It's Friday and if you’re missing your childhood Tamagotchi (and have $400 to spare), Starboy may be the AI-powered “digital pet” keychain for you.

AD WORLD

The ad product: YouTube is highlighting top performers in its podcast library by giving advertisers a way to bring their spots to a selection of leading shows.

The platform’s new Top Podcasts Lineup operates similarly to YouTube Select, which ropes off premium ad space on some of the platform’s best-performing channels. Those channels are then bundled together in category-specific packages that serve the needs of YouTube’s varied ad partners.

As the Top Podcasts Lineup brings that concept to the world of long-form, audiovisual series, YouTube is initially focusing on five verticals—Sports, News, Comedy, True Crime, and Society & Culture—with content from both top creators and mainstream celebrities. In the comedy category, for instance, advertisers will find shows like Rhett & Link’s Good Mythical Morning alongside traditional celeb-driven fare like Seth Meyers‘ A Closer Look – Late Night.

The context: YouTube began increasing the versatility of its audio ads last year with the introduction of features like dynamic insertion and swapping. Given the current state of the podcast industry, it’s not hard to see why the platform is so focused on expanding its presence in the biz. Podcast ad revenue reached $2.5 billion in the U.S. in 2025, with podcast ad spending jumping 32% year-over-year during the fourth quarter of the year.

Amidst all that growth, YouTube is keeping a close eye on the rising popularity of video podcasts. Alongside the launch of Top Podcasts Lineup, the platform shared recent research from Kantar, which found that YouTube video podcast ads outperformed audio ads by 7.3x in branded awareness, by 5.8x in ad recall, and by 4.5x in purchase intent.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

NEWS FLASH

The platform: If you spend a lot of time watching explainer videos on YouTube, you’ve probably come across Johnny Harris. The former Vox employee’s newsy videos have attracted a loyal audience of 7.5 million subscribers—but while Harris has found success, many other journalists are still struggling to transition from traditional outlets to social media.

That’s where Newpress comes in. Launched last month by Harris and his wife Iz Harris, the new platform aims to help creator-journalists launch, expand, and monetize their own shows for the digital age.

While the reporters on the Newpress roster focus on that programming, the company handles behind-the-scenes tasks like hiring and sales. Advertising and sponsorship deals provide financial support for both Newpress and its partners, while a $60-per-month membership tier adds another revenue stream. Members can also interact with Newpress creators and pitch them on new stories.

Iz Harris told the Nieman Lab that Newpress will be choosy as it expands its roster. For now, its initial slate of shows covers topics like sports, tech, and internet mysteries.

The context: Newpress arrives during a pivotal moment for the news industry. Since the 2024 “influencer election,” both of the major U.S. political parties have been clamoring to work with creator-journalists, and even traditional outlets like MSNBC are doing whatever they can to fit on-air talent into the creator mold.

The problem: Many seasoned journalists are being left by the wayside. In 2024, the Pew Research Center found that only .4% of the TikTok accounts followed by U.S. adults belong to journalists, pundits, and media outlets. The reporters who are making inroads on social media—like former Washington Post journalist Dave Jorgensen—are reimagining their coverage to suit the appetites of social-first consumers. Now, Newpress will give more creator-journalists the resources they need to make it in the digital age.

TWITCH TALK

The experiment: Twitch is supercharging Subscriptions with a new test feature. The ongoing experiment in question, appropriately called Gift ‘Em All, delivers Subscriptions to all of a stream’s active viewers at the same time.

According to a Twitch help page, users who choose to Gift ‘Em All will “purchase a gift sub for every eligible follower currently watching a channel” (aka all viewers who aren’t currently subscribed to the gifted account). Twitch also noted that lag or latency issues could affect the timing of gifts, especially during the feature’s experimental phase. For now, Gift ‘Em All is only available on desktops across “a small number of channels and users.”

The context: Twitch’s Subscriptions are a vital revenue stream for both streamers and the platform itself. In recent years, other social media hubs have recognized the value of that system and have developed their own takes on Twitch’s signature form of monetization.

As Subscriptions become ubiquitous across social media, they are proving particularly advantageous for creators who can trigger flurries of gifted Subscriptions by attracting viewers to must-see streams. TikTok, for example, has built a live ecosystem in which streamers reportedly generate $10 million of revenue each day. Last December, tech analyst Matt Navara noted that “TikTok Live viewers are buying enough virtual gifts to pay 60,000 creators a part-time salary.”

Twitch itself has attempted to tap into that hype by dabbling in TikTok-style content. Through the introduction of Gift ‘Em All, it’s experimenting with a mechanism that could maximize the monetization potential of those highlight-reel moments.

The YouTube guide: If you’re craving the ‘00s experience of endlessly scrolling through a TV guide to find the perfect show, Channel Surfer has the solution.

The desktop app arranges YouTube videos into a cable-style guide, complete with numbered “channels” (the television kind, not the creator kind) sorted into categories like “Lifestyle & Home” and “Music 2000s.” Hit “Press to Start” and you’ll be greeted by a few moments of TV static before landing partway through a random video.

According to TechCrunch, the website was recently launched by developer Steven Irby, and currently offers 40 topic-based channels.

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