TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and Prime Video is turning awkward pauses into ad-portunities. After all, what’s a bathroom break without a few targeted Amazon product promotions?

USA V. TIKTOK

TikTok is officially suing the United States of America

The news: TikTok is taking the U.S. government to court. The app and its parent company, ByteDance, have filed federal lawsuits to contest the legality of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversaries Act—aka the U.S.’s newly-signed “divest-or-ban” law.

The case: TikTok and Bytedance’s suits took a two-pronged approach. In targeting the “divest” aspect of the law, both companies claimed that the required sale is “simply not possible” because transferring TikTok’s code base to a U.S.-based overseer calls for a nonexistent "team of engineers” with “no understanding of the complex code necessary to run the platform.”

• An accompanying argument brought the First Amendment into play. TikTok’s official suit argued that a law designed to single out and ban “a vibrant online forum for protected speech and expression used by 170 million Americans” is an “obviously unconstitutional” regulation. Bytedance’s filing expressed a similar sentiment:

The context: This isn’t the first time TikTok has gone to court over a U.S. law. The app previously challenged restrictions on its availability at the state level, including a ban enacted by Montana Governor Greg Gianforte. The app’s case against that law similarly hinged on constitutionality—an approach that appears to have panned out in TikTok’s favor. Its latest battle with the American government, however, seems destined for the Supreme Court.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

What’s the biggest myth in creator representation? Here’s the answer from Viral Nation agents and creators:

As a creator, finding the right support system is crucial. But it’s not always obvious what that support should look like. 

That’s why Viral Nation Talent offers personalized 360° creator representation—and why we sat down with Viral Nation agents and creators to bust the biggest myths in creator representation. 

What’s the main misconception creators have about working with an agent?

1. "The agent will do everything for you.”
Ryan Lu (E.mo.tions): “While representation helps so much, no one is gonna want it more than you so put in the work & keep your head up."

2. Having representation defines “who you are as a creator.”
Drea Montgomery (Thatssodrea): "Although, it’s definitely helpful to have an agent, it’s best to take your time and do your research before committing to anything.”

3. "Finding brand deals is easy."
Michael Chew, Director of Comedy, Entertainment, Gaming, Music & Sports

4. "When you sign with an agent, the next day things start to happen.”​​​
Toni Rose Goulden, Senior Talent Agent (Beauty/Lifestyle): “There is a ramp up period where we work together to establish short and long term goals, and actively pitch, which takes time!”

Hit the link below to learn more about Viral Nation Talent:

Take your content to new heights →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• JiDion has returned to Twitch following a years-long ban. The streamer was initially blocked in 2022, when his fans carried out an online “hate raid” against fellow creator Pokimane. (Tubefilter)
  

• Meta is reportedly experimenting with a test feature that allows some Instagram users to cross-post content to Threads. (Engadget)
  ​

• OpenAI has announced the development of a new tool that will give content creators and owners the ability to choose whether their work is used for AI training. (TechCrunch)
  ​

• Tubi is teaming up with Issa Rae’s Color Creative to launch Stubios, a “fan-fueled” incubator program for up-and-coming filmmakers and creators.  (The Verge)

DATA • GLOBAL TOP 50 📈

Is CoComelon about to lose its billion-view YouTube record?

Kid-friendly channels battled it out in the charts this week—and they weren’t alone. While Anaya Kandhal took on CoComelon, T-Series and MrBeast went head-to-head (again) for the title of YouTube’s most-followed channel.

Here’s how the global rankings panned out:

🥇 The pint-sized star: After five consecutive weeks at #1, India-based tot Anaya Kandhal is closer than ever to beating the record for most views in a seven-day period. If that trend continues, the kiddo could soon nullify CoComelon’s status as the only YouTube channel to score 1 billion views in a single week.

🥈 The music giant: As of May, T-Series is still the most subscribed-to hub on YouTube. The Indian record label has secured a #2 finish for five weeks straight thanks to a steady stream of high-quality music videos. Will that streak survive MrBeast’s next cash-fueled challenge?

🥉 The cat and mouse: Luckily for T-Series, MrBeast hasn’t climbed too high in the Global Top 5. The music giant is still tailed by two family-friendly Indian channels: KL Bro Biju Rithvik and The geeta gurjar. The former of those hubs snagged a #3 finish in the first week of May by a margin of just 3 million views.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 The family channel: The geeta gurjar dropped back down to fourth place after hitting an all-time high of #5 in our previous ranking. Despite that setback, the Shorts-based family channel managed to bring in roughly 531 million views—nearly 6 million more than North America’s only chart-topping representative.

💪 The challenger: MrBeast rounded out our latest Global Top 5 by surpassing 525 million views. That seven-day total brought him just a bit closer to T-Series’ record-breaking subscriber count. Will next week’s viewership numbers seal the deal?

WATCH THIS 📺

Another Netflix series is getting its own mobile game adaptation

The game: Lovers of soapy romance and addictive mobile games will soon be able to immerse themselves in the small-town world of Virgin River. According to Netflix, Stories: Virgin River offers fans of the original series an opportunity to “interact with your favorite characters and make choices that help you discover what's been missing in your life.”

The trailer: A teaser for the mobile game gives off some seriously steamy choose-your-own-adventure vibes (and yes, players will have the opportunity to date at least one of their favorite on-screen heartthrobs).

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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.