It’s Tuesday and a U.S. judge has officially deemed Google Search an illegal monopoly. Will its parent company fail to pass go, or is a ‘get out of jail free’ card in its future?

🗞️ Today’s News 🗞️

• Jake Paul scores a W by raising $14 million for skincare

• Podcasters raked in $350 million on Patreon last year

• A survivalist climbs the YouTube charts with a kiddo in tow

• Gospel Stats offers a sneak peek at this week’s top branded videos

FUNDING ALERT 🚨

Jake Paul just raised $14 million for his men’s body care brand

The funding: Jake Paul’s W brand just got a major cash injection. The influencer’s VC firm, Anti Fund, led a $14 million Series A that raised funds from investors like Paris Hilton, Naomi Osaka, Celsius CEO John Fieldly, Fanatic CEO Michael Rubin, Shrug Capital, Quiet Capital, and Palm Tree Crew.

That round valued W at over $150 million.

The end goal: The company told The Hollywood Reporter that it’s reeled in seven figures since hitting Walmart shelves in June, and is on track to surpass $50 million by the end of 2024. 

According to Paul, W’s new funding will go towards retailer and SKU expansion. The brand currently sells body wash, body spray, and antiperspirant, but aims to eventually produce bars of soap and shampoo, toothpaste, towels, streetwear, and skateboards. Per Paul, the goal of that extensive line is to “fill the void” in men’s personal care.

The context: W’s strong start doesn’t guarantee its success in that mission—especially given the number of regulations applied to skincare products.

Logan Paul and KSI‘s Prime brand (which occupies a spot in the similarly regulated beverages industry) had a surging start and was projected to net $1.2 billion in 2023. Fast forward to 2024, and the company is facing legal trouble over “forever chemicals” in its packaging and a 50% year-over-year sales drop in regions like the U.K.

Industry perspective: W’s $14 million funding round is a clear indication that investors are increasingly turning their attention to the creator space. W investor Shrug Capital, for instance, previously lent its financial weight to MrBeast‘s candy brand, Feastables. That trend is a net positive for creators: in addition to reinforcing the legitimacy of creator-led brands as strong investments for external backers, companies like W stand to inject money back into the creator economy by investing heavily in influencer marketing.

POD PEOPLE

Podcasters raked in $350 million on Patreon last year

The stats: Podcasting has been on an upward swing for years. The industry saw a major growth spurt during the pandemic (when listening increased by over 40%) and is currently worth more than $25 billion. Much of that revenue comes from podcasts picked up by major distributors—but independent podcasters are having a renaissance of their own.

According to Patreon, its community of 40,000+ podcasters collectively earned $350 million from their patrons in 2023. That’s a massive sum to come out of a single platform—especially given that the entire global podcast market is expected to make around $4 billion from advertising this year.

The explanation: Why are podcasters making such enormous strides on Patreon? In a blog post, the company suggested that its community is especially profitable for two main reasons:

1. Podcasters are “CEOs of their own companies, which means they’re responsible for figuring out how to reach, grow, and energize their communities.”
   
   

2. Podcasts are an “intimate” form of content creation where listeners are committed for long periods of episode time and are therefore more inclined to invest directly in their favorite hosts.

The revenue streams: Patreon’s varied monetization options are likely another contributor to podcasters’ success. In addition to offering monthly subscriptions with access to perks like bonus episodes and behind-the-scenes content, Patreon podcasters have been able to operate digital storefronts since June 2023. That factor is a big deal for podcasters seeking to grow their shows into “media empires” like The Adventure Zone (which scored a multibook deal with Macmillan) and Critical Role (which spun its lore off into a TV show on Amazon Prime Video).

The takeaway: If platforms like YouTube plans to continue investing in their own podcasting communities, they may want to consider taking similar steps to foster growth and diversify podcasters’ revenue streams.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• “Survival girl” YouTube channels are on trend. The genre’s latest rising star: super mom Sok Kimleng. (Gizmodo)
  ​

• X is closing its San Francisco office and shifting resources to San Jose just weeks after Elon Musk threatened to move the company’s headquarters from California to Texas. (Wired)

• A livestream starring creator Adin Ross and former U.S. president Donald Trump scored a peak of 580,000 concurrent viewers on Kick. (The Verge)
  
  

• An AI interference startup called Groq has raised $640 million in a recent funding round. (VentureBeat)

DATA • GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: This time, Kendrick Lamar and Drake both finished second

Gospel Stats’ latest Weekly Brand Report demonstrates the ongoing popularity of some of YouTube’s top genres. From moralistic tales of good and evil to pop culture education, chart-topping branded videos drew millions of views for repeat sponsors like Nord VPN, Nebula, and Opera.

🥇 Dhar Mann Studios x Nord VPN: KUNG FU MASTER Discovers ORPHAN Is KARATE PRODIGY (3.5M views)
Dhar Mann Studios’ videos consistently attract millions of views thanks to their universal values and simplistic ‘good vs. evil’ narratives. That global relatability makes the channel a good fit for Nord VPN, which promises to help Netflix lovers “access content usually only available in other regions.”

🥈 F.D Signifier x Nebula: I’m What the Culture Feeling (The full story of Kendrick Lamar Vs Drake) (2.3M views)
Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s viral feud has at last garnered the full academic breakdown it deserves. F.D Signifier’s branded video offered viewers a fully contextualized view of the rap battle—aka the kind of long-form content that would fit right in on Nebula’s edutainment-focused streaming service.

🥉 Jake Webber x Opera: I bought Tara her Dream Car! (2.2M views)
Jake Webber tapped into the power of creator collabs by dropping a pretty penny on a car for his ex girlfriend and fellow YouTuber, Tara. That expense was well worth it for Webber and his sponsor Opera, as both earned the attention of nearly 2.2 million viewers.

Check out our full article here to learn about lucky video #4—or head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube data and influencer marketing insights.

WATCH THIS 📺

Coffeezilla just released merch to fund his legal defense against Logan Paul

The lawsuit: Logan Paul’s lawsuit against Coffeezilla has taken a turn. In a new video, the latter creator—aka Stephen Findeisen—revealed that his media insurance had refused to cover his defense against the defamation suit.

The context: For anyone unfamiliar with that legal battle, the complaint revolves around Findeisen’s investigation into Paul’s Cryptozoo project, which provided buyers with individualized “eggs” in exchange for an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency and pledged to launch a gamified experience that has yet to materialize. After releasing a series of videos criticizing that project, Findeisen advocated for buyers to receive full refunds on X. Those posts triggered a lawsuit from Paul, which Findeisen now hopes to beat with a little help from his fans.

The merch: The investigator’s latest video encourages viewers to “contribute to our fight” in two ways: joining his Patreon and purchasing exclusive “Coffeezilla defense” merch. The shirts in question will be available for preorder until August 19 and can be found here.

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