It’s Thursday and the U.S. government’s crackdown on advanced technology has begun. At the top of the most wanted list: the infamous Roomba.

SHOPPING SPREE

The beauty boom: Beauty is booming on TikTok Shop—but which purveyors of cosmetic items are doing the most business? That was one of the central questions answered in a recent report from Charm.io, which found that the top 25 best-selling beauty brands on Shop collectively generated $512.8 million in revenue during a year-long period that ended in June 2026.

According to the ecommerce intelligence platform, the gross merchandise value (GMV) of beauty sales on Shop reached $980 million during Q2 2026—a year-over-year increase of 82%.

The big winners amidst that shopping spree were K-beauty brands like Medicube, which recorded $62.8 million of GMV during Q2 2026, and Dr. Melaxin, which posted a quarterly GMV of $38.8 million. The latter brand generated $142.2 million of revenue over the past year, earning it the #1 slot in Charm.io’s ranking of the best-selling indie beauty brands on Shop.

The imbalance: That list illustrates a stark divide between the haves and the have-nots, with the top five indie brands accounting for more than half of the total sales volume accumulated by all the listed sellers.

That gap is even more dramatic when all TikTok Shop categories are taken into consideration. A Momentum Works report produced in collaboration with Tabcut found that about half of the 803,500 TikTok Shop stores in the U.S. recorded zero sales in 2025.

Why the imbalance? A piece published in Inc suggests that marketing may play a significant role. Interfacing with creators and participating in the affiliate pipeline requires hefty front-end investments, so established brands like Medicube and Dr. Melaxin are best positioned to haul in sales.

Less prominent brands may want to check out Whatnot. Beauty has become a big category on the livestreaming shopping platform; according to eMarketer, 28% of all livestream shoppers have purchased beauty or skincare products.

GAME ON

The show: Who knows more, a drag queen or a bro? You can find out the answer by tuning into This Is A Game Show?, a Tubi original series hosted by Mitsy Sanderson and developed by brand-new production company Home Game Studios.

Sanderson’s sketches have attracted over five million followers on TikTok, and fans can expect to see her particular brand of comedy shine through on This Is A Game Show?. In a setting reminiscent of Dropout’s Game Changer, the creator will quiz guests on topics like “current events, pop culture, and themselves” (per a press release).

Sanderson is the latest of several creators who have lent their talent to Tubi. Since premiering Sidelined in 2024, the ad-supported video on-demand (AVOD) platform has upped its investment in creator content. A hub called Tubi for Creators arrived in 2025, giving viewers direct access to some of the biggest stars on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. To follow up that effort, Tubi struck content deals with creators like Kinigra Deon and Sofi Manassyan.

The production company: For Home Game Studios, however, This Is A Game Show?, is a definitive first. The young company is led by CEO and Co-Founder Adam Wescott, who previously held a prominent role at Select Management and has made premium programming one of his specialties after two decades in the creator economy.

Wescott’s previous credits include the documentary This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous and the feature film Sidelined: The QB and Me, which has gone on to become Tubi’s most-watched original. A sequel was released in 2025, and a third film is due out this year.

Wescott and his team will stay busy after the July 31 debut of Is This A Game Show? with an upcoming slate of projects that includes collabs with Loey Lane, Gray Fagan, and Morgann Book.

MAX CLIPS

The new feed: Warner Bros. Discovery has unveiled HBO Max Shorts—a new vertical, scrollable feed within the eponymous streaming app. This TikTok-esque swipe spot is designed to pump up discovery by tantalizing subscribers with bite-sized bits from programming they haven't watched (but will probably want to, based on their viewing history).

The feed will include trailers, clips, and bonus content—all of which, of course, links back to the full show and/or movie with just one tap.

The same strategy: Over the last couple months, Disney, Netflix, and Paramount have each made moves to add short-form content to their streaming apps. Some of that content is akin to HBO Max Shorts (i.e. clips of longer programming), while some is freshly produced micro video.

All of these streaming services are taking cues from digital platforms and content creators. Clipping, where you flood socials like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Reels with short videos that link out to longer-form content, has become a top audience growth strategy for creators like MrBeast, with some spending hundreds of thousands paying fleets of people to edit and post clips.

Max, like competitors Peacock, Paramount, and Netflix, has already experimented with clipping on its YouTube channel, which brings in over 120 million views a month.

The ecosystem: Things could get complicated with an in-app feed. If HBO Max’s recommendation algorithm is as sharp as TikTok's and if complacent viewers are content to be nudged toward their next binge, it could pay off.

But this feed also keeps viewers within the Max ecosystem instead of out on socials—and socials are what drive viral fandom. We’ve seen the resurgence of older films like Jennifer's Body and the making of new cult hits like Skinamarink made by people posting online.

WATCH THIS 👀

The microdrama: The Tonight Show has unveiled its very own micodrama. Jimmy Fallon addressed the debut of Who Billionaire? Me Billionaire in a recent interview with USA Today—and while he didn’t offer the most ringing endorsement of the show (his exact words were “I don't even know if it's funny”), he’s right that microdramas are, in fact, “kind of the trend” right now. The Tonight Show’s “spoof” on the genre is a soapy vertical drama starring Fallon, actors John Stamos and Kasey Esser, TikTok star Delaney Rowe, and Tonight Show writer Rose Kelso.

As Late Nighter pointed out, the first few episodes of Who Billionare? Me Billionaire hit YouTube “less than a week after The Daily Show announced plans to produce late-night television’s first microdrama.”

Sounds like the kind of rivalry you might see in a microdrama.

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