TOGETHER WITH

It's Thursday and we’re wishing a happy 10th birthday to one of the most pivotal social experiments in streaming history: Twitch Plays Pokémon.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Orca’s new “powerhouse” team is ready to take TikTok Shop sales to the next level

Orca is making some major changes to its executive team.

The company: Since its founding by Lauren Stevens and Max Benator in 2020, the startup has hosted streamed events across major shopping platforms, provided creators with high-level ecommerce tools, and partnered with global brands like Samsung and Zappo’s.

• Now—thanks to the meteoric rise of TikTok’s eponymous ecommerce hub—Orca conducts most of its business on Shop, where it is the official partner for e.l.f. Cosmetics and Esteé Lauder.

The “powerhouse team”: According to Stevens, a slate of newly-hired and promoted talent will “ensure Orca continues to lead the way in social commerce.” That “powerhouse team” includes former Headspace exec Chris Miller, Xiaohongshu vet Haodong (Lucy) Yin, and Orca employee Tim Ryan.

• Miller (who previously headed production at mindfulness app Headspace) will take charge of Orca’s short video team and eight live shopping studios in Culver City.
  
  

• Yin’s experience on the creator partnerships team at fast-growing app Xiaohongshu (which reportedly earned $500 million+ in profits last year) will serve her well at Orca. In her new role, the exec will lead a six-person team that works with over 10,000 affiliate TikTok Shop sellers—a network Orca says produced more than $1.4 million in January sales.
  
  

• Ryan will conclude his two-and-a-half-year tenure as Orca’s ecommerce manager to oversee operations, strategy, logistics, customer service, and partner support as the company’s Chief Commerce Officer.

Why it matters: Orca is capitalizing on a pivotal moment in the ecommerce industry. The rise of TikTok Shop in the West signals a shift in consumer responses to streaming and social commerce, making the expertise of startups like Orca a crucial resource for creators and brands seeking to break into the rapidly-expanding digital market.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Ready to fund the next step in your creator business? Calculate your cash offer from Breeze:

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Creators who work with Breeze always maintain 100% creative control of their channels and content. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Visit Breeze’s website to calculate an estimate of your funding offer 💡
With Breeze, mid-to-large YouTube creators can get an estimate of how much of an advance they can receive based on their historical AdSense revenue.

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Breeze’s system is simple: after receiving a cash advance of $50K to $25M, you can use your new capital however you choose—whether that means upgrading equipment, funding your next video series, or hiring editors. Best of all, the flat fee is tax deductible and you can pay Breeze back any time. 

Hit the link below to estimate your cash advance with Breeze’s online calculator.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• YouTube has revealed the names of 28 hip-hop artists who will receive grants and promotional support through the Fifty Deep Program. (Tubefilter)
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• TikTok has announced the launch of an in-app Election Centre, which will provide “trusted information” to users in 27 E.U. member states during the 2024 election cycle. (Tubefilter)

• A report published by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) claims that X is “providing premium, paid services to accounts for two leaders of a US-designated terrorist group." (Ars Technica)
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• Founding OpenAI member Andrej Karpathy has departed the ChatGPT parent company to pursue “personal projects.” (Gizmodo)

COLUMNS • STREAMERS ON THE RISE 📈

This creator’s personality “shines brighter than any game”

How it started: KDotDaGawd has always loved heroic stories like the ones in Naruto—but back when he was a kid, watching anime seemed like a surefire way to get bullied. For a long time, it just wasn’t worth the risk.

• That changed in college. KDotDaGawd was a little older and a little less concerned about what people thought—so, he decided to give “nerdy” games and anime like Naruto a shot.
  
  

• Watching the heroes in those shows gave the creator a much-needed confidence boost. By the time a friend introduced KDotDaGawd to Twitch, he was ready to go for it. His first streamed game: Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker.
  
  

• KDotDaGawd decided to give himself three years “to figure something out” on Twitch. He didn’t need it: within a few months, the creator knew he could make it work; within two years, he was making a living as a streamer.

How it’s going: KDotDaGawd has had an incredible year. In 2023, the creator was a host at TwitchCon, a producer on the Great Anime Debate, and a guest host for the HBCU Esports League and the Black Unity Guild. All that added up to what KDotDaGawd calls a “validation year for chasing my dreams.”

What’s up next: The creator plans to continue branching out and seizing new hosting opportunities in 2024. Because at the end of the day, fans don’t tune into KDotDaGawd’s content for just one game or event—it’s the creator’s charisma and skill that keeps them coming back for more.

DATA • U.S. TOP 50 📊

Pink Shirt Couple may have called it quits, but Pink Shirt Girl is doing just fine

Pink Shirt Couple took YouTube Shorts by storm in 2023. For a solid year, Cayden Christianson and Alyssa Eckstein rocketed up the charts thanks to their lighthearted content and matching outfits.

The breakup: 2024 looks a little different for the creators behind Pink Shirt Couple—but that doesn’t mean their days of virality are over. Since announcing their breakup on February 3 (in a video you might have seen in our Watch This section), Christianson and Eckstein have parted ways to entertain fans on separate social media hubs: @pinkshirtguy7 and @pinkshirtgurl1.

Next steps: Under Eckstein’s management (Christianson is starting over with a new account), the duo’s former YouTube channel has been rebranded to “Pink Shirt Girl”—and fans are already loving that new direction. Eckstein’s solo Shorts have proven to be just as wholesome and goofy as the content beloved by long-term Pink Shirt Couple followers, and subscribers seem touched by her support for Christianson’s growing channel.

The stats: In its first full week as Pink Shirt Girl, Eckstein’s solo YouTube hub hit 20 million subscribers and collected a whopping 140.2 million weekly views.

• That impressive total represented a week-over-week viewership increase of 86%.
  
  

• The result: Pink Shirt Girl claimed a spot at #22 in the U.S. Top 50.

WATCH THIS 📺

Liza Koshy returned to Netflix just in time for Valentine’s Day

Way back in 2021, YouTuber-slash-actor Liza Koshy revealed to millions of online fans that she’d scored a role in an upcoming rom-com.

The release: Three years later, Players has arrived on Netflix at long last. Koshy’s 17 million YouTube subscribers can now tune in to watch her take on the role of Ashley, a co-worker who gets mixed up in a dating scheme spearheaded by Gina Rodriquez and Damon Wayans Jr.

• Check out the trailer here (or log into your Netflix account to watch the full film).

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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.