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It’s Wednesday and LinkTree celebrated National Voter Registration Day in style by linking up with stars like Hank Green and Olivia Rodrigo. So…have you checked your registration status?

BY THE BOOK

MrBeast’s leaked production guide is a 36-page testament to the YouTuber’s unique perspective

The guide: As Jimmy Donaldson and co. fend off controversy, a leaked document is teaching readers “how to succeed in MrBeast production.” That 36-page production guide appears to have been written by Donaldson himself—aka MrBeast—and details his team’s strategies for dominating YouTube. Here are the major takeaways of that doc:

1. Donaldson does things his own way. In the leaked guide, MrBeast stresses his lack of interest in a traditional production pipeline and partially attributes his channel’s success to “authenticity”:

2. YouTube is king. Multiplatform growth might be all the rage these days, but MrBeast’s “number one goal” is to produce content for YouTube—a platform he believes “with every fiber of my body” will be “bigger than anyone will have ever imagined” in five years.

3. MrBeast’s process is full of contradictions. Despite the highly methodical nature of the MrBeast production process, some elements of Donaldson’s approach are in conflict with one another. On one page, consultants are “cheat codes” who can take videos to the next level. But a few pages later, Donaldson writes “I hate having tons of people on set.” He claims he’s “not always right,” but he states that the goal of MrBeast videos is “to excite me.” He cautions employees to “never do anything that could make us look bad from a PR perspective,” but he includes the phrase “No does not mean no” in the document. Though he was applying that phrase to a get-it-done production mentality and not in relation to sexual politics, opponents like Rosanna Pansino jumped on that line as evidence of Donaldson’s unempathetic, authoritarian regime.

4. MrBeast’s guide could apply to almost any long-form YouTube channel. Despite Donaldson’s personal idiosyncrasies, his production guide could easily apply to any number of YouTube channels—in large part because he himself has revolutionized the meaning of success on the platform. Creators seeking to replicate Donaldson’s virality should consider emulating his obsession with thumbnails, titles, and statistics (including click-through rate, average view duration, and average view percentage), while also taking care to cultivate environments that don’t lead to the types of allegations currently facing MrBeast HQ.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• During his testimony at a recent antitrust trial, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan argued that Google‘s advertising advantages stem from “product innovation”—not monopolistic practices. (Tubefilter)
  

• EA will be the latest company to launch its own “socially-driven platform” with the upcoming debut of the EA Sports app. (The Verge)
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• Instagram has announced the rollout of mandatory “teen accounts” that will enforce stricter privacy settings for all users under the age of 16. (Engadget)
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• Users who agree to the terms attached to Snapchat’s AI-driven “MySelfie” feature could soon see their own faces displayed in “personalized sponsored content and ads.” (The Verge)

SOCIAL MEDIA MAKEOVER

Snapchat’s first major redesign puts a TikTok-style spotlight on short-form video

The redesign: Snapchat has announced a video-focused revamp that will split its offerings into three main tabs: Spotlight (aka Snap’s TikTok competitor), the user’s camera, and their DMs with friends. The first of those tabs—Spotlight—is set to occupy the central position, offering users easy access to an endless feed of swipeable video content.

According to Snapchat Director of Global Creator and Content Partnerships Jim Shepherd, that redesign is meant to simplify the user experience by doubling-down “on how people actually use their phones, chatting, making Snaps, and watching content.” And to keep people watching, Snap plans to deploy a recommendation algorithm that will curate what viewers see in the content tab.

The goal: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told The Verge that he thinks “bringing content closer to communication is going to fuel a real flywheel for us.” Snapchat likely hopes users will tab between messages and creator-made content on its own platform, instead of watching videos on YouTube, TikTok, or Twitch while waiting for replies from friends. As Shepherd points out, that scenario would be “great for the brands that are buying ads in their [creators’] stories.”

A bump in video advertising revenue wouldn’t be bad news for Snap, either. The company’s somewhat dismal Q2 earnings and Q3 guidance dropped its shares more than 25% last month. Now, with a TikTok-style redesign and a recommendation algorithm in the works, Snap will be able to sell more targeted ads while putting itself forward as a short-form video destination.

NETWORK EFFECT

Patreon is launching new ways for creators to get more subscriptions and standalone purchases

The announcement: Patreon is making it easier for creators to get discovered on its platform. The monetization hub has announced four new tools designed to foster “a discovery experience that brings creators closer to more of their fans.” Here’s an overview of those features:

1. Recommendations: Two months ago, Patreon debuted a dedicated Recommendations tab that creators can use to shout out other creators. The result is a sort of creator-curated “algorithm”—one that already seems to be paying off. According to Patreon, pose reference creator AdorkaStock has seen 28% of her first-time paid monthly memberships come from other creators’ recommendations since the tab’s launch.

2. Explore: Patreon’s second new discoverability feature is a revamped search tab called Explore, which highlights creators within popular content categories. So far, the platform says selected creators “on average […] saw an increase in free and paid memberships.”

3. Autopilot: On the monetization side of things, a new tool called Autopilot will offer discounts to creators’ stores and lower-priced first-time subscription fees for people who are already subscribed on a creator’s free tier.

4. One-time purchases: In the same vein, Patreon is giving creators the ability to charge a one-time fee to access single posts and other content. The audience-building potential of that tool is clear: during testing, Patreon says over 45% of purchases from the tool came from people new to the creator’s Patreon community.

The context: Patreon’s decision to support one-time purchases is a smart move, especially since one of its top rivals, OnlyFans, now attributes 60% of its revenue to standalone digital products. Patreon isn’t turning a blind eye to the consumers behind OF’s growing revenue, either: despite a previously contentious relationship with adult creators, the platform says it’s putting resources into “expand[ing] access for search and explor[ing] improvements to 18+ creators.”

WATCH THIS 📺

This Shorts channel is riding the Skibidi boom to the top

The channel: BigStudio might be just over 9 months old, but the animated hub has already found a spot in our weekly ranking of Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube channels. Its claim to fame: a choose-your-own-adventure-style take on DaFuq!?Boom!’s viral skibidi toilet phenomenon.

By injecting viewer choice into classic tales of electronic-headed heroes and toilet-headed villains, BigStudio collected 105.2 million views in the second week of September. That seven-day total added up to a 118% week-over-week bump—a total that skyrocketed the Shorts destination from 72nd place in the U.S. up to 47th.

Check out one of BigStudio’s skibidi-style videos here.

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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