TOGETHER WITH

It's Sunday and here’s a handpicked selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

But first: Do you have a strong opinion about the conclave of cardinals? Are you interested in predicting who will be chosen as the next pope? If you answered yes to either of those questions, the Fantasy Pope League is for you.

THE BIZ

Creators are selling coffee, facing the difference, and praising expired shampoo

The trend: Alix Earle just made expired shampoo cool. The it-girl influencer sparked a viral trend when she praised the effectiveness of an expired Pantene shampoo bottle she found in her family’s bathroom. Now, she’s the star of a campaign that comes with a simple proposition: if Pantene works beyond its expiration date, imagine how good it is when it’s not expired.

The brand: WillNE and James Marriott are promoting a less unconventional product: coffee. The English YouTubers are known for irreverent product reviews. Now they’re bringing a coffee brand called Rodd’s to 300 Sainsbury’s stores in the U.K. Will they offer up a review of their own product, for fairness’ sake?

The cover: In other cover-worthy news, social media tastemakers like Drew Afualo and Monica Ravichandran joined standouts from other fields for a campaign that asks Bustle readers to “Face the Difference” in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Bustle Media Group teamed up with Maybelline New York and Gold House to execute the cover campaign, which includes 40 Asian Pacific stars in all.

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PLATFORM HEADLINES

This week in platform news…

The fund: Pinterest’s Inclusion Fund is back for a fifth consecutive year. The digital pinboard has already used its inclusivity initiative to support 350 creators from a variety of backgrounds. The program is getting beefed up for its fifth birthday, and creators who want to be part of it can send in their applications until May 15.

The fan fest: Meanwhile, Netflix’s Tudum Live event is getting a new home base. The streamer’s fan festival was previously broadcast on YouTube, but the 2025 edition will take the form of a variety show on Netflix itself. The move makes sense: after all, if CEO Ted Sarandos is going to talk all that talk about how Netflix is better than YouTube, he might as well show off the features that make his streaming service so great.

The fitness update: YouTube is making some moves of its own—and helping viewers keep moving with Peloton. The fitness brand’s smart workout technology already supported YouTube TV as well as other streaming hubs like Netflix and Disney+. Now it’s getting the general version of YouTube, too.

CREATOR COMMOTION

From animated cameos to chess faux pas, it was an eventful week in the creator world

The gladiator: MrBeast is getting a cameo in Love, Death + Robots. The mega-creator will join the animated series as the host of an intergalactic gladiatorial ring. (No word on whether said coliseum offers a round-number cash prize to its winners.)

The sports cameo: Kenny Beecham’s podcast had a pretty cool cameo of its own. NBA commissioner Adam Silver sat down for a conversation with the basketball influencer that underscored the creator world’s increasing influence in the association.

The convention: The VidCon Hall of Fame is bringing a few other prominent names to the forefront by honoring videomakers who have defined their industry over the past two decades. The inaugural class consists of an octet of YouTube stars: Rhett & Link, Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla of Smosh, Rosanna Pansino, Tyler Oakley, Grace Helbig, and Joey Graceffa. Babe Ruth can join them once he starts vlogging.

The chess faux pas: If DrLupo ends up in a Hall of Fame, it probably won’t be for chess. The creator recently got caught cheating at Pogchamps, and it’s easy to see why. After all, if you go away from the chessboard for several minutes only to return with a sequence of suspiciously high-level moves, the grandmasters in the chat are probably going to figure out what’s going on.

WATCH THIS 📺

“The Dr. Pepper Guy” is the Michael Jordan of stream sniping

The soda sniper: In general, the practice of “stream sniping” (aka finding a creator either IRL or in a game during a live broadcast) doesn’t have the best reputation.

But the man known as “the Dr. Pepper Guy” has an extremely specific and weird form of stream sniping that might be just a bit charming—and you can’t deny how effective his methods are. Just look how nonchalantly he hands off a can of the United States’ second most popular soda.

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