TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and here are five words we didn’t expect to write in 2025: LimeWire just bought Fyre Festival.

Today’s News

MADE ON

YouTube is getting dynamic ad insertion, letting creators swap in and out brand deals

The ad product: At its annual Made On presentation, YouTube revealed that it paid out $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies between January 2021 and December 2024.

Now, the Google-owned hub is looking to help creators grow their earnings even further with the help of several new products, including dynamic ad insertion for branded segments of long-form videos. Testing for those dynamically-inserted spots (which will allow creators to swap out their ad reads and resell ad space within videos once deals with brands are fulfilled) is set to begin with select creators at the beginning of 2026

Dynamic ad insertion gets its inspiration from the podcasting world, where it has already become a key ad format. YouTube is looking to benefit all long-form creators with this product development, but the company is also looking to build on its growing presence as a hub for audiovisual shows. According to data shared at Made On, YouTube users now consume more than 100 million hours of podcasts each day.

The Shopping updates: As YouTube builds out its ad suite, it’s also keeping direct purchases in mind. Updates to shoppable URLs will let creators link out to brand websites from their Shorts, and automated timestamps will ensure that product tags in videos will show up at the proper moment.

For the 500,000 creators enrolled in YouTube Shopping globally, those tools will provide flexibility. For everyone else, an update to YouTube’s merch platform will let creators rope off exclusive merch for top viewers.

The AI infrastructure: AI is another integral factor in YouTube’s strategy to up creator earnings.

As outlined at Made On, the platform is employing its Gemini model across multiple facets of its business, from content creation (through an AI-powered tool that turns podcast clips into Shorts) to analytics (via an Ask Studio that will deliver AI-generated statistical insights) and security (with a likeness detection tool that will help creators battle deepfakes).

🌟 SPONSORED 🌟

Gushcloud is empowering creators with Golden Visas

Gushcloud International—a global creator management and licensing company powered by AI—is doubling down on its mission of empowering creators by supporting the newly expanded UAE Golden Visa program for creators.

Through its partnership with Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) in the Middle East, Gushcloud will help creators secure 10‑year renewable residency—enabling influencers, filmmakers, podcasters, visual artists, writers, and other digital entrepreneurs to live and work from the UAE without the need for a local sponsor. 

Golden Visa recipients also benefit from…

• Family sponsorship

• Full business ownership

• Access to world‑class infrastructure

• A tax‑free environment

• And dedicated support through Gushcloud’s Global Creator Hub based in Abu Dhabi.  

Gushcloud aims to attract, nurture, and provide enterprise opportunities for top-tier creative talent—aligning with Abu Dhabi’s ambition to become a digital media nexus with the needs of creators. 

Visit Gushcloud’s website for additional details: 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Twitch is the latest platform to debut amped-up age verification systems and policies amid mounting concern over children’s safety online. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Is KPop Demon Hunters coming to Fortnite? According to two leakers, the hit Netflix film could be the next IP to enter Epic’s battle royale empire. (Engadget)
  
  

• Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman has announced that the company is laying off “approximately 250 team members” as part of a shift towards “an AI-focused infrastructure and methodology.” (Micha Kaufman via X)
  
  

• Meta VP of public policy Brian Rice says the company has launched a super PAC in an effort to support “candidates regardless of party who recognize California’s vital role in AI development.” (The Verge)

GOING LIVE

YouTube just revealed a major livestreaming revamp

YouTube’s Made On announcements didn’t end at AI-powered deepfake detectors and dynamic ad insertion.

Some of the biggest news to come out of the platform’s annual event was the unveiling of a livestreaming revamp that will finally introduce some much-needed quality-of-life updates. Here’s a quick rundown of the biggest reveals:

1. Side-by-side ads: YouTube says its latest ad format—full-fledged video ads that will take up half of a user’s screen while still showing the streamer on the other half—is designed to be “less intrusive” for viewers while “helping creators get paid without pulling their audience away.”

2. Simulstreaming across formats: Creators will now be able to broadcast in horizontal and vertical at the same time, “with a single unified chat room to bring the entire community together in one seamless experience” (per YouTube).

3. React live: YouTube is broad-releasing react live, a TikTok Duet-style function that will let creators react to current live events and/or streams from other creators by starting their own vertical livestream on mobile.

4. AI clipping tech: On the AI side of things, YouTube says a new clipping tool will “find the most compelling comments from the livestream and automatically [create] ready-to-share Shorts.”

5. An update to Channel Memberships: Thanks to a tweak to Channel Memberships, creators will be able to transition a stream from public to members-only mid-broadcast, allowing them to attract viewers with free content before jumping into paywalled segments.

6. Playables for streaming: According to YouTube, streamers can now pick from 75+ games to play live “while interacting with their audience through chat, and [monetizing] the stream like any other broadcast.”

PLAY TIME

The D’Amelios are playing dress up on Roblox

The dress-up game: Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are bringing a new kid-friendly experience to Roblox. According to the official description of the game (which was launched in partnership with Invisible Universe), Dress Up BFF is “a softer, funnier, and less serious take on the wildly popular dress-up game genre.” The experience’s main characters are transplants from the D’Amelio sisters’ Squeaky & Roy animated franchise, which they worked with Invisible Universe to launch in 2021.

The context: Roblox’s payouts to experience designers have started to stretch into ten-digit territory—and the D’Amelios are hardly the first creators to take advantage of that gold rush.

With the release of Dress Up BFF, Charli and Dixie (who are, respectively, the 2nd and 27th most-followed creators on TikTok) join a growing list of influencers who have unveiled their own Roblox and Fortnite worlds. Some experience designers, like Andre “Typical Gamer” Rebelo, have found so much success that their metaverse pursuits now rival their work on platforms like YouTube.

Even so, the timing of the D’Amelio sisters’ Roblox venture requires special care. Dress Up BFF is debuting during a period of fierce scrutiny for Roblox, with brand partners and users alike expressing concern about the safety of the platform’s underage players and its harsh treatment of the Chris Hansen-esque figure Schlep.

Amid that turmoil, the D’Amelios are playing it safe by releasing a family-friendly experience alongside a trusted partner. With the help of Invisible Universe (which aims to build “the Pixar of the internet”), the sisters hope to ensure Dress Up BFF connects with its target audience.

WATCH THIS 📺

The TikTok ban was delayed again—but Trump says a deal is sealed

The ban plan: Today, a law requiring ByteDance to either divest TikTok or face a nationwide ban was scheduled to take effect—but once again, the media giant has been granted an extension.

Donald Trump’s latest delay pushes the ban’s start date back to December 16, giving the White House plenty of time to cement an agreement with China. In a video posted to YouTube by Associated Press, Trump assured reporters that “we have a deal on TikTok” and added that he would “speak to President Xi on Friday to confirm everything up.”

The Wall Street Journal backed up those claims in a report that framed negotiations as nearly complete, with a consortium that includes Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake set to take control of about 80% of a new app. The board is expected to be dominated by Americans, with engineers tasked to create a fresh content recommendation algorithm. 

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