It’s Tuesday and the platform that knows you best (and probably a little too well, if we’re being honest) is getting ads. Ready for some ChatGPT #sponcon?

Today’s News

TIKTOK TALK

TikTok just launched its own microdrama app

The app: TikTok is going all-in on the microdrama boom. The video app has quietly launched PineDrama, a new hub that offers microdramas (aka serial productions distributed in the form of bite-sized episodes) to users in the U.S. and Brazil.

Hit shows like Love at First Bite have already drawn 18 million views on PineDrama, so TikTok users have clearly caught onto its debut—even if the app was introduced in a stealthy fashion.

The context: Microdramas began as a Chinese phenomenon before exploding onto the global entertainment scene last year. Thanks in large part to TikTok, the microdrama industry has since evolved into a multi-billion-dollar business. By November 2025, studies showed that 28 million U.S.-based viewers were watching microdramas. More than half of those consumers were between the ages of 18 and 34.

TikTok’s connections to China make it a clear contender in the microdrama space, but it’s hardly the only platform looking to capitalize on the genre’s sudden popularity. As TikTok brought PineDrama to market, Holywater—the Ukrainian firm behind the microdrama app My Drama—announced a $22 million Series A round to build on the big year it had in 2025.

Holywater Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov described that cash injection as the “largest investment in the microdrama space to date outside of Asia.”

The future: At the start of the 2025, many U.S. consumers still associated microdramas with failed ventures like Quibi. Now, as we head into 2026, the staying power of the microdrama trend is looking more assured than ever before. And with Hollywood firms and notable creators like Hannah Stocking getting involved in the genre, it’s starting to feel like an arms race, too.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• For the first time, Threads has overtaken X in terms of global daily mobile users. (Engadget)
  
  

• Fortnite has updated its rules on item sales to prohibit developers from offering “in-island transactions that directly or indirectly influence prize wheels.” (The Verge)
  
  

• Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has confirmed that Netflix will commit to 45-day theatrical releases for upcoming Warner Bros. Discovery films if its acquisition of the studio proceeds. (The Verge)
  
  

• TikTok is facing a lawsuit after laying off roughly 400 content moderators just one week before a unionization vote was set to take place. (Engadget)

POWER PLAYERS

The BBC is joining forces with YouTube

The deal: The BBC has sealed a “major content deal” with YouTube.

That news comes just days after Barb Audiences—aka the U.K.’s audience measurement/TV ratings organization—announced that YouTube pulled more viewers than the BBC in December. As of February 2025, Google’s video platform is also the #1 most-watched distributor of content across broadcast, cable, and streaming in the U.S. 

That dominance has rankled competitors like Netflix—but the BBC is taking a more cooperative approach. Its new deal will have the network developing shows specifically for first broadcast on YouTube, people familiar with the matter told The Financial Times. The shows will later deploy on the BBC’s own digital streaming platform iPlayer, but will apparently have an exclusivity window on YouTube beforehand.

Sources told FT that the BBC’s YouTube shows will be aimed at Gen Zers (43% of whom get their news from TikTok) and will be designed to counter disinformation/misinformation on social media.

The context: Misinformation has been on the rise since the start of Donald Trump‘s second administration, with platforms cutting their fact-checking teams and actively allowing the spread of fake info. (The BBC itself is also currently facing a $10 billion lawsuit from Trump, who has accused it of making defamatory edits to his January 6, 2021 speech.)

But the BBC’s deal with YouTube isn’t purely about combating misinformation; it also has a financial upside. Instead of monetizing content through ads to U.K. viewers, the BBC earns money by charging a licensing fee of £174.50/year to each household that watches its content.

With YouTube reaching an international audience, however, the network will be able to earn AdSense revenue on non-U.K.-based views. In addition to posting bespoke series, it may also monetize its back catalog by uploading some older shows in its content library to YouTube.

POD PEOPLE

Netflix wants to become a daily habit with its (original) podcasts

The podcasts: In a few short months, podcasts have gone from a non-factor in Netflix‘s library to a key element of the company’s strategy. The latest step in that plan involves original video podcasts led by celebrity hosts like comedian Pete Davidson and Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin.

The first episode of Irvin’s Netflix original podcast, The White House with Michael Irvin, dropped Monday, while The Pete Davidson Show is set to kick off on January 30. Both hosts have made previous appearances on Netflix, with Davidson bringing two comedy specials to the platform and Irvin appearing in the docuseries America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys.

The restrictions: Between those two original podcasts, Netflix will deliver three new episodes per week. More shows are likely to follow, providing a consistent volume of content that should help the streamer keep pace with changing consumption habits.

While big-name originals like Stranger Things once dominated Netflix’s lineup, their expensive and time-consuming development became a thorn in the streamer’s side. The delays that slowed down the fifth season of Stranger Things, for instance, are one reason why many fans found the show’s conclusion to be underwhelming, despite its financial success.

Compared to prestige TV, podcasts are cost-effective and quick to produce, making them valuable assets for Netflix. Late last year, the platform teamed up with Spotify to syndicate video versions of that platform’s original podcasts. A similar deal with iHeartMedia soon followed. Now, with its own slate of original podcasts, Netflix is becoming less reliant on its rivals.

WATCH THIS

This week on the podcast…

“Meet the CEO”: On the latest episode of Creator Upload, hosts Lauren Schnipper and Josh Cohen break down the "carcinization" of media—a trend that has seen every company from Disney to Pinterest turn into TikTok—and YouTube’s strict new parental controls.

Stay tuned to hear from Agentio CEO Arthur Leopold, who sits down with Cohen and Schnipper to unveil The Ultimate 2026 YouTube Creator Marketing Playbook and some key insights surrounding YouTube sponsorships.

Check out the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for all the details.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​

Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter’s audience? Sponsor the newsletter.

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