens when they break up?

The question: Millions of creators share the workload of making content with their significant others. So…what happens when they call things quits? According to longtime creator lawyer Jonathan Katz, breakups kickstart a messy legal process that begins with one question: Who owns the rights to the channel’s content?

The answer might not be what you’d think. Thanks to the way copyright law works, so-called “Instagram boyfriends“—aka S.O.s who hold the camera for their on-screen partner—sometimes end up having more rights to content than the creators themselves:

The money: And where rights are entangled, so is money. A big part of Katz’s job is figuring out how much value a channel has—both pre- and post-breakup. If one partner was an Instagram boyfriend who didn’t have a material onscreen presence, their departure from the channel might not cause a ripple with revenue, and Katz can value it based on what it was making before. But if both partners had a significant onscreen presence and their channel was called something like “JennyAndJax” or “KaylaAnnaCouple,” a breakup where one half of the onscreen talent leaves could gut future earnings.

But, occasionally, there are creators who are able to transition a couple account to a solo account and keep growing their audience. The Wall Street Journal recently pointed to Kat Stickler, who used to share a TikTok account and YouTube channel called MikeAndKat with her partner. When they divorced, they decided she would keep the TikTok account and he would keep the YouTube channel. She changed the TikTok account’s name to KatStickler and grew it to over 10 million followers, staying a full-time content creator and using her revenue to become a small business investor. Mike’s YouTube channel is now defunct.

The takeaway: So, how can creators protect themselves from messy breakup negotiations? Get legal from the jump. Katz say to put the channel into an LLC and have everyone who joins the production—not just significant others—sign employment agreements. That way, when a conscious or unconscious uncoupling takes place, there’s some legal precedent and a framework to help smooth the way for asset-splitting.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that a group of lawsuits filed by school districts against TikTok, Google, and Meta can move forward. (Tubefilter)
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• In a recent AMA, Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed that the platform lowers the video quality of older, less popular content in order to provide higher video quality to “creators who drive more views.” (Engadget)

• Viewers tuned into the latest installment of the “influencer election” yesterday, when Tim Walz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez teamed up to play Madden NFL 25 and talk politics on Twitch. (The New York Times)
  
  

• Meta has signed a multiyear deal with Reuters that will allow its AI chatbot to cite and link to the news agency’s content. (The Verge)

HAVE YOU HEARD? 👂

Have you heard? There might be mold in your lunch kit.

The column: It’s a new week and that means we’ve handpicked another selection of stories to give you a snapshot of the latest trends and updates fueling the creator industry. Here’s the roundup:

Creator commotion: In response to YouTube’s latest crackdown on machine gun videos and gun-peddling sponsorships, at least four firearms-focused channels have announced plans to take their content elsewhere. (Maybe this time, the aggrieved creators will take the advice of Tubefilter editor Sam Gutelle and move to Pornhub.)

Food fight: Everyone thought Rosanna Pansino was unlucky or trolling when she discovered mold in her Lunchly, but it turns out she’s not the only one who’s found fungi in one of the viral lunch kits. It sounds like the brand’s creators (aka MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI) might need to have a chat with their suppliers.

Hiring moves: Instagram snagged its new Global Head of Marketing from YouTube. In his previous gig, Jake O’Leary led marketing for YouTube’s Shorts and Music verticals. Now, he’ll be responsible for convincing Gen Zers to do it for the ‘gram.

Beyond cucumbers: TikTok’s favorite “cucumber guy”—aka Logan Moffitt—has signed with Underscore Talent. A press release notes that the creator’s impact “extends beyond cucumbers” (which is probably a good thing, despite the internet’s apparent obsession with shakeable cuke recipes).

Check out the full column here to learn about Yuga Labs’ ApeChain platform and the AI saboteur fired for “maliciously interfering” with AI models at TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance.

BY THE NUMBERS

VTubers have more exposure than ever. So why is viewership down?

The stats: The third quarter of 2024 was a big moment for the VTuber industry. Ironmouse set a new record for concurrent viewers on Twitch, the VTuber Awards announced it will return in December, and top agencies like Nijisanji, VShojo, and Hololive continued to rake in revenue hand over fist.

All that success paints a picture of a growing industry—but the latest report from Streams Charts shows that viewership actually dropped in Q3 2024. The streaming analytics platform teamed up with VSTATS.jp to collect viewership data from across the VTuber landscape. On the whole, virtual creators got 1.5% less viewership during Q3 than they did during the previous three months (a drop from 439.5 million to 433 million). It’s the first time in a year-and-a-half that VTubers have experienced a quarter-over-quarter dip—and Streams Charts thinks YouTube might be the cause:

The context: So Stream Charts found a dip in Q3 live streaming viewership on YouTube after a blowout Q2. But is that the only thing responsible for the VTuber industry’s viewership drop? It’s unlikely.

First, Twitch actually hosts a larger share of VTuber channels than YouTube does, many of which belong to smaller VTubers. Those emerging creators are more responsible for the industry’s overall viewership downturn. Per the Streams Charts report, the top three VTuber agencies saw their traffic go up quarter-over-quarter, while the viewership share for independent VTubers declined by 4.6% over the same period.

Second, there have been disagreements between VTubers and their management companies, with some notable channels sunsetting during Q3.

It’s hard to get blowout viewership numbers every quarter if you’re not streaming and the longtail isn’t pulling as many viewers. But regardless of the viewership decrease, the cultural awareness, relevancy, and appearances of Vtubers keeps increasing, from Dodger Stadium to Bernie Sanders.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

The future of social commerce: For the latest installment of Creator Upload, industry experts Lauren Schnipper and Josh Cohen joined forces with special co-host and Orca CEO Max Benator. Orca partners with brands to provide an immersive shopping experience fueled by short videos, shoppable livestreams, and over 10,000 affiliate sellers—so it only makes sense that this week’s episode explores the future of social commerce.

Check out the full conversation on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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