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YouTube "just isn't cutting it" šŸ˜±

Rooster Teeth moves on.

TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and a former TikTok employee is giving content creators a dedicated platform to ā€œspill the teaā€ without revealing their true identities.

MOVING ON

YouTube revenue ā€œjust isnā€™t cutting itā€ for Rooster Teeth anymore

Rooster Teeth is pulling some of its most popular shows from YouTubeā€”including the longest-running web series in internet history, Red vs. Blue. On October 5, showrunner Kerry Shawcross confirmed that fan favorites like Camp Camp and Red vs. Blue will now be available exclusively through Rooster Teethā€™s website. The logic behind that change is simple:

ā

Animation is hard and expensive.

Kerry Shawcross, Rooster Teeth Showrunner

Although Rooster Teethā€™s primary channel claims 9 million subscribers, Shawcross says the corresponding revenue ā€œjust isnā€™t cutting it.ā€ In a recent X post, the showrunner explained that ads on Rooster Teethā€™s website generate ā€œfive to ten timesā€ more value compared to ads on YouTube. Increased site traffic could also drive viewers to FIRST, Rooster Teethā€™s paid subscription service.

ā€œThese changes are all about ensuring we can continue to create the content you know and love as well as new and upcoming projects. ā€œ

Kerry Shawcross

The success of Rooster Teethā€™s new website-oriented strategy depends in large part on the loyalty of its current viewershipā€”something that the company has struggled to maintain in recent months. In 2022, Rooster Teeth received criticism from former employees, who called out poor working conditions and abusive treatment from staff. Although Rooster Teeth released a statement apologizing for ā€œhateful and hurtful behavior,ā€ it has not yet recaptured its peak viewership.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF šŸ“°

DATA ā€¢ MILLIONAIRES šŸ“ˆ

Embracing the ā€œcringeā€ has earned this couple 6 million followers in a single years

Kay and Tay Dudley have always been fascinated by social media. The two creators both developed interests in photo and video editing long before they ever met and got married. The only catch: neither of them ever actually posted anything.

That all changed on the last day of 2021.

The Dudleys were returning home from visiting family, and decided to make a video of their road trip. It was more fun than theyā€™d expectedā€”so Kay and Tay decided to post a video on TikTok every day for the next year. At the time, Kay says ā€œit was really just to make memories together.ā€ Their first few videos were ā€œa little cringeā€ (according to Tay) and mainly reached family members. The couple didnā€™t mind; in fact, Kay says they ā€œleaned into itā€ and just enjoyed the process.

Then Tay decided to wear a pair of oven mitts as shoes.

The silly prank cracked Kay upā€”and successfully charmed around 1.8 million TikTok viewers. After that, the coupleā€™s growth was meteoric. Since posting their first lifestyle video a year and a half ago, the Dudleys have accumulated nearly 6 million TikTok followers and another 1.3 million Instagram followers.

Their next target: YouTube.

With Kay working on content full-time and Tay hoping to go remote in the near future, the couple hopes to ā€œdive into longer form contentā€ and take ā€œthat step into the YouTube style content creation.ā€ To learn more about the Dudleysā€™ social media journey, check out our full interview with them here.

TARGET PRACTICE

Candle Media spent billions on acquisitions. Now, the company could miss earnings targets by 50%.

Since 2021, Candle Media has allocated billions to the acquisition of big-name media properties like Reese Witherspoonā€™s Hello Sunshine and Moonbug (aka the owner of CoComelon). Now, Bloomberg says Candle could fall 50% short of yearly financial projections.

Those findings suggest that Candleā€™s yearly profit will shake out to between $140 million and $170 millionā€”a big drop from both a previous $330 million estimate and a lower projection supplied by banking firm Blackstone (which is Candleā€™s biggest backer).

Subsidiaries and strikes have a lot to do with that dramatic drop.

According to Candle co-founder and former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, ā€œunprecedentedā€ obstacles like the recent WGA strikes and flagging YouTube ad revenue have led to ā€œa disappointing year.ā€ Hello Sunshine and Moonbug are responsible for a significant chunk of those financial woes; the former company is projected to deliver just 10% of its expected yearly earnings, while Moonbug is only expected to reach 30% of its projected earnings.

Nevertheless, both Mayer and Blackstone remain optimistic about Candleā€™s future:

ā€œCandle is a highly profitable, high-quality business with world-class talent and creative output that has had significant organic growth since our investments. As with virtually everyone else in this industry there has been an impact from once-in-a-generation strikes and the broader economic environment.ā€

Blackstone spokesperson

WATCH THIS šŸ“ŗ

Hi, IShowSpeed: itā€™s October 2023

Three years ago, IShowSpeed was a kid with 5,900 YouTube subscribers and a dream. Nowadays, the gamer is a Streamy Award winner with closer to 20.5 million subscribersā€”but all that success didnā€™t stop Speedā€™s former self from making an appearance over the weekend.

On Saturday, younger version of the streamer charmed fans with a video entitled ā€œHi Me in 3 Years.ā€ In the (presumably scheduled) clip, Speed wondered aloud about the size of his future fanbase and gave a shoutout to whoever heā€™d be talking to in the far-off year of 2023.

Check out the full video 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.