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, is Love Island better with AI fruit? On TikTok, AI-generated clips featuring philandering fruits have racked up millions of views. If this was the only kind of fare getting views on Sora, we can see why OpenAI is pulling the plug.
CREATOR COMMOTION
As it turns out, MrBeast handles criticism pretty well.
MrBeast is combating boredom, and the Try Guys are saying goodbye to Trypod
The critique: A small creator probably didn’t expect Jimmy Donaldson to agree with him when he said MrBeast videos had gotten “boring”—but that’s exactly what happened. Donaldson invited his detractor to work alongside him to bring a creative spark back to his YouTube videos.
The milestone: Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals just hit 100 episodes. Host Josh Scherer initially launched his death row-inspired interview series as little more than a lark. 100 installments later, it has become a powerful vehicle for conversations with celebrities and restaurateurs.
The arrest: Clavicular got arrested for misdemeanor assault. Taylor Lorenz reported that the face of the “looksmaxxing movement” was collared due to a warrant dated March 9.
The big event: A long-running animation channel is celebrating 15 years of videos with a big-screen bash. New episodes of Inanimate Insanity reach nearly one million subscribers on YouTube. Now, the channel’s owners are bringing the fun to Regal Cinemas locations with a one-night event that will double as a premiere of new material.
The farewell: The remaining Try Guys are saying goodbye to their podcast. For Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld, podcasting hasn’t been the most lucrative business, so they’re putting their weekly TryPod out to pasture. Luckily, the end of one venture is just a chance to begin something else, and trying new things is what Keith and Zach do best.
THE BIZ
Can Happy Meals seal the honmoon?
This week in the digital media biz…
The Huntrix Happy meals: KPop Demon Hunters meals are taking over McDonald’s. The animated Netflix hit is still a cultural phenomenon nearly a year after its initial release, and McD’s is getting in on the fun with two new meals.
The marriage mart: Creator prenups are a messy topic. If you’re going to go into business with your better half, you’ll want to sign a formal agreement first. That’s what a lot of creator couples are doing these days, and the details provide a fascinating look into a booming content category.
The radio shows: Davis Burleson is bringing his pop music credibility to SiriusXM radio. After cultivating an audience through his TikTok account, What’s Poppin’, the creator will launch two shows that are set to air exclusively on SiriusXM. TikTok will surely relish this latest opportunity to flaunt its influence in the pop music world.
The incubator: Kenya Barris is heading into the lab with a new creator platform. The showrunner behind shows like Black-ish has teamed up with the hip-hop platform Revolt to launch Revolt Labs, which will incubate creator-led programs for distribution across both traditional and digital formats. In a statement, Barris said he wants to “build the bridge from where creators start to where their ideas can ultimately go.”
The creator IMDb: The Creators Guild of America has debuted its own IMDb analogue. The industry nonprofit wants crew members to be properly credited for their work on social media-based productions. That’s what the CGA has launched Mosaic, which it hopes will do for creators what IMDb did for actors.
SPORTS & GAMES
Jynxzi is (almost) ready to flex his chess skills.
From Minecraft to golf, creators are getting their heads in the game
The team-up: Jynxzi wants to be a chess master, and GothamChess will help him get there. The streamer known for his Rainbow Six: Siege content just learned how to play chess, but he’s still raw, so Levy Rozman showed up on his stream to bump up his rating a few points. I don’t know if Jynxzi is the next Tyler1, but he’s a virtual lock for the next edition of the creator chess tournament PogChamps.
The creator tour: The PGA shunned YouTube’s top golfers, so they’re doing their own tour. Video stars like Grant Horvat and the Bryan brothers will tee off across a four-event series that will include 16 creators and will conclude with a million-dollar event. I wonder if the PGA Tour regrets its decision to shelve the Creator Classic it launched last year.
The server: There’s a lot of different ways to play Minecraft, and creators playing on different platforms sometimes struggle to collab—until now. Roblox and Minecraft influencer kxttydrea helped launch Forgelands, a cross-platform Minecraft server that’s tailor-made for the game’s creator community.
WATCH THIS 👀
Extra Emily and Erobb took on an age-old challenge.
Two streamers spent 8 hours looking for a needle in a haystack
The search: Extra Emily and Erobb just took “touching grass” to the extreme. During a recent stream, the two creators put their heads together to find a literal needle in a haystack.
It took them eight hours, but they eventually completed their search when Emily located the idiomatically hard-to-find item. Don’t be surprised if they decide to purchase 10,000 spoons and one knife next.
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.