TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and if you’re looking for a new canine companion, why not adopt the world’s very first “flame-thrower wielding robot dog”?

HACK THE SYSTEM

Mark Rober’s Crunchlabs is bringing teens and adults into the world of STEM

The expansion: Since launching in 2022, Crunchlabs has delivered the power of STEM to kids across the U.S. by designing science-based subscription boxes. Now, founder-slash-creator Mark Rober says “the same formula that has worked on CrunchLabs’ BuildBox to get kids stoked on science” is “being unleashed on their parents and older siblings.”

• That result is Hack Pack, a tech-focused subscription box that allows teens and adults to devise contraptions like the ones seen in Rober’s viral videos. (The former NASA engineer currently claims around 50 million YouTube subscribers).

The details: Hack Pack subscribers won’t need mad coding skills to assemble their science projects. According to Rober’s announcement video, programming the “brain” behind Hack Pack creations is as simple as putting together a Lego set.

• Even so, Hack Pack has plenty to offer tech-savvy subscribers. More experienced coders can add bonus features like minigames and password protection to their projects by connecting the builds to their devices.
  
  

• That kind of customizable STEM entertainment doesn’t come cheap. In total, a one-year Hack Pack subscription costs $399.95. The first of those bi-monthly boxes is free, meaning the other five average out to about $79.99 per box. 

The context: Like MrBeasts’ Feastables, Rober’s subscription biz has become a prime example of the ways creators can leverage their online audiences to build and sustain commercial empires.

• Crunchlabs-sponsored videos routinely top our Weekly Brand Reports—especially when they originate from Rober’s own channel. By expanding that free, highly-targeted marketing to Hack Pack, the creator will easily reach millions of teens and adults who have already expressed interest in his viral experiments.

• Rober revealed in an interview with Colin and Samir that he’s already sold millions of Crunch Labs boxes and staffed up the company from 10 to 50 employees after operating for only about a year-and-a-half. Assuming at least 2 million boxes that’s $54 million in revenue. (Makes sense the guy built a 🚀 for a company considering his NASA background. 😀)

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

These creators have a vision for our planet’s future. Viral Nation has everything they need to make it happen.

Only one talent agency offers 360° creator representation—including OTT licensing, press coverage, and lucrative brand deals. Viral’s Nation’s product development and PR experts handle the heavy lifting, so you can transform your content into an industry-leading brand.

In honor of Earth Day, meet 3 creators who have built brand empires with Viral Nation while promoting sustainability:

1. Christine Lan 💄
Christine is a proud Canadian Sino-Mauritian and the founder of a natural skincare line, Olona Earth. From formulating cosmetics to creating zero-waste recipes, Christine inspires 300K fans with her eco-friendly lifestyle.

2. Priyanka Naik 🥗
As one of America’s 20 best chefs (per TODAY Show), Priyanka has been featured by The Kelly Clarkson Show, GQ, Forbes, and more. When The Modern Tiffin author and Food Network champ isn’t crafting sustainable Indian recipes, she makes time for her Ecokitchen column in The Washington Post and partners with brands like Coca-Cola and Spotify. 

3. Jonah Kest 🧘‍
Nike Global Training’s head yoga instructor fuses physical prowess with a reverence for nature. Jonah has followed in the footsteps of his famous yoga family to become one of the US’s best-known instructors—a journey he shares with 330K cross-platform fans.

Ready to realize your vision for the future?

Make it happen with Viral Nation → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Nigerian chess champion Tunde Onakoya broke the Guinness World Record for longest chess marathon in a stream that raised over $120,000 for The Gift of Chess. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• X has announced the eventual arrival of “X TV,” a smart TV app designed to offer “a high-quality, immersive entertainment experience on a larger screen.” (Engadget)
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• OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and other tech giants have pledged to prevent the exploitation of children via AI as part of an initiative led by Thorn and All Tech Is Human. (Engadget)
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• Wattpad has announced plans to shut down its direct messaging—a tool it says isn’t relevant to most users—following reports of widespread grooming and online harassment. (The Verge)

DATA • GLOBAL TOP 50 📈

Indian YouTube channels came out on top in this week’s global rankings

It was a good week for India-based family channels. Hubs like Anaya Kandhal, KL Bro Biju Rithvik, and The geeta gurjar scored hundreds of millions of views by uploading kid-friendly skits—and topped the global charts in the process.

Here’s how this week’s rankings shook out:

🥇 The famous family: Anaya Kandhal is still on top after four weeks at #1. In total, the young star and her relatives brought in 732.1 million weekly views by entertaining fans with far-fetched hilarity and bite-sized skits.

🥈 The record label: Shortly after urging viewers to subscribe in a recent video, T-Series increased its traffic by 12% week-over-week. The motive behind the label’s plea to fans isn’t hard to guess: while T-Series is currently YouTube’s most-followed channel at 264 million subscribers, MrBeast is hot on its tail.

🥉 The magician: Millions of Shorts viewers are happy to be under Justin Flom’s spell. The world-renowned magician jumped from #43 to #3 in our Global Top 50 chart by mesmerizing fans with tricks designed to appease YouTube’s algorithm.

🐭 The Tom & Jerry Enthusiast: A week-over-week traffic increase of 23% earned another Indian family channel a spot in our Global Top 5: KL Bro Biju Rithvik. The Shorts hub came in at #4 thanks to the viral success of its “Tom 🍓 Jerry” videos, which center around mischievous family adventures.

👩‍👧 The mother/daughter duo: The final family-friendly hub in this week’s Top 5 similarly wields the power of comedic Shorts. Like Anaya Kandhal, the mother and daughter featured in The geeta gurjar’s most-watched clips have a knack for imparting moral lessons in seconds.

• Check out our full rundown here to find out more about this week’s Global Top 50.

FILLING THE VOID

Twitch left South Korea two months ago. Other platforms are already reaping the benefits.

The context: Last December, Twitch announced its plan to leave South Korea due to “prohibitively expensive” operational costs in that region. Two months later, the Korean Communications Commission slapped Twitch with a fine—and the Amazon-owned platform made its departure official.

The stats: Fast forward to April 2024, and two homegrown platforms are already angling to fill the void left by Twitch’s swift exit. According to streaming platform Stream Elements and data provider Stream Charts (which teamed up to evaluate Korean viewership trends), Naver’s CHZZK and AfreecaTV’s SOOP are now pulling in millions of hours of monthly watch time.

• In terms of hours watched, SOOP led all streaming hubs in Korea over the first three months of 2024. In March alone, it scored 98 million hours of watch time.
  
  

• Although CHZZK only entered an open beta last December, it’s similarly laid claim to a significant chunk of Korean viewership. The platform’s watch time more than doubled between January and March 2024.
  

• The result: in Korea, there are now more active channels on CHZZK than on either of its main competitors—even though it only counted about 5,000 in January.

Why it matters: The effects of Twitch’s departure from South Korea—and the resulting power vacuum—are already sending ripples throughout the global streaming industry. As StreamElements Co-Founder Or Perry explained, both CHZZK and SOOP are now courting English-speaking users by “working on global launches this year featuring English-language accessibility.”

WATCH THIS 📺

A Gen Z venture capitalist is hitting the road (with celebs in tow) for a new Portal A-funded series

The show: Marshall Will Pick You Up has arrived. After scoring funding from Portal A as part of its $500,000 Moonshots program, the new series kicked off last week with a star-studded carpool.

The first installment: For the premiere episode of his new show, Gen Z venture capitalist and host Marshall Sandman picked up TikTok creator Noah Beck (who claims roughly 33 million followers). The two cruised around New York while having a chat about dating, business, and their shared passion for Pinterest.

• Check out the full episode here to find out more.

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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.