It’s Friday and Mark Zuckerberg took a brief break from AI to focus on building another type of empire. The Meta CEO’s latest acquisition: a castle.

GOING GLOBAL

The expansion: After developing a reputation as the Chinese version of YouTube and becoming one of the top 100 most-visited webpages in the world, BiliBili is launching an international platform.

In China, where YouTube is banned, the 17-year-old entertainment hub is a gateway to local audiences. Some Western creators have sought connections with Chinese viewers by bringing their videos to BiliBili. Most notably, MrBeast arrived on the platform in 2024 and quickly rolled up millions of views.

Now, BiliBili is testing whether that effect will work in reverse. According to Semafor, which cited job postings, product listings, and Discord chatter, BiliBili is primed for overseas expansion. An international platform that was discontinued last year has been relaunched, ID requirements for overseas signups have been dropped, and BiliBili offices are adding staff in cities like Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, São Paulo, Istanbul, and Tokyo.

The context: For BiliBili, staying competitive in regions where both YouTube and TikTok are active will be no small task. Another Chinese platform, known locally as Xiaohongshu and internationally as RedNote, tried to turn the U.S. TikTok ban threat into an expansion opportunity. Instead, Westerners regarded RedNote as a curiosity and gave up on it once TikTok’s American operations were secured.

BiliBili, however, offers plenty of opportunities to earn, and that could be a major selling point. In addition to receiving funding directly from their fans, creators can monetize real-time, side-scrolling “danmu” comments.

If BiliBili can become a dependable revenue stream for its new users, it will certainly attract attention from Western creators.

POLL 📝

Once more for the readers in the back: if you haven’t filled out this poll yet, we’d love to hear from you. (And apologies if you’ve already seen it!)

SOCCER SPHERE

The broadcasts: The English Premier League returns for a new season on August 21. Two days later, LiveMode—aka the parent company of record-breaking Brazilian channel CazéTV—will air a Premier League match for the very first time.

In Brazil and Portugal, LiveMode will broadcast one Premier League match per week for free on YouTube. The Portuguese-language company founded in 2017 by Edgar Diniz and Sérgio Lopes has also acquired partial broadcast rights for the UEFA Champions League, which is widely regarded as the world’s biggest international club football competition.

The context: LiveMode made a huge splash during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, when the creator behind CazéTV (aka Casimiro Miguel) broadcast every match on his YouTube channel—and produced stunning results.

20 different CazéTV World Cup streams eclipsed the previous record for the most concurrent viewers on a YouTube live stream. Five of those streams, including Miguel’s broadcast of Brazil’s match against Japan, attracted more than 20 million concurrent YouTube viewers. And throughout the duration of the World Cup, CazéTV occupied the #1 spot in our Global Sub Top 50 ranking.

In the wake of that World Cup success story, LiveMode moved quickly to capitalize on its surging popularity. CazéTV has secured the broadcast rights for tennis’ WTA Tour through 2030, while a deal with ESPN will enable LiveMode’s Premier League broadcasts in Brazil. In Portugal, a similar agreement with DAZN will pave the way for free, YouTube-based coverage of the Prem.

PATREON’S PLANS

The promise: A month after saying that “AI has fundamentally transformed the tech industry” to explain layoffs affecting 20% of Patreon’s workforce, CEO Jack Conte now says the “current version of the web is a failed promise for creators and fandoms.”

His plan to fulfill that promise involves rolling out 30 new and revamped features for creators, many of which are focused on content promotion, discovery, and analysis. (In other words, the sorts of tools we see on big tech-owned platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.)

Patreon originally pitched itself as a sort of auxiliary platform to big tech’s UGC destinations—a separate place where creators could offer extra content and community-building. But the aforementioned big tech sites (especially YouTube) have been building their own on-platform membership/paywalling systems and adding fandom features.

So, Patreon is making changes to play on their level.

The creator refresh: Among the 30 tools Patreon is introducing are…

Patreon says many more changes and updates are coming in the next few months. We’ll be watching to see how the platform positions itself with these added creator capabilities.

WATCH THIS 👀

The free footage: A year and a half after posting his last Backrooms video on YouTube (and mere months after blowing up the box office with a film of the same name), Kane Parsons is back at it.

According to Forbes, the latest clip to hit the Kane Pixels YouTube channel features free “bonus footage attached to the Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition version of the film.”

As one commenter put it, “Going back to youtube after a big movie is the ultimate flex on hollywood.” Check out the full video here.

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