TOGETHER WITH

It's Monday and Roblox CEO David Baszucki has a few predictions for the platform’s five-year future. #8 on that list: “Thousands of adults will meet for the first time in Roblox dating experiences.”

SHOP TALK

TikTok’s Shop tab has arrived for some U.S.-based users. So…what now?

TikTok’s in-app ecommerce feed has finally crossed the pond. According to Bloomberg, some U.S.-based users now have access to a Shop tab stocked with low-cost products from overseas.

The arrival of TikTok’s Shop tab is a long time coming. The app’s parent company, Bytedance, has made several attempts to bring its shopping empire to the West, while TikTok job listings have hinted at the development of Amazon-style fulfillment centers in the U.S.

Now that the Shop tab has made its debut in the U.S., however, consumers will have the chance to fully buy into TikTok’s ecommerce ambitions. So far, Bytedance’s strategy for attaining the former result seems to mimic that of ecommerce giants like Shein and Temu. TikTok’s Shop tab offers cheap products imported from China, and encourages sales by showing consumers how many times each item has been sold.

Those tactics could generate big sales for TikTok—if the app is willing to deal with potential consequences in Washington. Both Shein and Temu have been classified as “data risks” by U.S. lawmakers, and have drawn heavy criticism for their labor practices and copyright infringements. TikTok will need to tread lightly if it hopes to avoid similar scrutiny: according to Bloomberg, the app’s Shop tab already seems to be stocked with some suspicious goods, including $2.99 “Nike” sweatshirts.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Next month, the world’s most exclusive creator conference will come to Dallas. Do you have your ticket to VidSummit?

Only one event unites the top 1% of content creators—and next month, VidSummit 2023 is coming to Dallas, Texas. Unlike other creator conferences, VidSummit is ​an exclusive space for creators​, marketers, agencies, and brands to network, learn, and strategize—without the presence of fans.

VidSummit is designed by creators, for creators.

As an industry-only event, VidSummit offers influencers and brands the opportunity to discuss the real details of what they do—from making millions a month with YouTube ads to securing high-paying sponsorships.

In other words: ​VidSummit​ is the only event where the creator industry’s leading experts can reveal everything they know.

From October 3-5, dozens of high-profile influencers, brands, and marketers will unite to share rare insights into all corners of the creator economy. Attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Listen in on keynotes from Michelle Khare, PrestonPlayz, and Zach King 💬

• Dissect channel performance with MrBeast and Airrack 👀

• Dive into YouTube’s future with Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie 🔮

• Learn cutting-edge editing techniques from the editors behind the channels of Logan Paul, Sam & Colby, MrBeast, The Try Guys, and more.

• And so much more 🔥

Hit the button below to learn more—and don’t forget to snag your ticket to VidSummit 2023.

​Reserve your spot at VidSummit today →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Patreon is launching member profiles and customizable chat rooms where members of a creator's community can talk to one another and to the creator. (Tubefilter)
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• Creative Juice has launched two new creator-focused products: Pulse—a blog filled with practical advice—and Business Guide, which assists videomakers who are going pro. (Tubefilter)
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• Social audio app Clubhouse is launching a new format based around collaborative messages. (Tubefilter)
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• The Sidemen scored their latest win against the YouTube All-Stars at a charity soccer match on September 9. (Tubefilter)

DATA • MILLIONAIRES 📈

This creator saves money—and the planet—with every shopping trip

Cait Conquers has attracted more than a million fans with her addictive thrifting videos—but at first, she didn’t actually like second-hand shopping.

In fact, she “hated everything about it.”

Cait had grown up in a family that thrifted almost everything they owned, at a time when buying anything second-hand was still heavily stigmatized. By third grade, classmates had begun teasing Cait for wearing thrifted clothes. That bullying led her to resent thrifting for a long time—until she entered the workforce and realized how much a simple t-shirt could cost when purchased brand-new.

That sticker shock helped Cait rediscover the value of thrifting. She was good at it, too: by the time she had kids of her own, was a “professional thrifter” and bought 95% of her family’s household items second-hand. That dedication caught the attention of her stepsister, who told Cait that she should begin posting videos of her hauls on TikTok.

Cait was skeptical at first, but decided give it a shot anyway. The creator says it took “a while for something to hit.” But once it did, there was no stopping her. In the four years since Cait began making videos, she’s accumulated more than 28 million likes and 1 million followers on TikTok. The creator is successful off-TikTok, too: she now claims 400,000 followers on Instagram and another 200,000 YouTube subscribers.

As for her next big adventure? Cait says she’d love to put together an upcycling book that can “teach a younger generation all of these skills that our grandmas used to teach us.”

THE BEST NEVER REST

Preston doubled his brand revenue and tripled his output in one year. Ready to discover his secret?

Last year, Preston Arsement had more than a dozen successful channels, tens of millions of fans, and a decade of experience as a top gaming creator—but he knew he could do more. So, in 2022, he launched an internal inquiry to improve operations at his media company, TBNR.

That investigation raised serious concerns. Among other issues, video budgets and ROIs weren’t being properly recorded, the company’s messaging system was overcomplicated, and project management snafus limited access to a global talent pool. As Arsement told Tubefilter, the way forward was clear: he and his team would need “to go in and rebuild the foundation” of TBNR.

A key point in that quest was the hire of Tony Uckun, who joined TBNR full-time in June 2022 and currently serves as its Chief Strategy Officer. The tech founder and entrepreneur worked with Arsement to upgrade the studio’s wifi and servers, develop cloud-based processes that allowed team members to access info from anywhere in the world, and remove “bottlenecks” by ensuring that no one person was responsible for an entire project.

The next step: moving services in-house.

That mission has already been wildly successful. Arsement’s brand partnerships unit and legal team now operate under his company’s banner, while gaming and non-gaming operations are both run out of TBNR’s HQ in the Dallas area. The result: Arsement has doubled his brand revenue (which reached $2 million in the first half of 2023) and now collects 870.3 million views per month across 16 channels and 81 million followers—a massive increase from the roughly 450 million monthly views he scored before reorganizing TBNR.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast...

September’s not even halfway over, but it’s already been a big month for YouTube. As Shorts continues to rise in popularity, the platform is giving creators a new way to connect their long and short-form content. MrBeast has a helpful tip for video optimization, too—although you’ll have to zip your lips to make it work.

Find out more on this week’s episode of Creator Upload. It’s all right here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort..