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Creators tap into their inner Ninja Turtles

Half-shell heroes unite!

Author

Emily Burton
October 07, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

It’s Monday and social media’s answer to SNL is relaunching in a big way. Not-so-live from TikTok, it’s Stapleview!

🗞️ Today’s News 🗞️

  • 🐢 The Sidemen channel their inner Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

  • 👻 Sam and Colby haunt 350 Cinemark screens just in time for Halloween

  • 🤑 Have you heard? Stable Ronaldo made $1.2M in a month…or did he?

  • 🎞️ The 1 Billion Followers Summit returns for its third year

  • 🎙️ This week on the podcast…

TURTLE POWER

The Sidemen are the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and they have the merch deal to prove it)

The merch: The opening of the Sidemen’s second clothing store wouldn’t be complete without a special surprise for fans. As they debuted their Birmingham, England location, the U.K. creators announced the launch of a new apparel line themed around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

That 13-piece collection is part of the Sidemen’s new partnership with Paramount. Items range from t-shirts and jackets to boxing paraphernalia (in honor of member KSI’s side hustle), all of which are emblazoned with exclusive designs. Fans got a first look at those pieces on October 4, when the Sidemen celebrated their second store’s grand opening in the Birmingham shopping center known as the Bullring. The big event drew an impressive crowd, which was entertained by performers dressed as the half-shell heroes themselves (aka Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo). Two days later, the Sidemen’s TMNT-inspired collection became available online as well.

The context: The rampant growth of the Sidemen (which includes KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and W2S) has given the group opportunities to roll out everything from breakfast cereals to chicken shops. Now, alongside the gaming org FaZe Clan (which has closed similar deals with NASCAR and the NHL’s New York Islanders), the Sidemen has become one of the first creator outfits to incorporate a pop culture brand’s iconography into their own merch.

That crossover points to the creator economy’s growing overlap with traditional media—but it also signals the Sidemen’s efforts to remain connected to fans of all ages. As a multi-generational brand, TMNT is a touchstone of both Gen X and Millennial culture. The franchise has the potential to attract Gen Z and A audiences, too; an animated series called Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrived earlier this year on Paramount+.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

HAVE YOU HEARD? 👂

Have you heard? A streamer leaked his $1.2M payout and MrBeast is contemplating death

The column: Every week, we hunt down some of the hottest headlines in the creatorverse. October’s first roundup includes some unexpected moves from major creators—plus a healthy sprinkle of politics. Read on to find out more:

Creator commotion: Here’s a morbid one: MrBeast is preparing for his own death. The top creator on YouTube revealed that he’s building up a backlog of videos that can be released post-mortem in the event of his untimely demise.

By the numbers: Last week, streamer Stable Ronaldo accidentally revealed Twitch earnings totaling $1.2 million for the month of September. Per the leaked stats, the creator streamed 690 hours, or approximately 23 hours a day. But did he really spend an entire month streaming all day, every day? And if he did, was the reveal of his earnings actually an accident?

Talking politics: According to The New York Times, more than one million people watched the Harris-Trump debate on a stream that wasn’t affiliated with a news network. Twitch’s favorite political pundit, Hasan Piker, drew more than 170,000 concurrent viewers for his debate coverage. Our question: should HasanAbi be the next debate moderator? 👀

Check out the full column here to find out why Texas is suing TikTok and dive into the circumstances surrounding PewDiePie’s latest ban.

CONTENT FOR GOOD

1 Billion Followers Summit is back for a third year—and it’s promising a $1 million creator award

The Summit: 1 Billion Followers Summit is coming back for 2025. The Dubai-based event plans to welcome over 5,000 creator attendees from Jan. 11-13 for a packed programming slate headed up by Kuwaiti journalist Ammar Taqi (the biz dev-focused event’s overall ambassador) and digital magician Zach King (who will serve as a main speaker).

New programming tracks will be spearheaded by three VidCon alums, with a Creator Economy track led by VidCon CEO Jim Louderback, a Technology track led by Rachel Masters (who served on the Board of Advisors for VidCon Anaheim), and a Content track piloted by Leslie Morgan (former VidCon advisor and General Manager for Spy Ninja Network, and current Head of Digital for Hidden Pigeon Company).

The Summit will also grant a $1 million award to an attendee whose work “generates a positive impact on communities.”

The context: For the last two years, 1 Billion Followers Summit has served as a place for creators to come together and address industry-wide trends. Past Summits have included celebrities like The Daily Show host Trevor Noah and podcaster Steven Bartlett, as well as creators like TikToker Khaby Lame.

The Summit’s third edition will be held at the Emirates Towers and is put on by the New Media Academy, a United Arab Emirates-based “hub for content creation and education.” The Summit’s location is no surprise: earlier this year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, announced a $40.8 million creator-focused fund disbursed through an initiative called Creators HQ, which also has a hand in 1 Billion Followers Summit.

The competition: This year’s Summit will also give entrepreneurs—and especially creator entrepreneurs—a chance to win “potential funding, strategic partnerships, and ongoing mentorship” (per the New Media Academy).” 25 startups will present their business ideas to key investors and international experts at the Summit as part of a Shark Tank-style competition with a “Content for Good” theme.

Those 25 businesses will be whittled down to 10—and then to one final winner—through judge and audience voting, and evaluations based on things like innovation, feasibility, quality of the pitch, and market potential. Pitch submissions are open here through Oct. 19, while tickets for the Summit are available here.

Note: 1 Billion Followers Summit is a Tubefilter partner.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

The big question: Should creators be compensated for data scraped by AI models? On the latest episode of Creator Upload, industry experts Josh Cohen and Lauren Schnipper examine the complex issue of AI training and the launch of a new program designed to make sure creators get paid for their data.

Dive into that discussion (plus an overview of Amazon’s $1.8 billion AVOD haul) on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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