It's Monday and “six-seven” is officially the defining word of 2025, according to Dictionary.com. The brainrot era continues.

Today’s News

VR FILMMAKING

After becoming Hollywood’s creator darlings, Racka Racka is coming to a VR headset near you

The scares: Brotherly creators Danny and Michael Philippou made a great deal, and they didn’t even have to shake hands with the dead to clinch it. The duo behind the RackaRacka YouTube channel is joining forces with Meta and immersive studio XRTV for a 3D spinoff of the Philippous’ 2023 horror hit, Talk To Me.

The new project, which is currently untitled, will be available exclusively on Meta Quest devices. Talk To Me studio Causeway Films is also involved in the series, which will consist of six half-hour episodes. The plot will unfold on a European island, where revelers will find an embalmed hand that turns out to be quite the party trick.

The franchise: Talk To Me didn’t get much hype ahead of its theatrical release. Who could believe that a pair of YouTubers known for edgy pranks and backyard action films could helm a full-scale Hollywood feature?

But Talk To Me defied the odds to become a favorite horror flick among aficionados. As a result, there’s been a boom of creators-as-Hollywood-directors, and the Philippous are leveling up their own brainchild, too. The upcoming entry in the Talk To Me saga is described as “Euphoria with possession.”

The spinoff: Talk To Me’s arrival on Meta’s line of VR devices will be aided by some experienced digital horror operatives. XRTV’s Darren Brandl and Jack Davis previously co-founded Crypt TV, a studio that frequently released its scary creations through Facebook.

Meta will be hoping its investment in YouTube-based talent pays off. The tech giant needs a big win for Reality Labs after the VR division incurred a $4.4 billion loss during Q3 2025. Are the Philippous the right creators to reverse that trend? Give me your thoughts, come on, talk to me.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Collab’s new initiative is all about making content licensing more accessible. Reaction creators (and everyone else) can now license its 235,000+ clips under a revenue-split model, with zero cash upfront. (Tubefilter)

• Zohran Mamdani’s exclusive briefing for influencers shows that the New York City mayoral frontrunner wants to keep creators close should he earn a turn in office. Mamdani himself has a big TikTok following, so we can’t say we’re surprised by this move. (NBC News)

• Disney and YouTube have buried the Justin Connolly hatchet. The Mouse House sued its Google-owned rival in an attempt to avert the poaching of a prized ESPN exec. Now, the two tech giants have reached a settlement. Hooray for friendship! (Deadline)

• Tubi was one of the stars of parent company Fox’s Q3 2025 earnings report. For the first time, the FAST platform is profitable. Will its ongoing work with creators push those numbers even higher? (TheWrap)

LOVE FOR LIVE SHOPPING

Whatnot announces a funding round north of $200 million for the second time this year

The investment: In 2025 alone, Whatnot has announced two funding rounds that each include more than $200 million of venture capital. After securing a $265 million Series E back in January at roughly a $5 billion valuation, the virtual auction house has now reeled in a $225 million Series F that comes with a valuation of $11.5 billion.

That latest round, co-led by DST Global and Alphabet’s CapitalG growth fund, will fuel Whatnot’s ambitious growth plan. The major ecommerce player has its eyes on the United States and Europe as it looks to ride the cresting social shopping wave.

Whatnot blends live streaming with bidding, with many users auctioning off baseball cards, vinyl records, and other collectibles. The platform’s social features are key, with individual sellers turning their engaging streams into small businesses.

The industry: Digital ecommerce sales are expected to reach $19 billion in the U.S. this year. In 2024, TikTok’s global Gross Merchandise Value reached $33.2 billion.

Whatnot is a key cog in that machine. Since its 2019 founding, its valuation has typically been tied to the overall health of the creator economy.

That industry is looking quite healthy these days, which is why Whatnot’s valuation has spiked from $5 billion (at the time of its January 2025 Series E) to the current figure of $11.5 billion. As long as social media users continuing to show interest in feed-side shopping, Whatnot’s outlook will remain sunny.

The platform owes much of its popularity to its appealing culture and its strong investment in its business model. Whatnot users already stay glued to the screen for 80 minutes at a time. Post Series F, will even more attention be paid to this promising platform?

A $1 BILLION BUMP?

Podcasts are selling products, but some brands are still holding back (to the tune of $1 billion)

The cash: Podcasts are forecast to command nearly $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year—but advertising agency Oxford Road says that number could be nearly $1 billion higher if podcasts and platforms were better about showing brands exactly what they’re getting for their money.

This past July, Oxford Road gathered 75 people it calls “brand decision makers” (including “six of the top 10 spenders in podcasting”) for a summit—and during that summit, it asked them what pain points they’re still seeing in podcasts.

The results? A full half of respondents said their brands are holding back on buying podcast ads because of “limitations in performance data.” And they cited video podcasts as being particularly difficult.

The contenders: Despite these issues, some podcasts are still delivering serious sell-through—and making serious cash—by targeting passionate audiences with products that genuinely interest them. Oxford Road spent 12 months gathering podcast sales data to release its first official list of the Top 15 Podcasts Measured by Ad Performance…and the names on the list are probably not the ones you’re thinking of.

Shows like The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy, which have dominated podcast listening charts for years and regularly make headlines with splashy guests, are completely absent from the top 15. This indicates brands “systematically overpay for household names while smaller shows deliver better returns,” Oxford Road said.

Shows that did make the cut? #1 is Dungeons & Dragons darling Critical Role, followed by The David Pakman Show, The Megyn Kelly Show, and Monday Morning Podcast. We have the full list up here.

WATCH THIS 📺

Welcome to a Woman of the Year

The trophy: Kids’ education/entertainment YouTuber Ms. Rachel just snagged the cover of Glamour magazine. Why, you ask? Because she was named one of the outlet’s 2025 Women of the Year.

As Glamour puts it, Ms. Rachel (aka Rachel Accurso, who started making videos as a stay-at-home mom to help her son overcome a speech delay) has built a kiducation empire with “13 billion YouTube views, more than 17 million subscribers, nine books, a line of toys that sells out within hours, and a Netflix series with four episodes in its first season that pulled in more than 53 million views, making it the platform’s seventh most watched series in the first half of 2025 and the most watched kids program of the same period.”

She’s also just joined the lauded ranks of TV show hosts to be invited on Sesame Street, giving her lots of YouTube-ready screentime with characters like Elmo. We knew YouTube would be the home for the next generation of innovative kids’ shows—and now we’re seeing these creators get the recognition they deserve.

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