TOGETHER WITH

TGIF! If you’re still in need of weekend plans, you might as well hit the catwalk in Modelverse—aka the fashionable new Roblox experience launched by Heidi Klum and Supersocial.

Today’s News

MEDIA MAKEOVER

YouTube is taking Shorts beyond 60 seconds

The update: YouTube is shaking up Shorts. The video format—which has been defined by a one-minute time limit since its 2021 debut—will soon accommodate clips up to three minutes long. That update will be accompanied by a visual redesign and the introduction of new trend-friendly building tools.

The impact: All three changes will help Shorts compete with its short-form rivals. The redesign turns the icons on the Shorts player transparent and truncates the video description at the bottom of the screen—a look reminiscent of Reels—while a longer time limit makes Shorts more compatible with re-uploads from platforms like TikTok. (TikTok itself has repeatedly upped its maximum runtime over the last few years; the standard jumped to three minutes in 2021, hit ten minutes in 2022, and rose to 15 minutes a year later.)

Shorts’ new building tools will also help its creators stay on top of trends from TikTok and beyond. Viral videos will be made available as templates that creators can put their own twists on—a remix feature similar to one of Reels’ recent offerings. A Shorts trends page on mobile will similarly spotlight viral videos in order to keep creators abreast of the latest cultural developments.

Those features come with an added benefit for YouTube: the more creators see and adopt short-form crazes, the more the platform will be able to expand its influence. TikTok has established itself as a cultural trend-setting powerhouse in music and more for the last several years. YouTube’s updates shows it’s now getting serious about being part of the zeitgeist.

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Amazon, Old Spice, and Warner Bros. have all teamed up with the first-ever TikTok marketing agency. Here’s why:

There’s a reason Clicks Talent is the #1 TikTok influencer marketing agency. Established almost a decade ago, Clicks Talent has been in the TikTok game since it was still known as Musical.ly—meaning their team knows exactly how to make an impact on the world’s top short-form video platform.

Combined with a roster of 5,000 influencers across 40+ countries, Clicks Talent’s deep understanding of TikTok enables their team to create viral campaigns personalized to your unique brand goals. 

Clicks Talent’s in-house services include user-generated content, TikTok ads, celebrity endorsements, page management, custom jingles, cross-platform marketing, and more. Visit the Clicks Talent website to see results from campaigns with Amazon Music, Sony Pictures, and Old Spice.

Reach your target audience on TikTok and beyond.

With offices in the USA, UK, Brazil, South Africa, and the Netherlands, Clicks Talent can tailor your campaign to reach any target audience on any platform—so all you have to do is get in touch:

Learn more about Clicks Talent →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Google says AI-generated search summaries with a “commercial angle” will now include ads promoting products related to users’ queries. (The Verge)
  
  

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against TikTok that accuses the platform of violating the privacy of underage users. (Reuters)
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• A senior US district judge’s decision to block an anti-deepfake law passed by California has prompted praise from X owner Elon Musk. (Ars Technica)
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• Spotify’s latest feature allows offline users to tune into a “backup” playlist that automatically evolves to suit their listening preferences. (Engadget)

TEAM CAPTAIN

Dude Perfect’s first-ever CEO is an NBA vet

The new hire: With nine figures of private equity capital, a streaming service, and a branded cruise to its name, Dude Perfect is on an upward swing—and now, it has a new leader to keep that momentum going. The five-person trick shot crew has tapped NBA vet Andrew Yaffe to serve as its first-ever CEO.

Yaffe’s tenure at the world’s most prominent basketball league spanned eight years, during which time he held roles related to original content, social media, and strategy. Most recently, he served as the NBA’s Head of Social, Digital, and Original Content—an impactful position at a company that has been lauded for its forward-thinking social media strategy and efforts to connect with content creators.

The media empire: Yaffe’s combination of sports industry know-how and social media experience will be a valuable asset as he captains Dude Perfect’s next stage of growth. The YouTube-born brand—which has attracted 60 million subscribers and 17 billion views through its OG channel—is quickly evolving into a multi-pronged sports media empire.

BETTER TOGETHER

Meta is bringing together Facebook’s revenue streams in a single, centralized program

The program: Meta is simplifying the path to monetization on Facebook. The tech giant is currently testing out the Facebook Content Monetization Beta, an invite-only program that lets creators profit from in-stream spots, Reels ads, and performance-based payouts without needing to qualify separately for each revenue stream.

(Context Clue: If Facebook’s new operation sounds familiar, you might be thinking of YouTube’s Partner Program. Both programs are centralized revenue-sharing frameworks covering multiple monetization streams—but while YouTube Partner membership is contingent on viewership, subscriber, and watch time benchmarks, Facebook’s beta currently has only one standard for entry: an invitation. )

For now, Facebook plans to onboard one million creators into its new program. Additional invitations will be sent in the “coming months,” but open enrollment won’t begin in earnest until 2025. In the meantime, interested creators can request access through the platform’s Content Monetization Beta interest form.

The reasoning: Given the level of confusion surrounding Facebook’s current monetization options, that form is likely to attract a hefty number of submissions. The platform has offered various revenue-sharing programs to creators since 2017, when in-stream ads began to appear in users’ feeds. That monetization stream arrived before the short-form content boom, while ads on Reels and performance-based payouts came shortly after Reels took off.

As those revenue streams blew up, the processes to qualify for each of them became increasingly difficult for creators to parse. Facebook’s new beta could nip that problem in the bud, while simultaneously giving the platform an opportunity to add more members to its growing monetization ecosystem. More than four million creators have earned from Facebook since 2017.

WATCH THIS 📺

This hairstylist is making waves (and curls and braids) on TikTok

The creator: Matt Newman is having a moment. The hairstylist known as mattloveshair has built an impressive multi-platform presence across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, with a combined following of 3.6 million. Two of his most-watched TikToks now claim 40 million and 39 million views respectively—but although those view counts seem larger than life, Newman’s content is remarkably down to earth.

His most popular clips teach viewers how to tackle the ABCs of self-care, from mastering hairspray techniques to shaving without irritating sensitive skin. That kind of back-to-basics content has long been beloved on TikTok, with stars like @hey.im.rach sharing simple beauty, cooking, and cleaning tips “in case your mom didn’t teach you.”

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