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Today’s News

TALKING POLITICS

As AT&T and Dunkin’ pull ads, Twitch’s CEO has confirmed that political streamers are losing revenue

The shift: Twitch’s CEO doesn’t think the platform is experiencing a full-fledged “adpocalypse”—but some streamers may still be seeing a drop in revenue.

In advance of last month’s presidential election, Twitch introduced new content labels for streams in which creators discuss “sensitive social issues” like “gender, race, sexuality, or religion” in a “polarizing or inflammatory manner.” The platform now requires streamers to use the labels unless they discuss such topics (e.g. the war in Gaza, the 2024 Presidential Election, etc.) in a “neutral, fact-based manner.”’

Some streamers who used the labels said they immediately saw a drop in ad revenue, sparking fears of a wider-ranging adpocalypse. Those concerns aren’t entirely unfounded: AT&T, JPMorgan Chase, and Dunkin’ have all pulled ads from Twitch in recent weeks, and—according to Bloomberg—Chevron is considering joining them. Those withdrawals follow reports last month that 11 “significant” advertisers had paused spend on Twitch.

The explanation: Despite that brand exodus, both Twitch CEO Dan Clancy and creator/dev PirateSoftware have asserted that an adpocalypse isn’t actually on the horizon. Instead, the two argued that some streamers are earning less revenue because brands don’t want their ads running next to political content:

The context: Advertiser concerns stem from accusations of antisemitism spearheaded by creators Destiny (who was permabanned from Twitch in 2022 for hate speech) and Dan Saltman (who was banned for “extreme harassment” last month). Bonnell has made numerous statements criticizing pro-Palestine streamer Hasan Piker and Twitch, while Saltman recently led a mass email campaign that urged over 100 advertisers to pull their ad dollars from Twitch.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• A new YouTube TV channel offers viewers a stream of relaxing content featuring pleasant landscapes, baby animals, and ambient noise. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai told audience members at this week’s New York Times DealBook Summit that Search will “change profoundly” in 2025. (The Verge)
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• Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed on Thursday that Threads has begun testing out expanded analytics for individual posts. (Engadget)
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• OpenAI has announced the launch of a new “pro” ChatGPT tier. The monthly price tag: $200. (Gizmodo)

MICRO MONEY

Facebook is now (kinda) paying regular people to use Facebook

The post: On December 4, creator industry vet Phil Ranta revealed that he’d made $1.21 from 507 impressions on a Facebook ad that ran alongside his post about his son’s birthday. That might seem like an insignificant amount of money—but according to Ranta’s LinkedIn post, it shows that “Facebook micro-creator monetization has begun.”

The context: Per a Facebook spokesperson, that “micro-creator monetization” is actually in-stream ads being expanded to users who have turned on Professional Mode for their Profiles (aka ProMode), an account setting “for creators and public figures.” Facebook hasn’t made the eligibility requirements for making money via ProMode public yet, but the spokesperson confirmed that users who toggle it on gain access to content performance insights, “tools for managing their presence, distribution beyond their immediate network, and monetization if eligible.”

The question: ProMode seems to be aimed at small or ‘micro’ creators, with the goal of allowing people who haven’t set up fan Pages to monetize their existing Facebook accounts. (Ranta, for instance, saw ads run alongside his regular content after turning on the setting). But while anyone can flip on the ProMode switch (similar to LinkedIn’s Creator Mode), when do people actually cross the threshold from regular person to monetizable ‘micro-creator’?

Ranta, at least, obviously qualifies. He’s well-known in the Creator Economy from his work at Fullscreen, Studio71, and now Fixated, and had a previous stint as Facebook’s Head of Gaming Creators. But that resume may not matter all–it just could be the 2,800 followers on his Facebook account put him over the threshold.

We’ll likely see a more complete definition of ‘micro-creator’ take shape in the coming months. So far, Facebook’s spokesperson says over 100 million people are using ProMode. That’s a LOT of individuals with the potential to post to Facebook a lot more often to make a couple bucks a post (or more).

DATA • GLOBAL TOP 100 📈

When it comes to YouTube, Nintendo is taking matters into its own hands

The context: Nintendo doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to YouTube. After years of enduring video takedown claims and irregular earnings, some gaming creators have become so frustrated with the company’s strict policies that they’ve stopped streaming and posting about its titles altogether—even though they rank among the most famous titles in video game history. That drop-off means Nintendo is losing cultural ground to companies like Disney, which are porting characters into Fortnite and treating creator-made gaming content as free promo.

But despite its complicated relationship with fan-made content, Nintendo still wants to use YouTube to harness the potential of its recognizable characters and games. So, the Japanese developer is taking matters into its own hands—and (ironically) taking inspiration from YouTube-native content in the process.

The channel: The result: Pokémon Kids TV. Nintendo’s family-friendly Pokémon hub is one of the fastest-growing channels on YouTube, having drawn in more than 26 million subscribers and 2 billion lifetime views. In November alone, Pokémon Kids TV brought in nearly 95.3 million views and 2.5 million subs (a total that secured it a spot at #13 in our global ranking of most-subscribed YouTube channels).

A good chunk of the channel’s views can be traced to CoComelon-style nursery rhymes like this one, which have proven to be some of its top uploads. In other words: Nintendo may have dropped the ball when it comes to reaching gaming creators’ audiences, but it’s definitely captured at least some attention from a new generation of preschoolers.

WATCH THIS 📺

Kai Cenat has a message for himself: Your “15-year-old self would be so happy for you”

The creator: Kai Cenat’s recently-concluded subathon—aka Mafiathon 2—rewrote the Twitch record books by attracting a whopping 727,700 followers.

That monthlong-event didn’t just make waves on Twitch. Thanks to repackaged highlights from his subathon, Cenat’s YouTube channel drove major traffic over the course of its thirty-day run. In total, 830,000 new subscribers made their way to Kai Cenat Live in November, nearly tripling the number of subs who arrived on the channel during the previous month.

The vlog: Those new subscribers were treated to a rare video on November 30. As Mafiathon 2 came to an end, Cenat uploaded a letter to himself that he’d recorded at the start of the event. In it, he reminded himself that—whatever the outcome of his upcoming subathon—“your 16-year-old, 13-year-old, 14, 15-year-old self would be so happy for you.”

Check out the full vlog here.

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