TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and Netflix is putting fans to the test. The streamer has joined forces with Immersive Gamebox to unveil a series of IRL obstacle courses themed around popular challenge show The Floor is Lava.

CANDY MAN

Maxx Chewning is selling his candy company to Hershey’s

The acquisition: Hershey’s is entering the creator consumables game. The confectionary giant has acquired Sour Strips—aka the candy brand launched by YouTuber Maxx Chewning in 2019—for an undisclosed sum.

The origins: Releasing his own take on sour candy was a smart move for Chewning. The creator’s viral YouTube videos often follow his quests to find mouth-puckering treats, meaning Sour Strips had a built-in consumer base upon launch. The brand sold 20,000 units within the first hour of its release. By August 2023 it was pulling in $18 million in annual sales revenues. By November 2023 that number shot up to $24 million.

The context: Selling Sour Strips is shaping up to be a smart move, too. Numerous lawsuits against Prime (a fellow creator brand founded by Logan Paul and KSI) have demonstrated the difficulties of scaling a consumables business. The duo’s collaboration with MrBeast—a Lunchables-style product called Lunchly—has proven to be a similarly tricky endeavor.

Selling to an established industry giant will allow Chewning to avoid those kinds of hurdles while priming Sour Strips for even more year-over-year growth. Hershey’s has decades of experience when it comes to scaling up acquisitions; over the years, the Pennsylvania-based company has bought everything from the H.B. Reese Candy Company to Twizzlers maker Y&S. Now, it will kickstart Sour Strips’ next stage of growth while Chewning stays on as the brand’s lead for marketing and innovation.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

From original programming to OTT, Viral Nation helps creators take their content to new heights—and new platforms

Viral Nation is turning creators into household names. 

As a digital talent agency with services spanning original programming, cross-platform syndication, product development, and more, Viral Nation has everything creators need to take their IP to the next level.

So, how can Viral Nation take your content to new heights?

• 🧑‍💻 OTT and FAST TV: Viral Nation will bring your content to streaming services and free, ad-supported channels like The Roku Channel, Amazon Freevee, and Tubi. Their team’s expertise runs deep: in fact, Viral Nation recently joined forces with Emmy-nominated producer Trip Taylor to launch Full Tilt Network.

• 🎬 Original Programming: Viral Nation’s programming team crafts original pitches for networks and streaming platforms based on your unique content—so you can catch the attention of Hollywood studios while staying true to your brand.
  
  Most recently, Viral Nation expanded its partnership with Wind Sun Sky to create two new series for Like Nastya: one live-action show and one animated adventure.
  
  

• 📱Social Syndication: Viral Nation makes it easy for creators, celebs, and athletes to expand to additional social media platforms without putting in additional effort.

Take your content to new heights → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• After conducting a survey of U.K. creators, YouTube has shared a list of issues that could be addressed with funding from the British government. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• YouTube’s latest AI-driven test feature will allow “a small group of creators” to “restyle” licensed music for Shorts. (The Verge)
  ​

• Donald Trump has announced that X owner Elon Musk will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” alongside former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. (Engadget)
  ​

• Amazon says it plans to “phase out” its free, ad-supported streaming hub, Freevee, in order to “deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers.” (The Verge)

📊 DATA • GOSPEL STATS

Top Branded Videos of the Week: JD Vance, baseball, and Netflix’s latest smash hit

Gospel Stats’ latest weekly brand report is a microcosm of YouTube’s current ecosystem. Politics, sports highlights, and edutainment topped the charts, while channels and sponsors alike appealed to gaming fans. Check it out below:

🥇 #1. PowerfulJRE x Athletic Greens, Call of Duty: Joe Rogan Experience #2221 – JD Vance (16.5M views)
For the second week running, JD Vance claimed a spot in the upper rankings of Gospel Stats’ brand report. The soon-to-be VP came face-to-face with podcaster Joe Rogan for a lengthy interview that garnered nearly 16.5 million views. That episode was brought to viewers by frequent podcast sponsor Athletic Greens and Call of Duty newbie Black Ops 6.

🥈 #2. MLB x Evan Williams Bourbon: Dodgers vs. Yankees World Series Game 5 Highlights (10/30/24) | MLB Highlights (4.4M views)
Live sports are getting more and more real estate on digital platforms—and the MLB isn’t missing out. After years of content deals with YouTube, the league seized the opportunity to promote this year’s World Series on the platform. A 15-minute highlights reel from the Dodgers vs. Yankees finale attracted over 4 million views—a pretty hefty haul compared to the game’s live TV viewership of 18.6 million.

🔎 #1,055. Vars x Opera: Who Is The Hardest Champion To Play? | League of Legends (77.6K views)
Further down the list, a deep-dive into League of Legends landed at #1,055 just as Arcane made its Season 2 debut on Netflix. Within 48 hours of that premiere, the animated series—which revolves around an origin story based on League—had risen to become Netflix’s #1 show in over 60 countries.

Check out the full Top 5 ranking here or head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

ENTER THE TANK

A creator-made food brand scored $150K on Shark Tank. Its claim to fame: faux fish.

The deal: A creator power couple just walked away from Shark Tank with six figures in funding. The influencers in question are Finneato Fysh Foods co-founders Alix Traeger and Zoya Biglary, whose sustainable seafood alternative aims to recreate the taste and texture of sushi-grade fish without incorporating animal products.

Traeger and Biglary appeared on the November 8 episode of the long-running fundraising program, at which point they scored a $150,000 investment from shark Daniel Lubetzky in exchange for a 30% share in the company. That funding will go towards helping Fysh Foods fulfill its goal of protecting seafood lovers from contaminated oceans and harmful fishing. So far, the product is in use at some Los Angeles restaurants.

The context: Longtime fans will recognize Traeger from her days at BuzzFeed’s Tasty brand. After becoming a breakout star thanks to her short-form recipes, the influencer joined forces with Biglary, who added a Persian flair to her content.

Now, the two creators have added their names to a long list of influencers-turned-entrepreneurs. Traeger and Biglary’s joint appearance on Shark Tank is a reminder that—despite a few widely-publicized hiccups—creator products are gaining legitimacy in the broader business world. That trend applies to publishing, too. In addition to Fysh Foods’ Shark Tank debut, Traeger recently announced the upcoming publication of a cookbook called Scratch That, which is due out in April.

WATCH THIS 📺

Jake Paul’s bout with Mike Tyson is only two days away

The preparation: On November 15, Jake Paul is “going to war.” The influencer-turned-boxer is set to face off against 58-year-old Mike Tyson in a long-anticipated fight that will be streamed live on Netflix. Fans have been looking forward to that bout for months now. The event was initially scheduled to take place on July 20, but was delayed after Tyson suffered an ulcer flare-up.

Now, Paul is bringing back the hype by offering viewers an inside look at his training process. Check it out here.

Creator economy marketing starts here. Get in touch to advertise with Tubefilter.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.