TOGETHER WITH

It’s Thursday and ChatGPT could use a pint of ice cream and some family therapy after having its new personality described as “unsettling” by OpenAI. Parents, amiright?

Today’s News

QUARTERLY REPORT

Snapchat reached 460M daily active users in Q1—but its earnings report was still a mixed bag

The report: Snap’s Q1 2025 report included some milestone stats. Earlier this week, the Snapchat parent revealed that its first-quarter revenue exceeded targets by reaching $1.36 billion for a 14% year-over-year increase. Daily active users, meanwhile, hit a record-setting milestone at 460 million, signaling the year-over-year addition of 38 million new users. Both numbers slightly outdid analyst expectations—but they weren’t enough to outweigh Snap’s cautious outlook for Q2.

The response: Despite its Q1 gains, Snap’s shares dropped 13% in after-hours trading after its execs declined to offer guidance for the coming quarter (per CNBC). “Macroeconomic conditions” were cited as a primary reason for the foggy forecast.

Snap’s scattered approach likely hasn’t done much to reassure its investors, either. After announcing a planned redesign last September that would simplify Snapchat’s design and center Spotlight (Snap’s answer to TikTok), the company revealed that it is now scrapping the new look altogether. The reason: experienced users apparently preferred the “familiarity” of the classic look over the streamlined layout.

The context: That reversal is emblematic of Snapchat’s wide-ranging strategic shifts over the past few years. Spotlight revenue has been reinvented multiple times, the AI division has gone from a source of layoffs to a focus of future development, and a My AI service that was ridiculed upon launch is now a favored feature that Snap says has grown by 55% year-over-year.

Successes like My AI are a bright spot amongst so much upheaval—but if turbulent economic “headwinds” truly are on the horizon (as Snap execs have predicted), it may be time for the company to pick a lane.

🔆 PRESENTED BY OPUSCLIP 🔆

Something big is coming to OpusClip…

OpusClip has already helped 8M+ creators turn long videos into short-form clips. Now, OpusClip is putting the power in your hands—with a new tool that allows creators to generate and post teasers of their latest long-form video or podcast in seconds. 

Thanks to Auto Import, every public video you upload to YouTube will be automatically imported into OpusClip and instantly edited into individual, social media-ready clips.

So you can keep the momentum going on social media—even when you’re between videos.

The best part: You’ll have dozens of teasers at your fingertips, all optimized by platform and ready to post. That way, you can focus on your next project without stressing about keeping up with the algorithm. It’s as simple as that.

Starting right now, all OpusClip subscribers have free access to Auto Import.

Hit the link below to score a free week of OpusClip:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• RHEI says its data monetization platform—which lets creators license their content catalogs to companies building LLMs—could help creators earn up to $100K for every 1,000 hours of content licensed. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, year-old firm Article 41 is teaching student-athletes how to harness their NIL potential and land five-to-six-figure brand deals. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Threads gained 30 million users in Q1 2025, bringing it to a total of 350 million monthly users. (TechCrunch)
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• YouTube announced this week that it has begun testing “blurred thumbnails in search results for mature content” in order to provide users with “safer search experiences.” (YouTube Help)

DREAM 2.0

Dream is entering his VTuber era

The creator: A few years back, Dream was one of the top gaming creators on the internet. As the founder of Minecraft server Dream SMP, he organized collaborative adventures that inspired a massive fanbase and bolstered Minecraft’s popularity on both YouTube and Twitch.

For most of that time, Dream was arguably the biggest “faceless” content creator to date. Then, in October 2022, he unmasked for the first time. Dream SMP shut down not long after due to dwindling interest—and not long after that, Dream walked back the face reveal, saying he “regretted the attention and hate.”

Relative silence followed until earlier this month, when he tweeted he was working on a “rebrand” of his image.

The announcement: That rebrand was unveiled this week in a YouTube livestream called “Dream 2.0.” The tldr: Dream is becoming a VTuber. The creator’s transformation will center around turning his longtime mascot, The Blob, into a fully rigged VTuber model that moves when he moves and talks when he talks.

The context: So, why is Dream undergoing such a major change? On the one hand, it’s possible that he hopes to stave off any future face reveal demands. Those kinds of requests are culturally unacceptable in the VTuber world, where maintaining the illusion that models are true digital representations of their creators is a key aspect.

On the other hand, joining one of the fastest-growing categories in digital content creation is a smart strategic move for a creator whose original draw—Dream SMP—is now defunct. According to YouTube’s latest Culture & Trends report, more than half of people surveyed in 2020 said they weren’t willing to even consider watching VTubers. Fast-forward to 2024, and 57% of 14 to 44-year-olds said they had watched content from a VTuber in the last 12 months.

THE BIZ

Expedia is partnering with an Instagram travel hub

The deal: Expedia Group—aka the holding company behind booking sites like Hotels.com, Vrbo, and (of course) Expedia—is teaming up with a creative agency known for serving up high-res travel content on a popular Instagram account.

To formulate its wanderlust-fueled posts, Beautiful Destinations sources travel photography and videography from a large stable of contributors. Now—thanks to its latest partnership—Beautiful Destination’s content library will be integrated into Expedia’s in-house creative unit, E Studio. That new archive will be leveraged to better serve Expedia’s advertising partners with posts that combine shoppability with Beautiful Destinations’ signature polish.

The context: Expedia Group is a big fish in the world of travel booking, with $3.2 billion in revenue in Q4 2024 alone. But with 61% of respondents in a recent Expedia survey naming social media as their top source for travel inspiration, the company’s prominent position is far from guaranteed. As part of its announcement for the Beautiful Destinations deal, Expedia admitted that some companies in its space are “struggling to address” the need for “short-form, engaging videos.”

The solution to that problem involves a strategy that has gained popularity in the marketing world: using creator content as creative assets in brand campaigns.

By tapping into Beautiful Destinations’ contributor network, Expedia likely hopes to keep up with globetrotting consumers while drawing attention to the booking services integrated into its social media accounts.

WATCH THIS 📺

The latest Star Wars series is coming to Fortnite—before it hits Disney+

The recap: Stars Wars fans are no stranger to Fortnite collabs featuring their favorite content and characters, but there’s something different about Disney’s latest in-game activation.

When Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld debuts tomorrow, it won’t head immediately to Disney+. Instead, according to Engadget, the animated shorts series will premiere first on Fortnite—a full 48 hours before it hits the House of Mouse’s streaming service on May 4. Players will be able to tune into the first two episodes of Tales of the Underworld by visiting an in-game locale called Star Wars Watch Party Island.

Check out a trailer for the show here to prepare yourself for the big premiere.

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