TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and if you’re looking to book a hotel stay on the moon, GRU Space might have a reservation for you…as long as you’re willing to cough up a deposit of $250,000 to $1 million.

Today’s News

GOING VERTICAL

Disney Plus is going full TikTok

The announcement: Disney+ is playing the copycat. At CES, the Mouse House’s eponymous streaming service announced an upcoming feed that will deliver vertical videos in an infinitely scrolling format. The stated goal of that TikTok-style hub is to increase daily engagement on the Disney+ app.

The streaming platform already has a powerful programming library (especially for young kids), and its rising subscriber numbers have become a bright spot in Disney’s quarterly earnings. Even with those gains, however, the streaming landscape is as competitive as ever.

The context: The ongoing consolidation involving Netflix and Warner Bros. shows that SVOD services must continue evolving to keep up with their rivals. For studios like Disney, that means reaching young consumers—aka Gen Z and Gen Alpha—wherever they are.

That’s where Disney+’s upcoming vertical video feeds come in. The 102-year-old media and entertainment conglomerate understands that infinite short-form feeds are important gathering points for the young consumers of today. Its YouTube Shorts content, for instance, has helped it crack our Global Top 50 viewership chart numerous times.

Netflix, which also enjoys short-form success on YouTube, has already attempted to shift some of that traffic to its own platform by placing TikTok-style videos on its homepage. After trialing a similar strategy on the ESPN app, Disney is looking to turn its namesake SVOD service into a short-form creator hub.

The vertical video feed is expected to arrive on Disney+ later this year.

🌟 SPONSORED 🌟

New year, new growth strategy: In 2026, it’s time to expand your reach with OpusSearch

In 2025, clipping exploded onto the content creation scene. Brands and creators alike saw immediate growth by turning long-form content into short-form highlights. 

But to keep the momentum going, many felt they had to spend thousands on clipping agencies. That included Zach Justice: the YouTube star, who reaches 10M+ followers, was spending $50K/month on clipping agencies. 

Then OpusSearch arrived.

By using OpusSearch—which automatically finds, clips and polishes the best moments from your entire content catalogue—Zach Justice saved tens of thousands of dollars while scoring 10M+ views and reaching 67% more viewers in just 30 days.

He wasn’t alone, either. Brands and creators like Logan Paul, Diary of CEO, Nvidia, and Univision dominated 2025 by producing up to 7x more content with OpusSearch. 

That year might be over, but 2026 is just beginning—and now, it’s your turn to dominate the content world.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Precisify is leveraging last year’s $26 million investment from LDC to launch an initiative called Precisify AI during the first quarter of 2026 alongside a select group of partners. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Instagram head Adam Mosseri has announced that all English-speaking users will now be able to “tune your algorithm in the Reels tab by adding and removing topics based on your interests.” (Adam Mosseri via Threads)
  
  

• Meta has reportedly shut down three of its VR studios: Armature, Sanzaru, and Twisted Pixel. (Engagdget)
  
  

• Roblox’s age verification seems to have hit a snag, with some kids finding ways around the system and some adults being erroneously identified as underage. (Engadget)

AI CONTROVERSY

Governments are cracking down on AI deepfake porn

The AI crisis: As the AI boom surges on, the world is reckoning with a startling rise in AI deepfake pornography. According to recent research, X’s AI chatbot, Grok, has obediently helped X users generate an "unprecedented" number of sexual images of women and children (per Bloomberg).

A 24-hour analysis of X/Grok content showed the chatbot was generating an average of 6,700 sexually suggestive or “nudifying” images every single hour. Researcher Genevieve Oh said that the other top five websites for “nudifying” content averaged 79 generated images per hour.

In response to mounting backlash over Grok’s generation of non-consensual imagery, X has placed restrictions on the chatbot so it can only generate images for paying X subscribers. X owner Elon Musk, meanwhile, tweeted that anyone “using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

The global response: That response was too little too late for some regions. Indonesia and Malaysia both issued country-wide blocks on Grok over the weekend, making it inaccessible to residents. Then, on January 12, U.K. media regulator Ofcom announced that it would be opening a “formal investigation to establish whether X has failed to comply with its legal obligations under the Online Safety Act.”

The U.S. is taking action, too. Although not a direct response to Grok, the Senate unanimously passed the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act on Tuesday. That bill, which still has to pass in the House, would give victims of non-consensual deepfake pornography grounds to file suit against the people who produced and distributed the images/videos.

If it does go into effect, it’s unclear whether Grok developer xAI and other makers of deepfake generators could be held liable—let alone X, which, as a digital content platform, would normally be protected by safe harbor laws.

BIZ INSIGHTS

After studying 10,000 YouTube integrations, Agentio has a simple reminder for brands

The study: Fresh off a $40 million funding round (its third round in as many years), Agentio is delving into its treasure trove of data. The influencer marketing matchmaker—which automatically prices YouTube integrations based on expected views delivered in the first 30 days—has analyzed over 10,000 YouTube integrations to build its “2026 YouTube Creator Marketing Playbook.”

Among other insights, Agentio’s report emphasizes that brands shouldn’t lose hope if their YouTube campaigns initially underperform—because the longer those campaigns are allowed to run, the better the results will be. Agentio found that 40% of the views it measured and 30% of the corresponding clicks occurred at least 30 days after the initial go-live date.

That effect is even stronger for brands that partner with “macro-creators” (aka channels that average at least 300,000 views per video). According to Agentio, nearly half of campaign views within that cohort come after the 30-day mark. For micro-creators who average fewer than 50,000 views per video, the corresponding figure is 30%.

That value compounds as brands build on their initial YouTube activity. Agentio reported that a brand’s click-through rate improves by 10% with each integration it runs, and marketers see their CPMs reduce by an average of 38% when they complete two full quarters of YouTube activity.

The context: That data aligns with one of the basic truths (and biggest draws) of YouTube-based campaigns. Influencers can cultivate unprecedented levels of trust among their fans, but that trust is built over time. Brands must keep in mind that they can only see the best results by staying the course. For those ready to play the long game, Agentio believes its platform is the perfect resource.

WATCH THIS 👀

Dr. Fran is battling medical myths one TikTok at a time

Meet the doc: Board-certified OB/GYN Dr. Fran joined Instagram without any intention of becoming an “influencer.” For years, her content revolved around outfits-of-the-day and other lifestyle posts.

Then COVID and TikTok happened—and the doc realized her FYP was serving up videos about gynecological and reproductive health that weren’t factual. In response, she says, “I figured, well, I’m now a trained OB/GYN with a history in content creation. Why don’t I just start making videos?”

Five years later, Dr. Fran has produced hundreds of videos (many of which correct medical misinformation) and has grown her following to nearly 700,000 people. At the same time, she’s remained a practicing OB/GYN with a leadership position at her hospital and is raising three kids alongside her husband.

For Dr. Fran—who does all filming, editing, and other video tasks herself—juggling those roles has come down to two key things: compartmentalization and support from Viral Nation. 

Check out out one of her latest videos here.

FYI: Viral Nation is a Tubefilter partner.

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