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MrBallen's Got Talent š
A true crime icon seeks storytellers.

TOGETHER WITH
It's Tuesday and if you have a hankering for jerky, Max the Meat Guyās new company has the goods.
FAZE ON THE FRITZ
FaZe Clan is laying off 40% of its staff. Hereās what that means for the esports org:
For the second time this year, FaZe Clanās financial woes are impacting its employees in a big way. CEO Lee Trink has announced a round of layoffs that will affect 40% of the esports organizationās workforce.
Trink broke the news to employees in a May 19th email that cited adverse economic conditions as a major cause of the cuts.
āThis does not mean that we are abandoning the aspirations we have for FaZeāwe are simply setting some of our larger goals aside so we can put our heads down and focus on whatās directly in front of us.ā
Despite those assurances, FaZe Clanās future contains few guarantees. The org has been on shaky ground since July 2022, when it debuted as a publicly-traded company and subsequently failed to raise $100 million from investors. This year, Snoop Doggāwho had signed on as a high-profile celebrity memberāended his relationship with the company. Those disappointments didnāt bode well for FaZeās share value. The company initially traded at $13 per share; as of yesterday, that figure was down to 58 cents per share.
The fallout from those failures led to an initial round of layoffs in February, which affected 20% of FaZeās staff.
Now, current and former members are sounding off about FaZeās internal issues.
In a recent interview with Dexerto, former FaZe president Greg Selkoe noted that āthere was a lot of fiefdoms and fightingā during his time at the esports org. Jakob āFaZe Teeqoā Swaerden added to those criticisms by admonishing FaZe for prioritizing recent signings over longtime partners. Despite those criticisms, Nordan āFaZe Rainā Shat recently revealed that FaZe is still recruiting fresh talent.
š SPONSORED š
What does it mean to fund your future with Spotter? Here are the top 3 ways creators leverage their new capital:
Spotter knows that top creators deserve top-notch support. Thatās why their creator support network goes way beyond the $775 million theyāve invested in 1,500 channel partners. Since 2019, Spotter has combined their lucrative funding dealsāwhich range between $100,000 and $50+ millionāwith invaluable performance insights, innovative optimization resources, and community-building initiatives.
Hereās how YouTube icon Samir Chaudry (of Colin & Samir) describes Spotterās mission :
āSpotter has paid $775M to Creators through catalog licensing deals with the effort of accelerating the growth of the creator economy. But itās not just acceleration through capital, itās with knowledge.ā
Spotterās creator partners have already leveraged that combination of capital and knowledge to do some pretty amazing things, includingā¦
Expanding their teams and investing in premium equipment š„
Developing their own unique brands and creator products on YouTube and beyond. š
Increasing production capabilities and creativity by investing in property for studio spaces. š”
The result: Spotterās licensed video catalog now generates over 88 billion watch-time minutes every monthāmeaning their creator partners are absolutely thriving. Ready to start funding your future with Spotter?
HEADLINES IN BRIEF š°
Influencer marketing agency Ubiquitous Influence is hiring for a āTikTok Watchingā position that pays $1,000 in exchange for ten hours of TikTok viewership. (Tubefilter)
āTikTok has filed a lawsuit against Montana in response to the stateās recent ban on the app. (Gizmodo)
āMeta is facing a ā¬1.2 billion fine over alleged violations of the European Unionās General Data Protection Regulation. (Ars Technica)
āLinkedIn has announced the rollout of āverifications on job postingsā in order to āgive recruiters the opportunity to build trust with potential candidates.ā (TechCrunch)
DATA ⢠GLOBAL TOP 50 š
If youāve had a near-death experience, this creator wants to hear about it
Tevin Musara is climbing the worldwide ranks. The YouTuberāwho describes himself as āAfrica's most viewed content creatorāāhas captured the attention of over 3 million YouTube subscribers with his signature wide-eyed reaction videos.
Musaraās subject of choice: near-death experiences.
Many of the creatorās most popular videos revolve around what he calls āthe luckiest people on Earth.ā Those fortunate individuals have escaped from some of the most dangerous phenomena possible, including train collisions, malfunctioning elevators, and errant soda rockets. Masura (who is better known by his Shorts and TikTok handle, Superherointraining) beholds each of those narrow escapes with a suitably shocked expression.
Those high-suspense clips have earned Masura a massive cross-platform fanbase and a place at #10 in our Global Top 50 chartāand his popularity is still growing at a rapid rate.
Over the course of our last seven-day count, the creator scored a whopping 368.2 million weekly views.
That total isnāt quite as high as the number of views scored by Masuraās most popular video, which currently claims more than 380 million views.
And overall? The YouTuber has collected a lifetime count of nearly 2.5 billion views.
SEEKING STORYTELLERS
Ballen Management wants to sign āthe most talented storytellers in the world.ā Do you fit the bill?
MrBallen is branching into talent management. The true crime YouTuber and former Navy sealāwhose real name is John Allenāhas racked up 7.5 million subscribers and more than 1 billion views since launching his channel three years ago. Now, heās leveraging those social media skills to advise other creators.
Allen has launched his own management arm, Ballen Management, under the umbrella of his content production company, Ballen Studios.
In a recent statement, former Night exec and current Ballen Studios CEO Nick Witters noted that the new arm āaims to work with the most talented storytellers in the world and provide infrastructure that will allow them to scale.ā
Allen himself will serve in an advisory role to all creators signed to Ballen Management, a roster which so far includes Nick Crowley (who has 1.7 million subscribers watching his āmysteriously spookyā videos) and Nexpo (whose 2.8 million subscribers enjoy exploring āthe internetās dark sideā). Ballen Management co-signed both creators with UTA and (according to the two companies) will continue to work in conjunction with the agency by āaggressively expandingā creatorsā ādigital content and storytelling across a range of verticals,ā including TV, film, and audio.
Allen is in a prime position to advise those creators on brand-building.
In addition to his YouTube channelāand now Ballen Managementāthe social media vet runs a weekly true-crime podcast, has an exclusive first-look content deal with Amazon covering film, TV, books, video games, merch, and more, and in 2022 founded his own nonprofit to financially support victims.
WATCH THIS šŗ
Crash Course viewers can now learn from TikTokās favorite forager
One of YouTubeās top academic channels has a brand-new offering.
TikToker and āvegan food concocterā Alexis Nikole is the latest creator to host an episode on Crash Course, the educational hub founded by Vlogbrothers John and Hank Green. The foragerās topic of choice: botany, of course.

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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.