It’s Monday and if you’ve ever tried to scrub a Reddit post from your brain, congrats: you’re already prepared for Tales From The Void, an upcoming Screambox show based on the r/NoSleep subreddit.

HIT THE ROAD

A beloved automotive channel is hitting the gas after a years-long YouTube hiatus

The announcement: One of YouTube’s long-lost original hits is cruising back into the spotlight. On February 29, editor-in-chief Kyle Cheromcha revealed that The Drive has returned “to celebrate the culture of cars” with several upcoming series.

The origin story: Long-time fans will remember The Drive as /DRIVE, an automotive hub born from the YouTube Original Channels Initiative. During its tenure on YouTube, the channel collected nearly two million subscribers and over 470 million views.

• Then Time Inc. stepped in. In 2016, the company acquired /DRIVE as part of what Cheromcha calls a “half-baked scheme to turn the brand into a digital car magazine.” By June of the same year, /DRIVE had been placed on hiatus.

Next steps: Now, the beloved hub is back. In a new YouTube video and an update posted to The Drive’s website, Cheromcha promised to continue entertaining fans with multiple programs dedicated to “how much we all love cars, just like it’s always been.” First up: a Tom Gorelik-led documentary series called Carisma.

The context: YouTube’s $100 million Original Channels Initiative kicked off in 2012. Within four years, the debut of YouTube Originals had triggered a years-long run of original programming across platforms like Facebook and Snapchat.

• That age is now behind us. By 2023, YouTube Originals was dead, Facebook Watch was sunsetting its own originals division, and Snap had stopped directly funding Originals.
  
  

• Original programming is unlikely to regain its earlier place of importance—but that doesn’t necessarily rule out a creator-led renaissance. In addition to the return of The Drive, creators like Joe Graceffa have leveraged crowdfunding to revive 2010s hits like YouTube Red’s Escape the Night. Who’s to say your favorite original series won’t be resurrected next?

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• The schedule just dropped for the third annual edition of the IAB PlayFronts, which will return to New York City from March 26-27. (Tubefilter)
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• U.K.-based firm Viewture has received a multimillion-dollar investment from tech capital specialist Permira Credit. (Tubefilter)
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• Singer-songwriter Cat Janice has passed away from cancer after releasing the chart-topping TikTok hit “Dance You Outta My Head.” (Tubefilter)
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• According to Threads developer Jesse Chan, the platform will make its API “broadly available” to users by “the end of June.” (The Verge)

COLUMNS • MILLIONAIRES 📈

From HBO to The Razzies, this “Mean Gay” comedian is going places

How it started: Aaron Goldberg always knew he wanted to be an actor. He spent his childhood participating in drama club and community theater, and was nailing roles in indie films and commercials by his early twenties. Then COVID-19 hit.

• The pandemic shut down auditions, so Goldberg turned to the next best thing: TikTok. He knew he wanted to emulate “viral gay people” like Johnny Sibilly and Jimmy Fowlie, so he posted a few funny sketches.
  
  

• The very first video scored 300,000 views. Goldberg had “never, ever seen numbers like that” and was sure he’d hit on something big. So he posted another video…and then another.
  
  

• Nothing triggered the same virality as that first clip, so Goldberg pivoted: he started filming funny duets and experimented with his approach and tone. It wasn’t long before publications like BuzzFeed began taking notice.

How it’s going: These days, Goldberg’s sketches have attracted 1.1 million TikTok followers and 279,000 Instagram followers. A good chunk of those fans tune in for his popular “Mean Gays” series, in which he and co-creator Jake Jonez (who will join him as co-host of this year’s Razzie Awards) play a pair of gay guys with a flair for passive-aggressive drama.

• Goldberg’s acting career is on the rise, too. The creator has scored roles in series like HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones and is currently preparing for “multiple upcoming TV appearances.”

What’s up next: Fans can look forward to seeing Goldberg in Festival of Trees (“super cute family-friendly Christmas movie” set to drop later this year), as well as a “horror comedy film starring Jenna Kanell,” which will begin production next month.

GO NUTS

GameSquare’s FaZe Clan merger is nearly complete

As it prepares to merge with FaZe Clan, GameSquare CEO Justin Kenna says the company has made a “bittersweet” sacrifice: the sale of Complexity Gaming back to its original owners.

The sale: Luckily for GameSquare, that sacrifice comes with a $10.4 million payout. Complexity Founder Jason Lake has acquired NextGen Tech (aka the esports org’s parent company) for that multi-million-dollar sum through an investor group named Global Esports Properties.

The context: As Axios points out, esports restrictions prevent a single owner from running more than one team at the same time. Since FaZe possesses its own lineups in games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Rainbow Six Siege, GameSquare’s decision to sell Complexity is a necessary step ahead of the companies’ merger.

Why it matters: That deal—which GameSquare says has been approved by shareholders and is “closing shortly”—might just be FaZe Clan’s saving grace. The esports company has struggled to survive financial woes and internal strife since its disastrous public offering in 2022. In comparison, Complexity’s name recognition and audience have grown drastically under GameSquare’s tutelage; according to Kenna, the brand’s aggregate social followers increased tenfold between 2021 and 2022.

• GameSquare has also proven its adaptability in a rapidly changing creator economy. In addition to working with top streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins through a product development venture called Ninja Labs, the company has launched a new unit, Moonlight Studios, to develop metaverse experiences in dev-driven game worlds like Roblox.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

The episode: This week’s installment of Creator Upload takes a deep-dive into Karat Financial's new data-driven tool, Karat Insights.

• Listen in as hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper sit down with Karat Co-Founder Eric Wei to discover how much creators really make on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch.

Tune in: Get the full scoop on Karat Insights and other industry news by tuning in on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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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.