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TOGETHER WITH
It's Wednesday and you might want to stop watching Iron Chef on an empty stomach now that Peacock’s Must ShopTV ads let you buy the products you see on screen.
NEWFRONTS, NEW ADS
YouTube Shorts is getting two new ad formats
YouTube's recent NewFronts presentation included some big news for brands: two new ad types—video reach campaigns and YouTube Select—are coming to YouTube Shorts.
According to YouTube, video reach campaigns “use Google AI to serve the best combination of ads, and improve your reach and efficiency on YouTube.” In other words: brands will now be able to buy skippable in-stream ads, non-skippable in-stream ads, and bumper ads that were previously only available on long-form videos. And since AI can automatically repurpose horizontal videos to run vertically, transitioning to short-form video reach campaigns should be a cinch for brands.
YouTube Select comes with its own Shorts-specific perk.
The second ad format coming to Shorts used to be known as Google Preferred. It’s a program where YouTube bundles together the top 5% most brand-friendly channels and sells advertising on them for a premium price. The Shorts version of that tool—now called YouTube Select—will have something its long-form counterpart doesn’t: a brand-new perk called First Position.
“When a viewer opens YouTube Shorts and starts watching, your ad is the first one they will see. This lets you land a strong first impression in a highly immersive environment.”
With any luck, the introduction of those new ad formats won’t just be a boon for brands. If advertisers take advantage of YouTube’s latest tools, the resulting Shorts ads could theoretically help drive more revenue to short-form creators.
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰
Snapchat has announced that it is bringing ads to Spotlight, its take on TikTok’s signature vertical video format. (Tubefilter)
The Writers Guild of America is on strike. Could this new protest cause another online video renaissance, like what happened in 2007? (Tubefilter)
A report from Climate Action Against Disinformation claims that at least 100 YouTube videos promoting climate misinformation have recently been monetized. (The Verge)
Facebook’s latest Reels feature allows users to decide whether they want to see “more” or “less” content like the videos they’ve just watched. (Engadget)
DATA • U.S. TOP 50 📈
When it comes to YouTube Shorts, unorthodox animations go a long way
Many of the YouTube Shorts hubs in our U.S. Top 50 chart revolve around kid-friendly content and cozy animal videos. As you might have guessed from its name, DaFuq!?Boom! isn’t one of those channels.
The hub’s 3D animations aren’t for the faint of heart.
The ten most-watched videos in DaFuq!?Boom!’s Shorts library all feature jarringly wide-eyed heads that pop out of toilets. That potty humor apparently has a broad audience: the most popular of DaFuq!?Boom!’s toilet-themed videos claims 59 million views.
DaFuq!?Boom! saw a major rise in views between March and April. Data from Gospel Stats.
Of course, the channel’s 3D animations aren’t just limited to unsettling bathroom shenanigans. (Although a majority of DaFuq!?Boom!’s 51 Shorts do, in fact, focus on toilets.) Visitors to the Shorts destination will also find videos centered around relatable insomnia woes, skateboarding religious figures, and human UFOs.
Those zany Shorts have earned the animation depot a loyal fanbase:
Over seven days, the animation hub secured 144.8 million weekly views.
Plus, the animation hub now has more than 2.3 million subscribers and 900 million lifetime views.
That rapidly growing viewership culminated in DaFuq!?Boom!’s first ever U.S. Top 50 appearance. After a pretty incredible week, the channel came in at #33.
STREAMERS ON THE RISE 📈
From karaoke to cosplay, this creator knows exactly how to keep boredom at bay
As a former “theater kid,” bbjess (aka Jess) has a strong appreciation for audience participation. In fact, the creator approaches every stream with one central goal: to ensure that “everyone who comes into my stream feels like they can directly impact what they’re watching.”
That commitment to interactivity goes back to Jess’ early days on Twitch.
The “Just Chatting” streamer first joined the platform at the height of COVID-19, when social distancing had reduced her to a state of pure “pure boredom.” With the pandemic limiting her IRL social life, Jess began spending more and more time connecting with other fans of her favorite streamer—until, eventually, that community “literally felt like a family.” Then something unexpected happened: the creator at the center of Jess’ new Twitch family stopped streaming.
It wasn’t long before that streamer’s fans found their way to bbjess’ burgeoning channel.
That influx of viewers was the push Jess needed to start streaming full-time. Not long after, a clip of one of her streams went viral on TikTok and, as Jess says, she hasn’t looked back since.
Jess now entertains an average of 849 viewers per day. Data from Stream Charts.
Nowadays, the streamer has 115,000 followers on Twitch.
Her TikTok community is thriving, too: on that platform, Jess has nearly 300,000 followers.
And based on the 3.4 million views this singing clip has earned, we’re guessing more fans will be pouring in soon.
WATCH THIS 📺
What can we expect from this year’s Meta Quest Gaming Showcase?
As you can probably tell from this teaser, Meta hasn’t revealed much about its upcoming 2023 Meta Quest Gaming Showcase. According to Engadget, the livestreamed pre-show and 40-minute showcase will include new gameplay footage, title updates and "debut" trailers, and “‘deep-dive’ talks with developers.”
Otherwise, Meta is keeping things pretty hush-hush—so to find out what else the tech giant has up its sleeve, you’ll probably have to tune in on June 1.
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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.