TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and if you have a daily Netflix & chill habit, you’re not alone. The streaming service says subscribers now tune in for an average of 2 hours per day (no word yet on how much chilling is going on).

Today’s News

GOING PUBLIC

Triller has (finally) completed its IPO. But is the platform still the TikTok rival it once was?

The IPO: After three long years, Triller has at last completed its IPO. The potential TikTok rival’s price opened at $5.60 per share but fell to $4.45 per share around midday (and is currently hovering around $3.00 per share).

Triller has been pushing to go public since 2021, when it vied for a SPAC merger with SeaChange International. That plan was meant to result in what Triller described as “the largest creator IPO in history”—but a direct listing never came to be. Instead, by April 2024, Triller had announced a (now complete) merger with Hong Kong-based financial services firm AGBA. At the time, the companies planned to reach a market cap of $4 billion.

The financials: According to Music Business Worldwide, the actual number ended up closer to $700 million—and that’s only one of the financials that hasn’t panned out as expected. The platform’s 2023 claim of 550 million signed-up users didn’t match the equivalent figure in the Apptopia database, which at the time attributed 73 million users to Triller. Some creator partners have also spoken up about alleged missed payments.

Going public marks a new era of financial transparency for Triller, which is now listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker ILLR. An AGBA filing from August claimed that the company worked directly with 200 brands in Q1 2024 and has 337 million consumer accounts across its platforms. In total, Triller posted $45.5 million in 2023 revenue, down 4.5% year-over-year.

The future: Triller rose to prominence during the pandemic as a potential TikTok rival, but has since received more attention for its legal battles than its creator partnerships. An IPO could help Triller gain back some momentum—but with a TikTok ban looming, the platform might only need to wait out its main competitor.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Financial services platform Fundmates has already distributed $25 million to creators in 2024—and it plans to distribute another $30 million by the end of the year. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• A YouTube spokesperson says the platform is testing out “a different version” of Premium Lite in Australia, Germany, and Thailand despite axing the subscription option last year. (The Verge)
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• Instagram has announced that it will begin “preventing screenshots of certain images in DMs” as one of several measures designed to combat sextortion scams. (The Verge)
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• An update to X’s privacy policy gives the platform leeway to “share or disclose” user information to third parties for the purpose of training AI models. (Engadget)

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

Brands are taking inspiration from creator content strategies—and winning awards for it

The winners: The winners of this year’s YouTube Works Awards knew exactly who to consult for inspiration: content creators. The 2024 awards show had over 400 entries, but ultimately recognized only five brands for excellence in advertising on YouTube. In the end, it was Nissan, the U.S. Navy (in collaboration with VML and Wavemaker U.S.), Claritin, L.L.Bean, and Booking.com that received accolades at this week’s New York-based ceremony.

The winner: All five brands emulated popular creator content strategies when formulating their campaigns. Nissan’s four-hour ape of Lofi Girl—the wildly successful 24-hour music stream that started as a single YouTube channel—took home the top honor, Grand Prix. The automotive company copied Lofi Girl’s signature style (which has earned it 13 million subscribers and fueled an impressive brand expansion) by swapping out the original girl-and-cat duo for an animated driver zooming along city streets.

YouTube described that campaign as “groundbreaking” and noted that Nissan had “tapped into audience affinities and the cultural zeitgeist” by choosing Lofi Girl as inspiration.

The runner-ups: YouTube Works runner-ups similarly emulated creator content strategies.

The Navy, VML, and Wavemaker U.S. took home the “Brands as Creators” award for the third season of the edutainment series Sailor VS, which blends creator cameos, challenges, and scientific content to give viewers an inside look at numerous Navy jobs. The show’s past seasons tapped creators like Open Sauce founder William Osman, Vsauce, and DALLMYD; most recently, it brought in dog handler Darryl Mayes and linguist Xiaoma. That creator-first approach seems to be doing the job: the Navy says it chose to produce Sailor VS because it’s seeing “declining sign-ups among Gen Z,” and noted that the third season drove “a remarkable 48% increase in searches for Navy sign-ups.”

Other winning campaigns also adapted formats familiar to YouTube viewers. Claritin put its own spin on MrBeast and Mark Rober’s #TeamTrees initiative by planting female trees through the DiversiTree project, L.L.Bean mimicked YouTube’s leagues of outdoor enthusiasts with a series of how-to videos, and Booking.com launched a message-sending musical.

STREAM ON

Can a platform win creator loyalty by turning streamers into stakeholders?

The platform: After launching its closed beta last year and picking up $27 million in funding, Noice is opening to all creators in October 2024. The streaming platform—which is available in the U.K. and E.U. nations—offers a gamified structure that allows viewers to bet on specific outcomes by playing virtual cards as streamers prepare for their next match. That format gives users a chance to earn on-platform rewards—but Noice isn’t just looking to incentivize viewers.

The platform is also offering a significant perk for creators: by generating watch time and engaging with viewers, streamers can earn Partner Reward Units (PRUs) that can be cashed out if Noice is acquired or goes public. By incentivizing streamers to stick around and claim their eventual rewards, Noice is hoping to better retain any top-tier talent it attracts (and hold its own against rivals like Kick, which has wooed creators with lucrative contracts).

The context: Monetization schemes that turn creators into stakeholders became common during the heyday of web3, when dozens of companies raised millions with the intent of minting creator tokens. That industry has now lost momentum, but the idea could still give Noice a leg up in the crowded world of streaming. After all, as the platform pointed out in a recent press release, even top-performing Twitch streamers didn’t get a cut of Amazon’s billion-dollar acquisition.

WATCH THIS 📺

YouTube’s moral philosopher will treat viewers to a star-studded Halloween series

The masterpiece: YouTube’s main morality man is adding a spooky twist to his ethics lessons.

The Dhar Mann Studios YouTube channel will play host to Secrets of the Shadows, a Halloween-themed series featuring a ghostly array of top creators (plus a few werewolves, witches, and vamps). Alan Chikin Chow, Chelsea Sik, Anwar, Kelsi Davies, Rebecca Zamolo, Matt Slays, Royalty Fam, Francesca Capaldi, Ben Azelart, Anazala Fam, Jordan Matter, and Salish Matter will all take part in the fun.

Secrets of the Shadows will hit YouTube on October 21, with new episodes set to drop each weekday leading up to Halloween. Check out the latest trailer here.

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