It’s Wednesday and as it turns out, that “mysterious building” investigated by the Las Vegas Review-Journal is actually a massive soundstage built to house the set of Beast Games Season 2.

Today’s News

THE BIZ

Will Veo 3 push Shorts’ daily average view count past 200B?

The announcement: At the annual Cannes Lions festival in France, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan delved into the past, present, and future of the platform—including the upcoming introduction of Google’s hyperrealistic Veo 3 genAI model to Shorts.

YouTube’s short-form video format has grown rapidly since launching over four years ago. The platform’s recent decision to take a more liberal approach to Shorts view counts has furthered that expansion (at least in terms of raw numbers, since any Shorts impression now counts as a view). According to Mohan, the format now averages a mind-boggling 200 billion daily views.

The context: YouTube’s impact obviously also goes far beyond those raw viewership numbers. At Cannes, Mohan noted that TV is the most-watched screen for over half of the world’s 100 most-watched YouTube channels, while the platform’s AI-powered language dubbing tool has been used to translate more than 20 million videos.

The future: Now, YouTube’s higher-ups are betting on AI innovation as the way to consolidate the platform’s dominance.

Veo 3 has shocked observers by generating lifelike clips that invoke popular YouTube trends. Its arrival on Shorts “later this summer” will add a powerful new tool to an AI arsenal that already includes creator-facing features like Dream Screen.

Mohan argued that Veo 3 will “push the limits of human creativity” by allowing YouTube’s community to carry on the creator revolution—but some creators are more worried about Veo putting them out of work. Google’s powerful AI tools may ensure the Shorts numbers continue to rise, but viewers will need to be extra vigilant if they’re going to avoid conflating human-made and AI-driven content.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Social commerce conference SoCom will return to Venice, California on February 26, 2026. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed that Donald Trump will extend the deadline for a U.S. TikTok ban or divestiture for another 90 days. (Engadget)
  
  

• Reddit has announced a new ad product that “dynamically integrates positive content from Reddit users directly below an advertiser’s creative.” (The Verge)
  
  

• Meta is bringing a new designer into the mix. After selling millions of AI-powered Ray-Bans, the company plans to release a pair of smart glasses in collaboration with Prada. (TechCrunch)

JUST A THEORY

Theorist is bringing its shoppable creator catwalk to VidSummit

The context: Last year, Theorist‘s Style Theory arm drew over 4 million views with Creators in Fashion, a shoppable catwalk featuring looks from collections designed by Critical Role, ZHC, Blogilates/POPFLEX creator Cassey Ho, Yes Theory, and more. The show was a novel event, especially for an industry in which thousands of fashion creators have forged successful careers without ever getting the chance to appear on a runway.

Now, the setting of Creators in Fashion 2.0 has been revealed. Theorist—which started with flagship channel The Game Theorists in 2009 before launching The Film Theorists, The Food Theorists, and eventually The Style Theorists—will host its second Creators in Fashion show at this year’s VidSummit conference.

The show: The 2025 edition of VidSummit will take place from October 7-9 in Dallas. Creators in Fashion will close out the annual biz dev conference—which has emerged as perhaps the most prominent professional gathering for creators—with a show on the mainstage.

Theorist founder MatPat will emcee with current Style Theory host Amy Roberts. Just like last year, Creators in Fashion will feature collections and walks from a number of creators whose looks will be available for sale in real-time via YouTube Shopping‘s tech. Roberts describes that shoppability as an opportunity not just for creators, but for fans as well:

So far, participating creators include Cassey Ho, Mia Maples, Mary Allyson, Glam Girl Gabi, Esteffanie, and Sydney Morgan. This year’s event will also tap creators to appear off the catwalk, with guest stars like the Try Guys, The Stupendium, and Samantha Zazz.

KEEPING IT REEL

Meta is turning all Facebook videos into Reels

The announcement: Meta has made the decision to turn all videos on Facebook into Reels. That change will allow the company’s OG platform to unite video creation flows that were previously kept separate. And to ensure that “all videos on Facebook” can “be shared as Reels,” Meta is removing all runtime/length and format restrictions:

That change sounds similar to a monetization update Facebook introduced last October to simplify the earning process for creators frustrated by the platform’s wide variety of options. Now, by once again choosing to consolidate its programs, Facebook is developing the sort of streamlined experience creators have come to expect from other platforms.

The context: Reels has given Meta a reliable way to keep pace with rivals like TikTok and YouTube in the world of vertically-oriented video. Now—as Reels accounts for bigger and bigger pieces of the tech giant’s revenue—Mark Zuckerberg and co. are doing whatever they can to make the format more visible. There have been rumors regarding a standalone version of Instagram Reels, and as part of the latest update, Facebook’s Video tab will be renamed to reflect its focus on Reels.

WATCH THIS 👀

Jesser is raking in views amid the NBA Finals

The sports star: The NBA Finals are in full swing, and one of YouTube’s biggest basketball creators is taking advantage of the hype. After adding 600,000 new subscribers within a single week, sports star Jesser skyrocketed to #15 in our latest Global Sub Top 50 chart.

The man behind the Bucket Squad brand is branching out beyond basketball—so much so that he’s even begun uploading some non-sports content on his primary channel. But as the NBA Finals go on, Jesser seems to be amassing 10-digit view counts with every basketball Short he posts.

Check out one of his latest viral clips here.

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