TOGETHER WITH

It’s Friday and NBCUniversal announced at CES that it will start distributing minigames via Peacock. Finally, a home for the video game adaptation of The Office (yes, for real).

Today’s News

SKIBIDI TOY-LET

Here’s how Bonkers Toys turned Skibidi Toilet into a Black Friday top seller

The backstory: In the spring of 2023, videos featuring human-headed toilet bowls began to go viral on YouTube Shorts. The so-called Skibidi Toilet fad blew up on the DaFuq!?Boom! channel, operated by Russian animator Alexey Gerasimov.

Nearly two years later, Skibidi Toilet is now the basis for a best-selling toy line. Bonkers Toys - the firm that has launched products inspired by trendy creators like Aphmau, Addison Rae - and Ninja Kidz, has turned Gerasimov’s freaky creations into the hottest items in the toy aisle.

One of those items was Bonkers Toys’ #1 seller on Black Friday 2024, as Bonkers’ Head of Brands Dan Meyer told Tubefilter.

The product: Meyer said that Bonkers chose to forgo the “traditional action figure play” by making Skibidi the sole star of its summer 2024 production season. The aforementioned best-seller is the Mystery Surprise Toilet, which resembles a jack-in-the-box (but with a skibidi-looking head popping out of a toilet bowl, naturally).

As odd as that design may seem, it’s peculiar enough to stand out on a shelf, and Meyer believes that’s one reason why the Mystery Surprise Toilet has become such a big hit.

Bonkers is poised to continue the success of its Gen Alpha-facing toy line. The plan includes 15 more Skibidi SKUs over the 2025 calendar year, according to Meyer.

The response: Skibidi is a Gen Alpha touchstone, and Bonkers has harnessed the power of fan communities as a powerful source of marketing for its products. A network called The Alliance, whose name references the beings that battle Skibidi Toilets in Gerasimov’s animations, has been established to permit partner creators to post fan-made Skibidi content without fear of copyright claims.

40 channels in The Alliance currently combine to pull in 1.5 billion views per month. Meyer noted that a lot of the videos produced by Alliance partners feature homemade ads for the Skibidi toys (one of which can be seen at the end of this video). Meyer called it “totally disruptive to how anyone has ever marketed toys” — but I just call it heads popping out of toilets.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Witness history as all social media platforms converge for an exclusive event

This week, 1 Billion Followers Summit won’t just unite a cadre of world-class speakers in Dubai—it will also invite attendees to immerse themselves in 11 exclusive spaces themed around top platforms.

As the first-ever expo to gather all social media platforms in one place, 1BFS offers access to all these creativity-inspiring spaces (and more!):

• Instagram Space: Dive into the latest tools and trends for content creation

• LinkedIn Space: Network with professionals and learn how to grow your

• personal brand

• Meta Space: Experience cutting-edge innovations in VR and AR

• TikTok Space: Get insights into short-form video success and viral strategies

• X Space: Learn how to leverage trends and real-time conversations

• YouTube Space: Master long-form video creation and audience engagement

• Snapchat Space: Explore creative storytelling and immersive digital experiences

• Thamaneya Space: Discover a media platform celebrating culture, knowledge, and storytelling.

Still have room in your itinerary?

After uncovering the secrets behind the world’s top platforms, attendees will have a chance to stop by book signings with Simon Squibb (January 11 at 5 PM) and Prajakta Koli (January 12 at 5 PM).

Find out more on the Summit website → 

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Thanks in part to the launch and rapid growth of Cristiano Ronaldo’s YouTube channel, soccer creators across the globe are raking in millions of subscribers. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• RHEI Data Pro is a new monetization platform that pays creators who license their videos as training material for generative AI models. (Tubefilter) 
  
  

• After launching original podcasts helmed by creators, Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network is moving into acquisitions by picking up a pair of true crime shows. (The Hollywood Reporter)
  
  

• Veteran Minecraft creator DanTDM is the host of a new Classic FM show that will dive into the world of video game music. (Classic FM)
  

TEEING OFF

The number of PGA Tour events for creators will go from one to three in 2025

Mark your calendars: A new stop on the PGA Tour is getting thrice as big in the coming year. After putting on the first Creator Classic in 2024, North America's leading golf organization is upping the ante with a trio of influencer tournaments over the next 12 months.

With Creator Classics set to tee off in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Jacksonville, the PGA Tour is poised to ride a wave that has made golf one of the more popular sports on social media. The trio of events will boast powerful distributors, including Peacock, YouTube, and ESPN+.

The context: Golf creators like Bob Does Sports and Luke Kwon (the winner of the 2024 Creator Classic) have become the new faces of the sport, injecting youth and energy into a pastime that could use a little rejuvenation. Links man Grant Horvat showed how far golf creators have come when he collaborated with Tiger Woods in a YouTube video that got more than one million views in its first day of activity.

At major events on the PGA calendar — the Tour Championship, the Players Championship, and the Truist Championship — those YouTube and Instagram stars will get to share the spotlight with golf’s top pros. The first of those Creator Classics, tied to the Players Championship, will tee off in March.

Technical difficulties: The PGA Tour is hoping that a little youth and excitement can help it stave off a challenge from the rising LIV Golf circuit. But can it modernize its product enough to attract that audience?

The creators behind leading golf channel Good Good have their doubts. Co-Founder Garrett Clark told The Guardian that the first iteration of the Creator Classic “missed what made us special” while Creative Producer Max Putnam called for innovations like “Cart Cam” and mic’d-up players. Take note, PGA.

WATCH THIS 📺

Is “ethical family vlog” an oxymoron? Shari Franke thinks so.

The video: Franke has been doing the rounds to support the launch of her memoir The House of My Mother, which details the abuse she and her siblings faced at the hands of their mother — family vlogger Ruby Franke — and her business partner Jodi Hildebrant. In an interview with Good Morning America, Shari said “for me, forgiveness would look like not letting that consume every moment of my life.”

The issue: Few family vloggers are as abusive as Ruby Franke, but Shari believes that no parent can ethically feature their child in a social media post. She has campaigned in Utah for laws to protect those exploited minors, but even that would not be enough, she claimed. “The consequences of it, growing up with your whole life online, I don’t think any amount of money would justify that,” she told Rolling Stone.

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