TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and YouTube’s latest AI project is a doozy. The big idea: licensing the voices of artists like Demi Lovato, John Legend, and T-Pain so creators can make tracks “sung” by their favorite stars.

SCALING THE PAYWALL

Douyin’s new paywalled video feature is a big deal. But is it better than TikTok’s?

Douyin is giving (some) creators a new way to make money. According to Reuters (which cited “a person familiar with the matter”), the Chinese equivalent of TikTok is testing out a feature that allows a select number of creators with at least 10,000 followers to charge a fixed fee for individual videos.

That tool might sound familiar to TikTok creators.

TikTok introduced a similar test feature back in March, as part of an attempt to bring more long-form content to its platform. That tool—called TikTok Series—gives users with at least 10,000 followers the ability to create paywalled collections of videos.

Douyin is doing things a little differently.

In general, Douyin’s take on paywalled videos seems to grant creators more flexibility than TikTok Series. According to Sina, creators on the Chinese app can set their own prices without input from ByteDance (although the tech giant does take a 30% cut). Douyin’s feature also has the potential to (eventually) apply to any eligible video, while TikTok Series is specifically designed to encourage the creation of long-form videos.

It’s possible that Douyin’s new monetization tool could one day become accessible to TikTok creators—if the feature passes the testing phase. In the meantime, however, Bytedance is likely hoping that the introduction of a fresh revenue stream will help to offset the impact of expanding regulatory measures in Asia. It’s not a bad bet: Douyin is already a hotbed for ecommerce, generating $274 billion in sales during the first ten months of 2023 alone.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Finally, YouTubers can raise money in exchange for a percentage of their channel’s future revenue!

GigaStar is a different kind of creator company. By designing an SEC-registered crowdfunding platform for YouTube creators, GigaStar’s multinational team of media and blockchain experts is democratizing the creator economy in a whole new way.

So you can finance your ambitions, partner with fans, and do what you love.

With GigaStar, YouTube creators can monetize future revenue by selling 10-40% of their channel's future revenue. That crowdfunding model doesn’t just give YouTubers access to fresh capital—it also provides each creator with an army of dedicated promoters.

Getting started is easy. Here’s how it works:

• List your YouTube channel on GigaStar Market: Once you’ve applied to list your channel, the GigaStar team will help you schedule a drop date for fans and investors to buy rights to a percentage of your channel revenue.
  
  

• Collect your new funds: You’ll receive the funds from selling a percentage of your future channel revenue right away—all while keeping 100% of your sponsorship revenue.
  
  

• Let GigaStar handle the rest: GigaStar fully automates the monthly distribution of revenue to investors—so you can focus on doing what you love.

Hit the link below to get started:

Learn more about GigaStar → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Ninja Kidz TV will open two new “Action Parks” this month: one in Hammond, Indiana and another in South Jordan, Utah. (Tubefilter)
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• YouTube has updated its advertiser-friendly content guidelines to permit “full monetization” on breastfeeding videos and content that depicts “non-sexually graphic dance.” (Tubefilter)
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• YouTuber and Cars & Bids co-founder Doug DeMuro has signed with Beverly Hills-based talent agency WME. (Tubefilter)
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• TikTok has announced a “new, mobile effect creation experience” that will allow users to create AR effects directly through the app. (The Verge)

DATA • CREATORS ON THE RISE 📈

This comedic actress created one of the most iconic characters on TikTok

Lyanna Kea had just graduated with a master’s in teaching when she realized three things: she hated being a teacher, she loved acting, and she really, really needed a way to pay rent.

Unfortunately for Kea, those three factors didn’t exactly align—and the onset of COVID-19 only made matters worse. Theater productions had been shut down across Australia and no one was “allowed to be on set anymore.”

The creator’s solution:

It was the right choice. Kea’s first few videos attracted a fair number of viewers, but it was simple singing clip that first went “absolutely dogshit crazy.” “In a blink of an eye,” the creator says, her follower count went from “100,000 to one million.” That momentum provided the perfect opportunity for Kea to embrace her true passion: comedy. The TikToker’s hilarious skits quickly garnered a loyal audience, but one character in particular made her a TikTok sensation: Aunty Kea.

Kea describes her tentpole character as “an amalgamation of everyone in my family and then also all of the Asian maternal figures that I grew up knowing all my life.” Skits featuring Aunty Kea are funny, relatable, and—in many ways—comforting. They’ve also proven to be a favorite among Kea’s 10 million cross-platform fans; so much so that Aunty Kea now has her very own Screen Australia-funded series called Life of Kea.

Check out our full article here to learn more about Kea’s journey (and then head over to her channel to watch the first four episodes of Life of Kea).

HAPPY ACCIDENTS

Hank Green’s “accidental” mobile game purchase is working out pretty well

A few months ago, Hank Green found himself in a relatable situation: he’d stumbled across an absorbing mobile game on TikTok, and couldn’t get it off his mind. Instead of playing until 2 AM or spending a few dollars to unlock new levels, however, the YouTuber says he “accidentally” paid a “not unsubstantial amount of money” to own 10% of his new favorite game.

That might not be the typical outcome of a mobile gaming obsession, but it seems to be working out just fine for Green—and for Gubbins.

Developed by Melbourne-based Studio Folly, Gubbins is a digital word puzzle that allows players to “make cool words.” Once a player makes enough words, they can create and share what Studio Folly describes as “deranged postcards.” The game is free to download for users who are content with playing one daily level, while those eager to create as many postcards as possible will probably want to pay for the ability to play multiple rounds per day.

(An added benefit of paying for Gubbins: 10% of the game’s revenue goes to The Foundation to Decrease World Suck, a foundation that Hank and John Green launched in 2007 to donate money to other charities.)

Green’s “accidental” purchase has already been a major boon for Gubbins.

The YouTuber posted about the game following its launch on November 15. Shortly after, Gubbins jumped to No. 2 in the App Store’s word game section, beating out the New York Times‘ word games & sudoku app.

WATCH THIS 📺

AI-powered editing tools are coming to Facebook and Instagram

Meta has a few new tricks up its sleeve. The tech giant’s CEO—aka Mark Zuckerberg—announced yesterday that its staff is hard at work on two new AI-driven editing tools, which it hopes to make available to users on Instagram and Facebook.

According to Zuck, “Emu Video” will give users the ability to generate videos based on text prompts, while “Emu Edit” can “precisely alter images based on text inputs.”

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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.