It’s Friday, and an unlikely voice of restraint allegedly talked Donald Trump out of renaming the Atlantic Ocean: Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

TUBE TALK

The report: Over the past year, YouTube has dug in its heels and devoted significant resources to making AI as ubiquitous as possible. Products from platforms like Google Gemini have been integrated throughout the YouTube experience, opening up new creative possibilities for channel owners—and sparking a fair amount of controversy.

YouTube’s AI-forward strategy has drawn widespread criticism, with creators protesting against LLMs that have scraped videos without consent, surreptitiously upscaled existing content, and flooded YouTube with a deluge of slop.

The latest bulletin from YouTube’s Culture and Trends team, however, tells a different story. After partnering with NRG to survey 694 U.S.-based “video posters” (aka people who have uploaded video content over the past 12 months), YouTube found that most respondents held positive attitudes about AI. It also pointed to some of the more creative uses people have found for the emerging technology.

Within the report’s sample, 72% of respondents said they use AI on video and images, and 61% said they’re interested in using AI to insert depictions of their likeness into their content.

YouTube highlighted that desire as a positive use case for generative AI tools. The report mentioned conceits like the “hug my younger self” trend, in which creators generate past versions of themselves and interact with those facsimiles.

The takeaway: YouTube obviously has ulterior motives behind its decision to champion generative AI, but the results of its latest Culture & Trends Report still illustrate a useful point.

Criticisms of AI get lots of attention—but YouTube’s findings show that there are plenty of people with positive attitudes hiding among the skeptics.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE

The theater run: Nearly a year after its finale, Heated Rivalry will reprise its first season with a limited run in over 650 Regal theaters across the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.

Regal is partnering with Canadian distributor Sphere Abacus to air the season in two-episode screenings from November 6-30, with theatergoers paying $9.99 each to see episodes 1+2, 3+4, and 5+6.

For those who missed season one, Heated Rivalry (which is based on Rachel Reid‘s hit books and written/directed by Jacob Tierney for Canadian streaming service Crave) follows a risqué love story between two hockey stars. Montreal team captain Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian captain Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) share a fierce competition on the ice that is, of course, only matched by their intense attraction everywhere else.

When the series debuted in November 2025, it became an instant hit. By the time the season one finale aired in late December, Heated Rivalry was averaging 10.6 million U.S. viewers per episode, and the finale itself saw a 300% audience increase over the show’s premiere.

That success propelled Reid’s books to the top of TikTok’s first-ever official bestseller list, and even caught the attention of the NHL.

The context: What’s interesting about Heated Rivalry’s upcoming theatrical run is that the show is still available for streaming. Folks in the U.S. can catch all six episodes on HBO Max, the same place they’ve been for nearly a year.

Usually when we see premieres like this, theaters want first dibs and a period of exclusivity. In this case, however, Regal is bending the rules and betting fandom enthusiasm will drive a return. We’re pretty sure it’s right.

STREAMING SHAKEUP

The upheaval: Netflix is going through a rough patch. The streamer’s stock has lost nearly half its value in the last 12 months (down from ~$124 to $68), and it sank to a two-year low this week after Netflix posted its Q3 earnings and lowered its profit projections for the fourth quarter.

This comes just after the streaming service announced layoffs of 6% of its workforce (roughly 1,000 people) and fired both film chief Dan Lin and longtime Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria. Sources familiar with the matter told Variety that Bajaria (who was a big player in securing Netflix’s deals with WWE and the NFL) is being used as a “scapegoat” for Netflix’s issues.

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, meanwhile, said Netflix tapped Peter Rice (who served as Disney’s former General Entertainment Chairman) to replace Bajaria because he “understands talent relations.”

The plan: While Rice steps in as Chief Content Officer, co-CEOs Greg Peters and Sarandos are on Q3 cleanup. The latter exec gave YouTube a rare nod earlier this year, when he acknowledged the platform as TV—and as Netflix’s competition.

Now, Sarandos says Netflix plans to further increase its offerings by licensing third-party content and doubling down on the production of premium original TV shows and movies.

That, at least, is one area where YouTube doesn’t compete. After a stint trying to produce premium TV, the video platform shuttered its originals and zeroed in on UGC, leaving the space open for Netflix to produce hits like Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday, and Bridgerton.

Sarandos is ready to lean harder into that advantage. “I know ​that we could do better,” he said in a post-earnings call. “Now we’ve seen an opportunity to take our slate to the next ​level.”

WATCH THIS 👀

The big event: Over the past five years, Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos has hosted a series of annual influencer boxing events dubbed La Velada del Año.

The 2025 edition of the spectacle drew a whopping 9.3 million concurrent viewers, making it the most-watched Twitch broadcast in history up to that point.

The success of La Velada has made Ibai a household name across Latin America—and now, Netflix is looking to capitalize on the streamer’s popularity. It has reached a deal to become the exclusive home of the next three editions of La Velada, which will go live in 2027, 2028, and 2029.

Check out Netflix and Ibai’s announcement video here.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.