TOGETHER WITH

It’s Wednesday and Netflix is celebrating the thrills of classic film—and the legacy of “the original cinema influencer”—by hosting its very own Alfred Hitchcock marathon.

Today’s News

STREAMING BIG

TikTok just beat Twitch to become the #2 most-watched livestreaming platform

The report: According to new data from Streams Charts, Twitch isn’t the biggest livestreaming platform on the internet. In fact, it’s not even the second biggest.

Instead, the analytics firm’s Global Livestreaming Landscape report found that YouTube accounted for 50.3% of the ~29.7 billion hours of watch time collectively generated by livestreaming platforms in Q1 2025. TikTok Live—which hasn’t historically been included in Streams Charts’ report—came in second place with 8.027 billion hours of watch time, or around 27% of the industry total.

And Twitch? The Amazon-owned hub came in third place, with 4.847 billion watch hours (16.3% of the total). Fourth was competitor Kick with 2.9% of the total, followed by niche streamers like SOOP and NimoTV. Right-wing Rumble ended up with 0.5% of the total.

The numbers: Streams Charts attributes YouTube’s extreme lead to the genre diversity of its live content—but the real surprise standout here is TikTok. The platform recently revealed that over 400,000 creators go live on its platform every day (with 30 million viewers tuning in) and collectively generate $10 million in daily revenue—80.4% of which is generated by streamers with fewer than 50,000 followers.

Streams Charts’ report also showed that TikTok Live’s watch hours jumped 30% from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, making it one of only four platforms to show watch time growth in Q1. And while TikTok Live mostly revolves around IRL/lifestyle streams and ecommerce, gaming/esports streams ticked up in this quarter, with streamers broadcasting mobile games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

If TikTok Live continues to grow, that focus on mobile gaming could set it apart from YouTube and Twitch. Creators play mobile games on those platforms as well, but they aren’t nearly as popular as PC and console games—meaning this is a niche where TikTok Live could dominate.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Struggling with creative block as a YouTuber? ChatGPT isn’t the answer (seriously).

The conundrum: AI is everywhere—and as more creators hit burnout, tools like ChatGPT are becoming increasingly common brainstorm partners. The problem: bots like ChatGPT and Grok are trained on non-personalized data from all corners of the web (even the ones you’d rather not consult). And often, they’re also just wrong.

Still, Spotter knew creators were seeking brainstorming insights informed by real data—so they worked with YouTube creators to design a suite of video creation and planning tools driven by YouTube-specific data and personalized insights. 

The solution: While other AI tools generate surface-level ideas, Spotter Studio taps into your actual content performance and interactions to deliver insights tailored to your niche and style. 

Best of all: Spotter Studio goes beyond simple conversation to rank your video ideas by viewership potential, generate custom thumbnails, and analyze elements from your top-performing videos. 

Spotter Studio is completely free for an entire week—so, why not check out the toolkit used by Dude Perfect, Kinigra Deon, The Infographics Show, and Colin and Samir?

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• The SAG-AFTRA board has unanimously approved a recommendation to establish a committee for digital influencers. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• Snap is walking back plans for a “Simple Snapchat” redesign after losing approximately 1 million North American users. (The Verge)
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• Just days after releasing Edits, Meta has launched its own standalone AI chatbot app to compete with rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. (Engadget)
  
  

• Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced yesterday that the state has filed a lawsuit against TikTok over concerns that the platform is “designed to addict kids.” (WSFA 12)

GLOBAL TOP 50 🌎

Brace yourselves, Shorts viewers: The chicken jockeys (and Jack Black) are coming.

The trend: It’s now been just about a month since YouTube changed its view-counting formula to make the numbers go up on Shorts. At first, that update caused some major shakeups in our weekly ranking of top 50 most-viewed YouTube channels—but now that the dust is settling, it’s back to business as usual. In other words: video game memes are retaking their rightful place in the charts.

If you thought A Minecraft Movie was causing chaos in theaters (where children are screaming lines at the screen and going hog-wild for the chicken jockey), then just wait until you start scrolling on Shorts. An internet trend that translates easily across linguistic and cultural lines is a veritable goldmine for YouTube’s biggest Shorts channel—and that’s exactly what A Minecraft Movie provides.

The film has created a shared experience for kids around the globe, and channels like Hopper Sprunki Incredibox are taking advantage by pumping out Minecraft-themed Shorts with little-to-no dialogue, catchy beats, and high-energy visuals.

This single Jack Black-focused clip, for instance, has scored more than 66 million views in just one month.

The TLDR: A Minecraft Movie has given more mainstream attention to a trend that was already lurking under the surface on Shorts: channels that feature popular games in their videos tend to get a leg up on those that don’t—especially when those gaming clips are simplified to appeal to the broadest possible range of viewers.

CONVENTION SEASON

Exclusive: YouTube’s 20-year celebration includes a title sponsorship at VidCon Anaheim

The convention: Last September, VidCon switched hands from Paramount Global to Informa. Now, in just under two months, the U.K.-based media and events company will have a chance to demonstrate its expertise at the convention’s Southern California mainstay—and YouTube will be there to serve as the topline partner.

YouTube’s programming at the 2025 iteration of VidCon Anaheim will include a creator game show, a live “Roblox Hunt,” and an outdoor experience adjacent to the Anaheim Convention Center. A keynote from YouTube Head of Culture and Trends Kevin Alocca and VP of Creator Products Amjad Hanif will celebrate the Google-affiliated platform’s 20th anniversary, while a mix of creator meet-ups will span multiple eras of online video content. So far, the list of featured creators ranges from long-time YouTubers (Smosh, Hank Green, LaurDIY) to short-form stars (Justin Flom, Kika Kim, Leo Gonzalez).

As usual, programming will be split across three tracks: one for creators, one for members of their respective communities, and one for online video industry pros. Multi-day passes for the June 19-21 event start at $160.

The history: YouTube first served as VidCon’s title sponsor in 2013, three years after Hank and John Green co-founded the annual get-together. The platform maintained an uninterrupted streak of title sponsorships until the 2020s, when TikTok stepped in following two years of COVID-caused shutdowns.

At the time, that change felt like an accurate reflection of what VidCon had become. For many TikTokers who broke out during the pandemic, the 2022 Anaheim event offered an opportunity to meet fans in person for the first time. By 2023, however, YouTube had regained its title sponsor status—and it’s held onto that position ever since.

WATCH THIS 📺

Want to develop in-game items? Roblox pros are here to help.

The tutorials: Roblox has enlisted two creators to teach its community about in-game item creation. A series of videos featuring devs Reverse_Polarity and Madison_Hatter2 recently hit the Roblox Learn YouTube channel, where creators can tune in to learn the ins-and-outs of making and selling custom experiences.

The first of those videos—a joint interview between Reverse_Polarity and Madison_Hatter2—serves as a handy guide for aspiring UGC developers. Check it out here.

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