TOGETHER WITH

It's Monday and fans of the Sidemen can select their next sweatshirt in style thanks to the opening of the YouTube group’s first IRL clothing store.

FEELING BLUE

Twitter just paid verified creators for the first time. The grand total: $5 million.

Elon Musk announced in February that Twitter would begin splitting ad revenue with qualifying Blue users. Four and a half months later, the first of those payments have finally gone out.

According to Musk, creators have earned a cumulative $5 million since February.

The platform’s own piece of the pie is still unknown, but several big-time creators seem to be raking in the bucks. Staunch right-wing accounts like Andrew Tate, Ian Miles Cheong, Babylon Bee writer Ashley St. Clair, and an anonymous account called “End Wokeness” have posted earnings of thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, while YouTube icon MrBeast claimed a cool $25,801. The largest payout we’ve seen so far was snapped up by reposting account Internet Hall of Fame, which reportedly made $107,247.

Those impressive numbers may be attached to less-than-impressive (or even nonexistent) CPMs.

Based on St. Clair’s calculations of her own earnings, creators could be making roughly $8.52 per million impressions. That would place Twitter’s CPM at around $0.0085; in comparison, YouTube‘s average CPM is roughly $7.) But according to a former Twitter executive who spoke to the Washington Post, the numbers behind the platform’s revenue payments are “totally and completely bogus.”

Bogus or not, Twitter’s timing is undeniably convenient. The platform only announced the distribution date for its first payouts last week—the very same week Meta dropped Threads. Qualified Blue creators began receiving “Surprise!” payout notices just as Twitter’s new rival began picking up steam.

If Musk wants to keep that competition going, he may need to up the ante (and Twitter’s CPMs). According to Mark Zuckerberg, Threads has already scored over 100 million signups.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

The creator economy’s first members-only community has arrived. Here are 3 reasons why you should join Juice Club:

Welcome to Juice Club: the first creator community to offer flexible funding, expert mentorship, and exclusive education events. Juice Club is the brainchild of Creative Juice, a leading creator company dedicated to providing creators with the resources and funding they need to grow.

Connect your AdSense 3 months in a row and earn $100 when you sign up for Juice banking and Use code ADSENSE at ​sign-up​.

Here’s how you can benefit from Juice Club’s exclusive community resources:

1. Chat with experts during monthly education events 💡 
Juice Club’s exclusive monthly events are designed to help grow your business. Decode recommendation algorithms with YouTube consultant Paddy Galloway, develop multi-platform strategies with Forbes’ Jon Youshaei, drop into office hours with Night president Ezra Cooperstein, and more.

2. Access data-driven support & one-on-one mentorships 🤝 
Sign up for personalized sessions with Creative Juice Head of Marketing & Communications Colleen Stauffer or meet with Juice’s data scientist to explore optimization techniques.

3. Unlock exclusive Discord channels 🔓 ​
Become a Juice Club member​ to unlock private channels, connect with pre-vetted creators, and get the scoop on announcements.

Juice Club is designed to help you save time and money—all while expanding your community and growing your business. Check out the website to learn more:

​Get started today →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Talent management company Odd Projects has signed Jacob Christensen (aka Nakey Jakey), TikToker Aaron Murphy, and internet commentator Nathan Stanz. (Tubefilter)
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• Twitch star Kai Cenat revealed his desire to go into “acting full-time” during a recent appearance on rapper Lil Yachty‘s A Safe Place podcast. (Tubefilter)
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• Pearpop has announced Boost Mode, a new feature that lets brands turn organic, creator-made content into paid ads. (Tubefilter)
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• A Slack-like app called Threads has become one of the App Store’s most-downloaded apps worldwide thanks to the release of Meta’s own (unrelated) Threads platform. (Engadget)

DATA • YOUTUBE MILLIONAIRES 📈

This creator couple bet their life savings on going viral—and they weren’t bluffing

When the Reyes’ were newlyweds, Cam came to Mal with a high-stakes proposition: he wanted to spend their last $1,400 on camera equipment. Mal was skeptical, but agreed on the condition that Cam would need to produce a viral video before they bet it all on content creation.

Right on schedule, Cam’s next video scored a whopping 1.5 million views.

Of course, jumping into content creation wasn’t as simple as posting a viral video and purchasing the right equipment. Cam says he and Mal went through “a long process of us just shifting and changing” their content style, and things got even more complicated when they connected with a management agency.

After the initial excitement of signing, the Reyes realized that their new agency wasn’t a good fit. That revelation came at a bad time; Mal had recently quit school and work to focus on content creation, and the couple’s revenue wasn’t coming in as quickly as they’d hoped. Luckily, the Reyes had a pair of good friends to help them through it: Hunter and Devin (aka the creators behind the Cordle Family). The four of them had only recently hit it off when Hunter and Devin’s channel blew up unexpectedly, attracting the attention of several management firms.

Not long after, the Cordle Family signed with Currents Management—and quickly introduced their new agency to Mal and Cam.

With the right support system behind them, Mal and Cam’s careers have flourished. The couple now claims more than 1 million TikTok followers and 700,000 YouTube subscribers, and recently introduced a new family member to their fans. Welcome to the world, baby Reyes!

LET THEM EAT CAKE

Fans of this YouTube food icon can try her realistic cakes IRL

Yolanda Gampp is joining forces with Lavazza and Paris Baguette to bring her YouTube-famous desserts nationwide. The How to Cake It star has concocted three golf-themed treats for Paris Baguette’s U.S. menu: the “First Serve Lemon Lime Blackberry Cake Slice,” the “Drop Shot Bomboloni,” and the “Courtside Coconut Oat Milk Nitro Latte.”

Gampp’s sports-inspired menu items are bound to be a hit with her 4.3 million YouTube subscribers, but they aren’t the only perk of the creator’s new partnership.

In addition to shaking up the food and beverage selection at its 100+ U.S. locations, Paris Baguette will send one lucky winner to New York City for a September meet-up with Gampp. The YouTuber and Cake Wars guest star says that the occasion will involve “all the food” and “all the fun”—plus “a huge surprise.” (Based on the date and location of the trip and the theme of Paris Baguette’s new menu items, we’re guessing that surprise involves the U.S. Open.)

If the prospect of a trip to New York isn’t enough to put Gampp’s fans in the mood for some tennis-themed treats, one of her most recent videos will likely do the job. The creator celebrated her new collab—which follows previous partnerships with brands like Google—by making a realistic tennis bag cake emblazoned with the logos of Paris Baguette and Lavazza.

LISTEN UP 🎙️

This week on the podcast…

YouTube VP of Americas Tara Walpert Levy joins hosts Lauren Schnipper and Joshua Cohen to deliver the latest scoop on creators news and statistics. How many creators are becoming YouTubers? What’s next for the world’s top video platform?

Tune into this week’s episode of Creator Upload to uncover all the details. It’s 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.