TOGETHER WITH

It’s Thursday and a prominent indie director has pegged two familiar faces as the auteur filmmakers of their generation: streamers Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed.

Today’s News

WINNING GOLD

YouTube drew 40 billion minutes of Olympic watch time. NBC clocked in at 23.5 billion.

The stats: NBC might be the Olympics’ official stateside broadcaster, but YouTube was the clear winner of this year’s Summer Games.

The Google-owned video platform reported that its Olympics coverage delivered 40 billion minutes of total watch time, as compared to NBC’s 23.5 billion minutes of streaming watch time (most of which came through Peacock).

The strategy: While creators like Jenny Hoyos, Haley Kalil, and Ian Boggs enjoyed massive organic viewership on Olympics-themed YouTube uploads, NBC took a page out of the video platform’s book by recruiting influencers like Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper to lead streaming feeds.

The context: YouTube might have scored the bigger stats, but NBC’s streaming numbers (combined with its Nielsen ratings, which are up from the 2021 Tokyo Games) still represent a smashing success for the network—especially given its more limited demographics. Peacock’s narrow subscriber base gives it a smaller overall audience, and its coverage was restricted to American consumers.

YouTube, on the other hand, brought in billions of global views, in large part through partnerships with non-U.S.-based Olympic broadcasters like Eurosport and Claro Sports. (It’s also worth noting that much of YouTube’s Olympics traffic in the U.S. came from NBC-owned channels.) The onset of the Paris Paralympics will undoubtedly add to that haul, especially since YouTube is partnering with the International Paralympics Committee to ensure that viewers from 175 countries can tune in.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

Didn't make it to VidSummit? OpusClip is giving you the scoop so you don't miss out!

This week, the world’s top experts gathered at VidSummit to unravel creator economy secrets. Chucky Appleby from MrBeast discussed leveraging YouTube data for video research, Marissa Hill broke down channel monetization strategies, and Jon Youshaei taught creators to start their videos with a key visual. 

Other unmissable insights came from Jon Youshaei and Nick Nimmin, who teamed up with OpusClip to break down a brand-new AI video editing technology: ClipAnything. Here are the workshop highlights:

1. Solving creators’ 3 biggest problems:
According to Jon and Nick, most creators cite three main issues: their revenue isn’t growing fast enough, they’re always low on time, and their workload is insane. That’s where ClipAnything comes in.

ClipAnything generates new videos in minutes by reusing existing content. Simply upload your footage, enter a short prompt, and ClipAnything will produce social media-ready clips.

2. Unraveling the clipping process:
How does it work? Here’s how Nick explained it: ClipAnything can identify and generate clips based on actions, people, and emotions —meaning you’ll never have to scroll through hours of footage again. Here’s an example:

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Kid-focused channels Toys and Colors and J House jr. snagged the top spots in this week’s chart of Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels by pulling in more than 495 million views each. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• A recent report from Kantar found that 26% of marketers plan to decrease ad spend on X “in the coming year.” (Engadget)
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• The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly indicted two Russian state media employees in connection to a propaganda campaign deployed on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. (Engadget)
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• Brazil’s X ban has continued to drive traffic to Bluesky, with over 2.6 million users signing up “in the last few days.” (Engadget)

BIG TICKET ITEM

Wasserman is diving into the creator economy with the acquisition of Long Haul Management

The deal: Marketing and management group Wasserman has acquired Long Haul Management, a digital content creator-focused firm that counts Theorist Media founder MatPat, trickshotter Tristan Jass, streetballer The Professor, Madden gamer MMG, lifestyle creator Crissa Jackson, basketball creator Cam Wilder, and gaming news brand Gameranx among its roster.

Wasserman—which was founded in 2002 by sports mogul Casey Wasserman—will bring Long Haul’s entire roster and team into the creator rep division it launched in October 2023. Long Haul founder/CEO Dan Levitt (pictured above) is also set to join the company as Senior Vice President of Creators.

The context: Long Haul and Wasserman have “an extensive work history” together, they say, and have collaborated on creative, production, media buying, creator marketing, and activation projects. Wasserman, which reportedly represents over 2,000 athletes, initially took an interest in Long Haul because of its reputation for securing deals with major sports leagues and brands like the NBA, House of Highlights, and Overtime.

The subsequent joining of the two companies is well-timed. Sports is one of the biggest categories across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and Reddit, and lately more and more leagues are securing deals to create original content on social media (often in partnership with creators themselves).

Wasserman isn’t the first major non-content-creator-focused company to invest in the creator space, either. The L.A.-headquartered group’s acquisition follows Publicis‘ $500 million purchase of influencer marketing firm Influential—a clear indication that the creator economy is becoming an increasingly prominent part of the media landscape.

TAILGATE TIME

TikTok is answering YouTube’s “Creator of the Week” with a creator-driven NBC Sports partnership

The team-up: TikTok is celebrating the opening week of NFL season with a Transcontinental Tailgate. That promotion, which comes out of the platform’s partnership with NBC Sports, is the answer to the NFL’s Creator of the Week YouTube series.

TikTok’s transcontinental coverage will begin with tonight’s game in Kansas City before transitioning to Brazil for the NFL’s inaugural game in South America. Popular creators Jack Mancuso, Erika Priscilla, JoJo Sim, Austin Sprinz, Pierson Wodzynski, Nate Wyatt, and Allison Kucharczyk will follow along in order to encourage viewer engagement on social media. (The NFL’s weekly YouTube activations and season-long influencer marketing slate will also feature Kucharcyzk, as well as fan-favorite stars like iShowSpeed and Deestroying.)

The context: The timing is right for NBC Sports to expand its creator partnerships. As we noted at the top of the newsletter, the network’s YouTube channel and viewership numbers took off in a big way during the Paris Olympics, while influencers-turned-commentators like Alex Cooper drove hefty traffic to its streaming service, Peacock.

Now, NBC Sports hopes a continuation of that creator-first strategy will allow it to harness a wide-ranging audience of football fans:

WATCH THIS 📺

Minecraft is headed to theaters. Will online popularity be enough to drive viewers to the box office?

The film adaptation: Over the last 13 years, Minecraft has sold more than 300 million copies and garnered over a trillion views on YouTube. Now, the beloved gaming sensation is headed to the box office.

The first teaser for that film adaptation dropped yesterday—and reactions are already mixed. Some YouTube commenters have taken aim at the movie’s graphics, with a few drawing unflattering parallels to the ultra green-screened Borderlands adaptation. Others have affectionately compared the trailer to the kind of skits Minecraft YouTubers made in 2013—a vibe that could lend a much-needed dose of charm to the film.

However the final movie pans out, we’re guessing its star-studded cast (which includes Jack Black, Jason Momoa, and Jennifer Coolidge) will provide it at least a bit of padding at the box office.

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