It’s Tuesday and Madonna is TikTok’s latest record-breaker. The “Like a Virgin” singer drew over 2.1 million viewers during a single TikTok Live stream—making it the most-watched standalone artist event ever hosted on the platform.

STREAMING BIG

The $100M deal: A massive creator deal could help Netflix challenge YouTube’s identity as the first window for creator content. Starting this week, new episodes of Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast—which ranks among the top ten health and wellness podcasts on the Apple charts—won’t be available on YouTube.

While Shetty’s five million YouTube subscribers will still have access to archival episodes and clips from new releases, the latest video versions of the creator’s hit podcast will be available exclusively through Netflix and Spotify.

The two platforms announced their deal with Shetty in late May. While specific financial terms weren’t confirmed, Variety estimated the agreement cost $100 million.

The motivation: Netflix is hunting for a way to break YouTube’s hold on the first window for creator content. While some streamers go live on Twitch before posting related VODs elsewhere, many YouTube subscribers have conditioned themselves to visit their favorite channels first when checking for new videos.

This deal with Shetty is perhaps the most extreme (and expensive) cog in Netflix’s broader strategy to condition YouTube subscribers to see its own platform as the first window. Its deal with The Stokes Twins brought the duo’s archive to Netflix without removing it from YouTube. For its pact with Alan Chikin Chow, Netflix is existing alongside YouTube as the first window. New Alan’s Universe videos will drop on Netflix the same day they hit YouTube.

Whether the future of Netflix’s creator strategy includes more deals like the Jay Shetty exclusivity agreement or the Alan Chikin Chow day-and-date pact, it’s clear YouTube’s hold on the creator economy’s first window may not be as secure as it once was.

PLATFORM UPDATES

The context: With over 20 million videos uploaded to YouTube every day, one of the platform’s biggest tasks is making sure all that UGC meets its content guidelines.

Now, on top of an ever-growing content library and creator community, YouTube is contending with the current era of AI slop content, in which social platforms are plagued by repetitive, minimal-effort videos.

To address some of those issues, YouTube has reworked the guidance under its inauthentic content policy, breaking out three specific categories of video that will get creators' channels demonetized.

To be clear, this is not a new policy. The update is a communications fix: more precise, more actionable language so creators know why a channel gets flagged. The rules themselves haven't changed, and creators are not facing demonetization for new reasons.

The details: The three categories of videos that are not allowed to be monetized under this policy are:

While there are no material changes here in what YouTube allows, this updated policy should give creators a clearer idea of what they’re allowed to monetize.

GAME ON

The iconic game: Minecraft is such a big deal on YouTube that content related to the game surpassed one trillion total views way back in 2021. Five years later, Minecraft is still defining youth culture by dominating the box office and powering some of YouTube’s most-watched channels—and the official Minecraft channel wants in on that traffic.

The game’s YouTube destination has been around for so long that its most-watched video (which claims 178 million views) is 14 years old. In recent months, however, the Minecraft hub has repeatedly broken into our weekly ranking of YouTube’s most-viewed channels by increasing its activity in the short-form sphere. Over the last week alone, the channel brought in 543.7 million weekly views, bringing it to #16 in the Global Top 50.

Of course, viewership on Minecraft content isn’t limited to the game’s official channel; fans and players are thriving, too. One prominent member of the Minecraft community is Zhong, whose references to the game have helped him average over 100 million YouTube views per week during 2026.

The context: Minecraft‘s resurgence comes at an opportune time for the company that owns the game’s IP. Microsoft has recently begun introducing more monetization opportunities to the Minecraft community, but it will need to give those updates proper exposure if it intends to fend off Roblox. Improving the Minecraft YouTube channel could be key to boosting the game’s visibility as it continues to grow and evolve.

WATCH THIS 👀

The episode: If you thought the production value of last year’s Streamer University promo videos was high…well, welcome to 2026. The official trailer for Streamer University 2026 transports streamers directly into a Harry Potter movie, with creators ReemKnocks, Madi2Hotty, and Yonna Jay making their way through a magical train platform before boarding The Streamer Express.

No Streamer University trailer would be complete without some shenanigans and an appearance by headmaster Kai Cenat—and we weren’t too surprised to see a castle by the end of the video, either.

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