It's Friday and TikTok seems to have realized that building a music service is no easy feat—so it’s integrating YouTube Music into its existing platform instead.

Today’s News

MONEY MOVES

Two creator funding platforms just crossed $10 billion in payouts

The milestones: By enabling direct funding from fans, companies like Patreon and Kajabi have helped thousands of creators build multi-pronged digital empires—and earlier this week, both platforms demonstrated exactly how much their contributions have grown over the years.

Within days of one another, both Kajabi and Patron announced that they have paid out $10 billion to creators since their respective launches.

Patreon Co-Founder and CEO Jack Conte shared that news with Axios on August 5, while Kajabi CEO Ahad Khan discussed his team’s good fortunes in an interview with TheWrap that was published on August 6. Both execs also used their media appearances to highlight their respective platforms’ sizable user bases; Patreon currently counts 25 million paid memberships, while Kajabi has nearly 1,800 creators who have earned at least $1 million via the platform.

The platforms: Kajabi and Patreon were founded just three years apart (the former in 2010 and the latter in 2013), but took very different paths to reaching $10 billion in payouts. Kajabi brought in no outside capital between 2010 and 2019, contributing to a slower rise. Since then, however, it raised $550 million in a round led by Tiger Global in 2021 at a $2 billion valuation and its on-platform earnings have accelerated rapidly, reaching the $10 billion mark just a few months after passing $9 billion.

Patreon’s early years looked a bit different. Within months of the platform’s inception, it was touted as a breakthrough in the world of crowdfunding. There have been some up-and-down moments since, but Patreon is still seeing its payouts accelerate. In 2021 the company raised it’s latest $155 million round (also led by Tiger Global) at a $4 billion valuation. According to Conte, creators take in $2 billion per year through the platform.

These days, the landscape of creator economy funding platforms is much more crowded than it was when Patreon and Kajabi first launched—but their paired achievements nevertheless illustrate how much opportunity remains for operators entering the space.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• YouTube has earmarked $3 million to directly support creators who have been affected by the recent wildfires in Southern California. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Warner Bros. Discovery has informed investors that HBO Max aims to kickstart an “aggressive” crackdown on password sharing. (Engadget)
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• Instagram head Adam Mosseri says “people are confused” about the visibility settings of the app’s new Maps feature amid widespread privacy concerns. (Engadget)
  
  

• Paramount Global is officially under the ownership of Skydance Media following the conclusion of an $8 billion acquisition. (The Verge)

GOSPEL STATS

Top Branded Videos: Here be dragons

Gospel Stats is back with another ranking of most-viewed branded videos, and this week’s chart-toppers represent some of the most beloved genres of content on YouTube—from MrBeast making people rich to long-form critiques of recent movies.

🥇 #1. MrBeast x The Bad Guys 2 from DreamWorks Animation & Universal Pictures: Find This Briefcase, Win $10,000 (120.8M views)
DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures marked the arrival of the Bad Guys sequel by teaming up with the biggest influencer on YouTube—and letting him do what he does best. MrBeast’s latest cash-fueled challenge included a burglar chase scene fit for any action movie, and was the only one sponsored by DreamWorks and Universal this week.

🥈 #2. Victoria Pfeifer x Airlearn: She played him in 3 languages #sponsored (14.1M views)
Education-focused businesses like Brilliant and MasterClass have mastered (no pun intended) the art of tapping into YouTube’s thriving DIY community. This week, language-learning app Airlearn joined that class by sponsoring a Short from lifestyle creator Victoria Pfeifer. In that brief skit, Pfeifer follows someone who manages to win over the love of his life by surmounting language barriers with a little help from Airlearn.

🎰 #185. Alex Meyers x Raycon: so, that How To Train Your Dragon remake… (576K views)
Live-action remakes of animated movies are typically bad—but they also typically come from Disney. So, what happens when another studio turns a hit animated film into a live-action? Well, according to animator/film critic Alex Meyers, the result is exactly the same. In a video sponsored by Raycon, the creator explained why bringing How To Train Your Dragon into the real world was as baffling a decision as Disney’s choice to repeatedly rework animated classics like Lilo & Stitch.

Check out the full branded ranking here and head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

PLATFORM HEADLINES

YouTube is marking Roblox’s trillion views with a metaverse-y museum

The milestone: Back in 2021, YouTube celebrated Minecraft‘s trillionth view on its platform with significant fanfare—and for good reason. The sandbox builder’s history is inextricable from YouTube’s; it’s where the Let’s Play genre (and arguably all of YouTube Gaming) began. But there’s another creative game platform that might be just as inextricable from YouTube’s future: Roblox.

This week, YouTube marked Roblox’s trillion-view milestone not just with a video featuring top Roblox YouTubers like Lana’s Life, MeEnyu, Caylus Cunningham, and MeganPlays, but also with an entire custom creator museum within Roblox itself.

That museum, which Roblox consultant James Purell says was built by studio Vector3, memorializes YouTube content from nearly 90 creators by recreating iconic videos in Roblox-style tableaus. Players can walk through the exhibits to see each creator’s handle and the view counts of their memorialized videos, and complete a scavenger hunt to receive mysterious “limited edition UGC” for their Roblox avatars.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a branded Roblox destination without having something for sale—so there are official YouTube x Roblox shirts, too.

The context: That commercialization ties into Roblox’s role in YouTube future (and vice versa). While most other major platforms have failed to sustain a foothold in the modern metaverse, Roblox has not only managed to thrive but has also successfully monetized the in-game experiences its users flock to.

As a result, more brands are finding room for Roblox in their marketing budgets, and its recent quarterly earnings sent its stock to a near all-time high. With all that success, it’s no wonder YouTube is eager to align itself with the metaverse’s reigning king. And given that game devs often leverage YouTube as a discovery engine to attract fans to their in-platform experiences, Roblox has plenty of incentive to foster its ties to Alphabet’s video platform, too.

WATCH THIS

Disney is bringing Hamilton to theaters

The Hamilton hype: If you were a Hamilfan in the late 2010s, then you undoubtedly remember the flash dances, sudden outbreaks of showtunes, and general hullaballoo surrounding Hamilton’s original Broadway run. Disney reignited some of that hype by bringing a taped version of the show to Disney+ in 2020—and now, the House of Mouse is taking an even more cinematic approach to court Hamilton fans.

In honor of the musical’s ten-year anniversary, Disney is bringing Hamilton to movie theaters on September 5. Check out the official film trailer here if you’re planning to be in the room where it happens next month.

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