It’s Friday and if you’re struggling to find your next comfort show, Roku has the solution: a streaming trivia game that clues viewers into hot new content.

GAME ON

The data: 2025 was a big year for YouTube Gaming. In fact, according to the latest report from Stream Hatchet (a data analytics firm owned by FaZe Esports parent company GameSquare), 2025 was “one of the platform’s most significant growth years to date.”

Stream Hatchet’s data shows that YouTube Gaming reached 8.8 billion hours watched in 2025, representing a 12% year-over-year jump. That figure makes it accountable for 25% of all gaming livestream hours on the internet.

The firm also dug into YouTube Gaming’s particular demographics and discovered that 82% of viewers are male and 36% are aged 25-29 (as of 2025). The highest amount of viewership—451 million hours—came from Japan, while the second-highest amount came from the U.S., where viewers racked up 307 million hours of watch time. India came in third with 194 million hours, and there was also high viewership from Korea (130M hours), where streamers have been blocked from Twitch since 2023.

As for what YouTube Gaming viewers are watching, Roblox brought the most watch hours (425 million), followed by League of Legends (421M), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (412M), Counter-Strike (342M), Grand Theft Auto V (261M), Valorant (221M), Minecraft (279M), Battlegrounds Mobile India (209M), and Fortnite (170M).

The impact: As gaming streamers go live and get more viewership on YouTube, they’re also posting more Shorts and snagging more sponsorships. Stream Hatchet found that in 2025, YouTube saw three consecutive quarters of growth in the amount of gaming-related Shorts posted, peaking at 6.15 million videos in August.

Q4 2025 also brought the highest amount of viewership for sponsored gaming streams (4.5 million hours) since 2020, when COVID lockdowns bolstered digital content.

GET WITH THE PROGRAM

The program: Twelve years after the launch of The Sims 4, Electronic Arts is giving players a way to build and share custom in-game experiences. A new Maker Program allows interested users (aka “Makers”) to apply for a revenue-sharing agreement that compensates them when other players access their custom items.

Those sales occur through the Sims 4 public Marketplace, where players can peruse and purchase a wide selection of “Maker Packs” with an in-game currency called Moola.

The ecosystem: The Maker Program is EA’s answer to Roblox, which pays out billions each year to its own community of on-platform creators. 

For EA, The Sims is the most sensible choice for a Roblox rival. The two franchises are both open-ended, creative titles stocked with colorful accessories and other cosmetics. There’s also a generational component at play here: Roblox caters to Gen Alpha, while The Sims has long been a Millennial touchstone.

Thanks in large part to those similarities, EA’s Maker Program sounds like a pretty good idea on paper—but its execution leaves much to be desired. EA is taking 70% of revenue from Marketplace transactions, which is a far worse deal compared to other creator programs.

User experience seems to be lacking, too. The Sims star creator Simandy has already exited the Marketplace after accusing EA of pushing its Makers too hard. Add in the ongoing creator exodus that stems from EA’s sale to Saudi buyers, and the Maker Program starts to look like a tough sell.

MONEY MOVES

The investment: Keeping up on social media is an uphill battle for animators. It can take years to produce new installments of animated series, making it nearly impossible for creators to meet the demands of recommendation algorithms.

Now, Google is taking steps to address that problem. The tech giant’s AI Futures Fund is backing Animaj, a Paris-based studio that uses AI to streamline the animation pipeline. As part of that transaction, Animaj will receive early access to new AI models as they hit Google’s Gemini, Imagen, and Veo lines, as well as “opportunities for hands-on support from experts at Google” (per Kidscreen).

Ultimately, Google’s investment will allow the studio to double down on the AI-powered products it has already developed. Tools like its sketch-to-motion workflow drastically cut down the amount of time it takes to produce animated content; now, Google’s investment could help Animaj streamline that process even further.

In a LinkedIn post, Animaj Co-Founder and CEO Sixte de Vauplane said incoming models will be “built from how artists actually work,” and could allow Animaj to complete animated features in just 18 months. With traditional methods, that process can take up to six years.

The context: Google’s backing of Animaj comes at a time when its video platform is inundated with AI-generated slop. YouTube has banned some of the channels peddling that low-quality content, but it’s also emboldening slop purveyors by providing access to some of the most advanced gen AI models on the market.

By lending its support to Animaj, Google has an opportunity to show consumers that AI-powered animation doesn’t have to be a boogeyman. The Paris-based studio is committed to a high standard of quality. Its recent partnership with Hasbro, for example, facilitates contextual advertising on children’s content without violating federal regulations.

WATCH THIS 👀

The comeback: BTS is ending its hiatus at long last—and Netflix is jumping on the opportunity to double down on both K-pop and live events. The streaming service will follow up the stunning success of Kpop Demon Hunters and live stunts like Alex Honnold’s 1,667-foot skyscraper solo-climb with BTS The Comeback Live | Arirang.

The global live concert will stream exclusively on Netflix just days before the arrival of a BTS documentary, allowing the streaming service to harness one of the biggest fanbases in the world.

Check out a trailer for BTS’ comeback show here.

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