TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and YouTube is hot on the trail of hooligans who have been spoofing their locations for cheaper Premium prices. Are you one of those wily globetrotters?

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

Justin Flom and Anna Love just set the record for most-watched Short with 1.58 billion views

Justin Flom and Anna Love’s latest YouTube feat is no sleight of hand.

The chart-topping clip: Back in November 2022, the husband-and-wife duo wowed fans with a quick-change act featuring three dresses. That clip has now broken the record for most-watched Short—with a whopping 1.58 billion views.

The stats: 1.58 billion views is a shocking total even for a chart-topper like Flom, whose YouTube library includes 59 videos with at least 100 million views apiece. All in all, the full-time magician’s record-breaking Short claims nearly three times more views than any other upload on his channel.

The takeaway: Flom’s top Short might be unique in its wide-reaching nature, but that doesn’t mean its virality is a fluke. The creator uploaded his record-breaking magic trick just one day after we profiled him in our weekly Tubefilter charts, and he’s since earned more seven-day views than any other U.S.-based YouTube channel on several occasions.

• So, how can other creators emulate Flom’s success? During a recent episode of Tubefilter‘s Creator Upload podcast, Flom revealed a few of his strategies for staying at the top of the charts. The main takeaway: data-driven analysis is the key to keeping up with YouTube’s fickle Shorts algorithm.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Introducing Linguana: The cost-free global monetization solution for content creators

Only one creator monetization solution handles video dubbing, thumbnail localizing, channel management, and distribution—so you can go global with zero effort and zero risk. 

Linguana empowers you to focus on making the content you love while their team of experts bring your videos to global markets.

A partnership to take your content global.

By partnering with Linguana, YouTubers with strong audiences can effortlessly expand their global reach without putting in extra time or money. In fact, the entire process doesn’t cost a cent: money is only involved when Linguana’s team pays you the revenue generated by your content on new localized channels.

That revolutionary revenue-share model is just one of the reasons why creators have turned to Linguana to localize tens of thousands of videos across hundreds of channels.

Ready to go global? Meet up with the Linguana team at VidCon or hit the link below to learn more. 

Go global with Linguana →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Get ready, Texans: one of the first two “Netflix House” locations will bring attractions, foodstuffs, and shops inspired by shows like Squid Game to Dallas in 2025. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• A new Instagram feature will give budding creators the ability to start small by livestreaming to an audience of only their Close Friends. (TechCrunch)
  ​

• Snapchat’s parent company will pay $15 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the California Civil Rights Department. (The Verge)
  ​

• Influencer shopping app LTK has announced a free DM feature that will allow creators to “instantly share the shopping details of their Instagram posts” with commenters. (TechCrunch)

DATA • U.S. TOP 50 📈

U.S Top 50: Kai Cenat is a big deal on Shorts, too

The star: Kai Cenat knows how to make the most of his multiplatform fame. The creator has earned millions of views by posting lifestyle videos and vlogs on his main YouTube channel, while simultaneously breaking records as a top Twitch streamer.

• This week, however, it was a fusion of both formats that brought Cenat to #43 in our U.S. YouTube charts. While 6 million subscribers regularly tune into the creator’s primary YouTube hub, his secondary channel—a destination dedicated to full-length VODs and short-form highlights of Cenat’s Twitch streams—has attracted an even larger audience.
  
  

• Cenat’s undeniable charisma isn’t the only factor driving the success of those cross-posted VODs. The creator’s Twitch streams often feature other media icons, including fellow creators like iShowSpeed and mainstream celebs like Nicki Minaj and Kevin Hart.
  
  

• That combination of star power has helped Cenat break multiple viewership records on Twitch—and now, it’s also earned him more than 3 billion lifetime views on YouTube.

The stats: Add in a viral teaser for Cenat’s next big Elden Ring stream, and it’s no surprise that Kai Cenat Live is absolutely killing it this month.

• Over the course of our last seven-day count alone, the creator’s secondary YouTube channel scored 110.8 million weekly views.
  
  

• That weekly total added up to a 18% week-over-week increase.
  
  

• The result: Kai Cenat Live jumped 17 spots in our U.S. Top 50 chart.

ANIMATION SENSATION

A new streaming platform will give YouTubers “real television budgets” to produce 10 animated shows

The announcement: Something big is coming to the world of adult animation. Just days after launching its debut FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus, a new streaming platform called Animation+ has announced deals with YouTube animators like MeatCanyon, ExplosmEntertainment, Flashgitz, Pencilmation, and Jarrad Wright.

• According to Evan Weiss (the co-founder of Animation+ parent company Streaming Ink Media), those creators will receive “equity participation” and “real television budgets” to produce 10 full-length original series and one “feature project.”
  
  

• Fans won’t have to wait long to get a peek at Animation+’s adult animation channel. Streaming Ink Media (or SIM) plans to launch the hub into beta in Q4 of this year, with a full rollout in 2025.

The context: From Hazbin Hotel’s Prime Video debut to the arrival of Strange Planet on AppleTV+, digital creators have carved out increasingly prominent spaces in the world of TV animation. SIM’s commitment to actualizing “‘creator economy’ in our business model and our business affairs” (per Weiss) will make additional room for creators at the intersection of animation and streaming.

• That mission is nothing new for SIM’s co-founders. Fitzpatrick previously worked with Explosm Entertainment to secure funding for properties like Cyanide & Happiness, while Weiss is a United Talent Agency vet and former Disney business affairs exec.
  
  

• Before co-founding SIM in 2022, the two met while working with creators at Studio71 and Collective Digital Studio, and were also involved in the production of Fred: The Movie.

WATCH THIS 📺

It’s true: Chappell Roan is your favorite artist’s favorite artist

The TikTok sensations: If you’ve been on the internet lately, you probably know that Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter are absolutely killing it. Songs from both stars have soundtracked hundreds of thousands of videos on TikTok and beyond.

• Now, Carpenter is proving one of Roan’s signature catchphrases right: the red-haired sensation really is your favorite artist’s favorite artist.
  
  

• Carpenter performed a cover of Roan’s viral “Good Luck, Babe” track live on BBC Radio—and promptly united two of TikTok’s most devoted musical fandoms. Check out the “Espresso” singer’s full performance here.

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.e