TOGETHER WITH

It’s Thursday and if we’ve learned one thing from the rise of AI, it’s that chatbots aren’t always reliable. Case in point: this Chevy dealership chatbot that offered to sell a brand-new Chevy Tahoe for $1.

STANDALONE SUCCESS

Facebook’s ad monetization system is changing. Here’s what creators should know:

Facebook is shaking up the way it pays creators. The platform is moving away from its previous monetization system (which granted creators 55% of the ad revenue generated by video ads) in favor of performance-based payouts determined by “engagement”.

Pros: Thanks to Facebook’s new financial structure, creators will be able to earn revenue on all ad formats—not just through pre-rolls on long-form videos.

• There’s another upside to that monetization method: creators who enable Ads on Facebook Reels can now collect revenue based on the engagement and total number of “monetizable views” their Reels generate (even when those views don’t come with attached ad impressions).

• The payouts are for long-form videos and Reels on Facebook, but also for texts and photos in feed.

Cons: Facebook’s new ad monetization method is 1) seemingly less transparent than a straight revenue split and 2) could result in volatile earnings for some creators—but Facebook Senior Director of Product Management Helen Ma hopes the platform’s enormous scale will create new opportunities.

• Facebook’s monthly audience reportedly tops 3 million users (as compared to TikTok’s 1 million(ish) monthly users).

The takeaway: Facebook is changing course to incorporate more ad formats into its monetization system and rewrite the payout process for creators.

• Combined with Facebook’s massive user base, the platform is hoping those changes will attract long-form and short-form creators from platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram - at the very least to make Facebook another one of their points of distribution.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Embrace the magic of the holidays by dubbing your content in hundreds of voices—including Santa’s 🎅

‘Tis the season for holiday content. With December in full swing, viewers are on the hunt for holiday inspiration, last-minute gifts, and Christmas-inspired videos. So, why not add a little holiday cheer to your social media posts, videos, voice messages, and streams?

The voice of Santa Claus has arrived on ElevenLabs.

As the leading AI voice platform in the industry, ElevenLabs gives creators the ability to generate lifelike audio, dub videos, and create text-to-speech voice-overs in more than 120 voices and 29 languages. Now, they’ve teamed up with incredible voice talent to bring Old Saint Nick to town a little sooner.

Ready to hear Santa’s voice for yourself? Click here to listen 🔊

With ElevenLabs’ multilingual AI voice library and voice-cloning tools, the creative possibilities are endless. Hit the link below to learn more:

Start creating with ElevenLabs →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• A trade group representing TikTok, X, and Meta aims to strike down a law that would require underage users in Utah to gain written parental consent before opening social media accounts. (Tubefilter)
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• YouTube Co-Founder Jawed Karim has updated YouTube’s oldest video—a 17-second clip from 2005—with a MrBeast-style thumbnail. (Tubefilter)
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• A test conducted by ad agency Precise.TV found that YouTube Shorts ads are more cost-effective and more engaging than those run on TikTok. (Tubefilter)
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• Streamer Vedal987 was crowned “best tech VTuber” at the 2023 VTuber Awards, which took place on December 16. (TechCrunch)

DATA • ON THE RISE 📈

This creator went from PR to prop styling—and then she went viral on YouTube

From cold-emailing PR bigwigs to coordinating product drops, Paige Wassel is the very definition of a go-getter. She’s also an insanely talented creator, a seasoned prop stylist, and an up-and-coming business owner.

How it started: When Wassel was in her junior year of college, she decided it was time to get an internship. So, she emailed “a bunch of people in public relations.” One of those companies just so happened to be Vogue.

• Long story short, Wassel scored the internship. She stayed on course for the rest of college, secured a full-time PR job, and quickly realized the field was not for her. Her next gig—freelancing as a prop stylist—was a much better fit:

The turning point: COVID was the beginning of a new era for Wassel. After working as a prop stylist (and loving it) for four years, the time seemed right to launch a YouTube channel. So, on a whim, Wassel “threw up a few videos” about interior design. The 10th upload went viral.

How it’s going: Nowadays, the creator still makes time for prop styling—but she’s also busy entertaining 143,000 YouTube subscribers, making content for her newly launched newsletter, and working with indie artists to drop vintage-inspired home goods through her company, WAS.

• Find out more about her journey here.

U.S. TOP 50 🇺🇸

This channel loses its marbles on a daily basis

Marble Run and More is taking full advantage of the holiday season. Between December 11 and December 17, the two-year-old YouTube Shorts channel doubled its viewership week-over-week by adding a Christmassy twist to its usual fare of marble-based ASMR videos.

Oddly satisfying: The average YouTube viewer probably hasn’t played Marble Run since they were a kid (if ever)—but that hasn’t stopped the classic game from hypnotizing 2.7 million subscribers with the sounds of falling marbles, beads, and bouncy balls.

‘Tis the season for ASMR: Throughout December, Marble Run and More has added a different type of prop to its marble-based videos: brightly-colored Christmas ornaments.

• With just three of those holiday-inspired Shorts, Marble Run and More has brought in more than 122 million views.

By the numbers: The Shorts hub scored 102 million views over the course of our last seven-day count.

• That sum earned the ASMR channel a spot at #39 in the U.S. Top 50—the highest rank it’s ever achieved.
  
  

• After just two years on YouTube, Marble Run and More now claims a whopping lifetime total of nearly 2.2 billion views.

The takeaway: Viewers are always craving timely content. Spicing up videos with seasonal colors, props, and music is an easy way to put a fresh spin on existing trends and popular content formats.

WATCH THIS 📺

NASA just streamed a cat video from deep, deep space

Good news: if you ever find yourself 19 million miles away from Earth, you’ll still technically have the ability to watch cat videos (although you might need some heavy-duty equipment to do it).

Meet Taters: The orange tabby cat spent 15 seconds attempting to catch a laser beam in a video streamed from a much bigger “gold-capped laser transceiver attached to NASA’s asteroid probe Psyche.”

• NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory included this disclaimer in a Short that introduced Taters to YouTube viewers back on Earth: “Taters did not actually go to space for the filming of this video. And yes, he did finally catch that laser.”

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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.