TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and one YouTube channel has earned nearly $1 million despite uploading just one video in the last nine years. The viral moneymaker in question: a 10-hour loop of a crackling fireplace.

Today’s News

GAME ON

FIFA just declared TikTok its “Preferred Platform”

The Preferred Platform: The World Cup is coming to TikTok. When the international tournament kicks off in June, the short-form video hub will serve as FIFA‘s “Preferred Platform” for live match footage, press conference coverage, training ground updates, and more.

This may be the first time FIFA has designated an official Preferred Platform for a World Cup, but the global soccer org is building on its existing relationship with TikTok. During the most recent Women’s World Cup in 2023, FIFA delivered highlights through an official account. According to The Athletic, a related hashtag received 1.8 billion views during the tournament.

Three years later, sports and social media are more entwined than ever before. A desire for creator perspectives helped Brazilian YouTube channel CazéTV land a gig as an official World Cup broadcaster, and TikTok noted in its official announcement of the FIFA deal that soccer fans are “42% more likely to tune in to live matches after watching sports content on TikTok.”

The context: As the distributor of the NFL Sunday Ticket package, the broadcaster of regular-season NFL action, and a home base for MLB and NBA creator partners, YouTube has become a clear leader in the realm of social media sports coverage.

Soccer is the exception to that rule. Much of the cultural conversation surrounding the world’s most popular sport flows through short-form video—and that format lands squarely in TikTok’s wheelhouse. Vertical video stars like Celine Dept and John Nellis have attracted billions of views by distilling soccer’s buzziest moments into super-short snippets.

TikTok will look to promote those individual perspectives through its deal with FIFA, which is set to run through the end of 2026. Some creators will receive behind-the-scenes access to World Cup players and teams, while others will have a chance to spruce up their videos with archival footage from the org’s vast library.

🌟 SPONSORED 🌟

Creators, producers, brands, and platforms from across the globe are headed to MIP London. Will you be there? 

MIP London is almost here. From February 22-24, the international multi-genre market will unite digital creators, television producers, platforms, distributors, buyers, and brands from across the globe. 

Located in the heart of the West End at the IET London and Savoy Hotel, MIP London is a central hub for the worldwide media industry to connect, collaborate and discover. 

Register now for first-look screenings, one-on-one networking, and expert-led sessions on unscripted content, creator-led formats, AI, and more.

MIP London’s future-focused agenda is packed with insights into the latest trends, strategies, and innovations shaping storytelling.

The key to MIP London’s industry-leading programming: An innovative matchmaking platform open to all attendees.

Designed to maximize growth, MIP London’s results-driven platform ensures every attendee can access targeted opportunities and curated meetings with the right industry connections.

MIP London kicks off on February 22 with Exclusive Cut: Buyers Sunday—an event delivering exclusive intel on trends and content discovery during London’s biggest acquisitions week.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Demand for hi-tech Ray-Bans is soaring—but supply issues are slowing Meta down. According to the Facebook parent company, “product waitlists now extend well into 2026” for its Ray-Ban Display line. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• The addition of a new “content type” to YouTube search filters will allow viewers to exclude Shorts from search results. (YouTube Help)
  
  

• Character.AI and Google have reportedly reached settlements with the families of several underage users who committed suicide or self-harm following interactions with Character.AI chatbots. (The Verge)
  
  

• The European Commission has ordered X to retain all documents related to its Grok chatbot until the end of 2026 amid concerns over its generation of nonconsensual sexualized images. (Reuters)

COURT OF LAW

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI over “ill-gotten gains”

The context: A California district judge has given Elon Musk the go-ahead to move forward with his lawsuit against OpenAI.

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside current CEO Sam Altman—at which point the company was a nonprofit dedicated to investigating ways that AI could be used to benefit humanity. In 2018, however, Musk left OpenAI’s board in order to “eliminate a potential future conflict” as his electric car brand Tesla became “more focused on AI” (per OpenAI).

Then, in 2022, two things happened: OpenAI launched ChatGPT and Musk bought Twitter.

Since then, Musk has doubled down on AI with the launch of xAI, and begun using Twitter (now X) as a training ground for its ChatGPT equivalent, Grok. xAI’s most recent funding round valued it at a staggering $230 billion—but it’s not yet profitable.

OpenAI, meanwhile, began restructuring in 2024, separating into the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation and the for-profit OpenAI Group. The OpenAI Foundation holds a $130 billion stake in OpenAI Group, while Microsoft is the controlling shareholder with a $135 billion stake.

The lawsuit: Musk’s current lawsuit rests on the claim that when he invested ~$38 million in OpenAI and lent his “strategic guidance” and supposed credibility to the company, he received assurances it would continue to operate as a nonprofit (per Reuters). The suit specifically cites Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI, and says Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman have been “unjustly enriched to the tune of billions of dollars in value.”

It also claims that Musk was “deceived” by OpenAI’s decision to establish an “opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates” and seeks unspecified monetary damages as reparations.

Now, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ruled that there is “plenty of evidence” that OpenAI leaders did, in fact, assure Musk that its nonprofit mission would remain in place—thus clearing the way for that lawsuit to go to jury trial.

AD WORLD

Roblox’s new ads promote brands and top creators on the homepage

The ad format: Roblox has unveiled the “Homepage Feature,” a new ad format that allows brands and creators to pay for prominent placements on the platform’s central landing page. That product will give ad buyers the ability to tease in-world experiences on a prime piece of real estate—thereby cutting through the clutter of the platform’s 40 million+ experiences—while Roblox continues to improve its ad offerings.

Sam’s Club is the first Roblox ad partner to take advantage of the new format. The retailer placed a spot on the Roblox home page that promotes the games and deals available through its virtual Roblox storefront. Users who click on the ad will zoom into a video player that Roblox describes as an “immersive, 3D environment.”

The context: Homepage Feature ads arrive at a pivotal time for Roblox. Creator payouts surpassed $1 billion in 2025, and over 200 brands launched sponsored Roblox experiences during the same period. In 2026, those partnerships are as coveted as ever, with major companies like FIFA buying into Roblox worlds that were initially developed by indie creators.

At the same time, there are ongoing questions about the maturity of Roblox’s ad ecosystem. Creators have asked the platform’s leaders to be more upfront about the process it uses to choose recommended titles, and some advertisers are concerned that their ability to accurately measure Roblox campaigns is spotty.

Homepage Feature ads won’t address those complaints, but they do send a clear message: if brands and creators want to get eyeballs on their experiences, all they need to do is pay up.

Roblox claims that early Homepage Feature buyers like Sam’s Club, Universal Pictures, and e.l.f. are pleased with their initial returns. More advertisers will have a chance to try out the format when it emerges out of closed beta “soon.”

WATCH THIS 👀

Netflix just snagged a Critics Choice Award for KPop Demon Hunters

The secret screening: The awards are piling up for Netflix’s viral demon-hunting K-pop crew.

After topping the Billboard charts for several weeks running and shaking up the box office, KPop Demon Hunters has added another accolade to its portfolio: a Critics Choice Award for “Golden,” which was bestowed the title of “Best Song.” The hit track is nominated in the same category for the Golden Globes, which will take place on January 11.

Check out a clip from the 2026 Critics Choice Awards here to see “Golden” co-writers EJAEEJAE and Mark Sonnenblick accept the award.

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