Meet Dunkin’s creator interns

Read time: 4.5 minutes.

TOGETHER WITH

It’s #ThrowdownThursday and X owner Elon Musk is ready to hit the mat with Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The stakes:

“If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars.”

Elon Musk

Today’s News

  • Dunkin’ debuts a new creator menu 🍩

  • A collectibles company turns influencers into keepsakes

  • Happiness still sells on YouTube Shorts 😁

  • Why are YouTubers rallying against MrBeast?

TASTY TEAM-UPS

Dunkin’ is running on creator collabs

The context: From Pokimane’s Myna Snacks to Ryan Trahan’s Joyride, creators have been all over the food scene in recent years.

Few brands have embraced that trend as wholeheartedly as Dunkin’.

  • The coffee-and-doughnut chain first jumped into the creator economy in 2020, when it teamed up with TikToker Charli D’Amelio to release a drink called “The Charli.”

  • The result: Dunkin’ sold hundreds of thousands of the D’Amelio-branded drinks in just five days, and saw a 57% spike in app downloads.

The creator collabs: The chain is bringing that same energy into 2024. Last month, Dunkin’ launched a “Dunkin’Terns” program in partnership with “DunKingBen Affleck and Matt Damon‘s company Artists Equity. The initiative’s first two Dunkin’Terns—creators Nick DiGiovanni and SypherPK—are now on a mission to “put a Dunkin’ Iced beverage in every hand” (per Dunkin’).

  • DiGiovanni is off to a strong start. The food creator (who reaches 18 million YouTube subscribers and 13 million TikTok followers) collaborated with Dunkin’ chef Dan Cole to whip up four new drinks, which will be available at every U.S. Dunkin’ location for just 30 days.

  • SypherPK’s collab is up next. According to Dunkin’, the streamer will work with both Twitch Rivals and the doughnut chain itself “to bring SPARKD’ Energy by Dunkin’ into the virtual world by creating a custom competitive gaming arena with Oni Studios.”

The big picture: Both partnerships are a reminder that creators have more choices than ever when breaking into new verticals. While stars like KSI and Logan Paul have launched products of their own, many influencers still find value in partnering with established companies that boast in-house resources and industry connections. Even MrBeast—who launched his Feastables snack brand in 2022—recently teamed up with Zaxby’s to release themed menu items.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Something big is coming to OpusClip…

OpusClip has already helped 6M+ creators turn long videos into short-form clips. Now, OpusClip is putting the power in your hands—with a new tool that can turn absolutely anything into Shorts and TikToks based on a single prompt. 

The best part: Clip Anything can identify people, emotions, and actions in seconds, so you’ll have the power to choose the exact moments you want clipped.

Hey Clip Anything, find Casey Neistat taking a shower.

Starting August 7, all OpusClip subscribers will have free access to Clip Anything.

Here are 4 reasons to start your subscription:

  • Clip Anything creates Shorts, TikToks, and Reels from both talking and non-talking footage, so you can highlight the best parts of any video, documentary, or livestream.

  • Looking for a heartbreaking moment or hilarious prank? Clip Anything can isolate scenes based on prompts like ‘crying,’ ‘kissing,’ ‘shouting,’ and ‘funny.’

  • Never scroll through full games again. Clip Anything knows exactly what a touchdown is—so you can clip sports highlights in seconds.

  • Clip Anything knows who you’re looking for. Search for ‘the person in the green shirt’ or ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ to create Shorts featuring your subject of choice.

Hit the link below to score a free month of OpusClip with this Tubefilter-only discount code:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

DATA • U.S. TOP 50 📈

Happiness is a popular on YouTube, too

The content: Accident footage, exposés, and over-the-top pranks routinely generate billions of views on YouTubebut not everyone is in it for the schadenfreude.

  • Heartwarming content is still among the platform’s most popular genres, with viewers frequently flooding in to watch videos about puppies, family humor, and feel-good comedy. Also at the top of that list: motivational vlogs featuring upbeat, slice-of-life content.

The creator: Sofi Manassyan has that last category on lock. The 16-year-old Kazakhstan-born creator has accumulated more than 2 million subscribers total and around 1.9 million in the last 5 months alone. Longtime fans watched her grow up on YouTube, from a little girl in Barbie ads to a teenager with her own concrete opinions on concepts like beauty.

  • Manassyan has had a long presence on YouTube, where she’s pivoted from long-form dance videos and Russian-language vlogs to stream-of-consciousness monologues and comical, slice-of-life Shorts. One thing that hasn’t changed over the last five years: the California-based creator’s unerringly optimistic attitude.

Manassyan broke 200 million weekly views between July 22 and 28. Data from Gospel Stats

🥉 The stats: That zest for life—and a steadily growing library of Shorts— have earned Manassyan a loyal following.

  • The creator uploaded 106 Shorts to her channel in June, 79 in May, 64 in April, and 34 in March. The average view count on each of those Shorts is currently 3.2 million.

  • Manassyan’s viewership numbers climbed especially high during the week of July 28. A 33% week-over-week increase in views saw her channel earn over 234.6 million views on the week, moving it up to a solid #16 in our U.S. Top 50 chart.

Head over to Gospel Stats to find out more about YouTube’s most-viewed channels.

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