It's Wednesday and #BookTok is making its way to Spotify thanks to the audio streaming platform’s new partnership with TikTok.

Today’s News

PLATFORM UPDATES

Roblox is entering its TikTok era

The TikTok copycat: Roblox is doubling down on its appeal to Gen Z and A consumers with the launch of its very own TikTok copycat feed. Users will be able to leverage that feed, called Roblox Moments, to share 30-second vertical gameplay clips.

For now, the core components of Moments (which include content creation capabilities like trimming, adding music, and writing descriptions, plus actual video viewing) are rolling out in beta to users 13 and older. That’s the standard age for COPPA regulations, which suggests Roblox may plan to add short-form ads to the feed in the future. 

Roblox said that during the beta period, it will work on testing and refining Moments moderation to ensure videos are age-appropriate (per TechCrunch).

The announcements: In addition to positioning Moments as an asset for developers by calling the feed “part of our vision for discovery,” Roblox used the recent Roblox Developers Conference (aka RDC) to announce an increase of the Developer Exchange rate by 8.5%. (That means when developers of Roblox games cash out the amount of Robux spent by players in those games, they’ll get $380 per 100,000 Robux, compared to the old rate of $350 per 100,000.)

At the same event, Roblox revealed plans to launch AI-driven tools for devs that will let them produce functional assets like cars and weapons via text prompting. Other incoming AI tools include text-to-speech generation for NPCs, plus real-time player-to-player voice chat translation in English, Spanish, French, and German.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• A new talent company, Stealth Talent, turns creators into business owners by pairing them with “ambitious startup founders.” (Tubefilter)
  
  

• 28-year-old TikTok creator Vanillamace has signed with UTA for representation in all areas. (Variety)
  ​

• Instagram is giving users the ability to pin their own comments on posts they’ve uploaded. (Social Media Today)
  
  

• In a recent legal filing, Google conceded that “the open web is already in rapid decline.” (Ars Technica)

MONEY MOVES

France’s biggest streamer charity drive just raised over €16M

The fundraiser: ZEvent might not be well-known to viewers outside of France, but after raising €16.1 million in just four days, the annual charity drive is putting its name on the map.

During the first week of September, 325 French creators went live one after another on the official ZEvent stream, which collectively raised the equivalent of roughly $18.7 million. Those funds will be spread across nine recipient charities, with the Fondation de France overseeing distribution.

ZEvent has been run nearly every year since 2016, with the last three editions of the event raising roughly €10 million each. The organizers behind the annual drive are esports caster Adrien Nougaret (whose ZeratoR account ranks among France’s most-followed Twitch hubs) and Alexandre Dachary (aka Dach).

The context: The 2025 edition of ZEvent isn’t just the biggest charity drive in the event’s history. It’s also the most lucrative undertaking of its type ever hosted on a streaming platform, having blown MrBeast’s $12 million #TeamWater Kick stream out of the water.

ZEvent’s French roots help explain its staggering success. Creator content has become so big in France that then-Prime Minister François Bayrou used an August 2025 web series to defend unpopular budget cuts.

While that series failed to achieve its goal, France’s economic turmoil likely contributes to the growth of its creator community. Across the border in Spain, long-term economic difficulties have led budget-conscious consumers to turn to streamers for entertainment.

French viewers and their favorite creators might prefer for their nation’s economy to turn around, but hey—at least nine charities are (collectively) €16.1 million richer.

GAME ON

Schwab’s “Twitch Plays Catan” event aims to make financial literacy fun

The event: Schwab is putting a gamified spin on financial stability. Starting yesterday, the investment firm is hosting a two-day tournament called Twitch Plays Catan, which pits influencers against one another in the titular, hexagonal game world.

Schwab’s big event—which combines creator appearances with expert financial advice—fits into a tabletop gaming niche that has been relevant on Twitch since the platform’s early days. Twitch Plays Catan is borrowing the format of PogChamps, a long-running gauntlet that pits streamers against each other on the chessboard.

The event’s name also references the Twitch Plays genre, in which viewers use chat messages to impact gameplay decisions. Twitch Plays Catan won’t be as chaotic as a typical crowdsourced stream, but the tournament will allow viewers to advise their favorite players over chat as they consider resource trades and settlement placements. Eight players will join the event—including celebrities like actor Khleo Thomas, creators like Lunity, and athletes like Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith—with one earning the title of “ultimate Catan champion.”

The details: As Schwab’s Catan tournament wages on, the brand’s financial experts will draw links between the game’s resource management elements and real-world spending habits. Michael Iachini, the Head of Manager Research at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, will host the event. 

If you want to see how that combination of IRL financial advice and in-game sheep hoarding plays out tonight, head over to the Twitch Plays Catan homepage starting at 6 PM ET.

WATCH THIS

The Vlogbrothers are tapping into a centuries-old rivalry

The age-old debate: Hank and John Green have delighted viewers with their good-natured sibling rivalries for years—but not nearly as long as consumers have delighted over the caffeinated joys of tea and coffee.

In a response to Hank’s “recent scientific overview of caffeine” (which also served as a love letter to tea), John contributed to the age-old coffee vs. tea debate by lauding coffee as the superior beverage. More specifically, the creator lauded Keats & Co. Coffee—a brand he and his brother sell through their Good.Store website.

According to that storefront, 100% of profits from Keats & Co. Coffee sales go towards tuberculosis treatment programs in Lesotho. In his video, Hank confirmed that the brand has now raised “over $1 million to provide life-saving tuberculosis care.”

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter.

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