Good morning. Auto creator Doug Demuro recently shared the car feature that really grinds his gears: when Toyota car windshield wipers automatically do a “courtesy wipe” six seconds after you turn off the wipers. We don’t drive Toyotas, but we can’t stop thinking about it...should we start a petition?

— Hannah Doyle 

Breaking Down Hot Ones’ 10-Year Evolution

Ten years ago today, Hot Ones uploaded its first episode to YouTube with a 28-year-old Sean Evans interviewing rapper Tony Yayo while eating progressively spicier chicken wings. It was five minutes long, with no hot sauce bottles in sight.

Over 360 episodes, 4 billion views, countless memes, some SNL spoofs, and 3,000 chicken wings later, Hot Ones has cultivated a brand worth over $80 million with a line of hot sauces, wings, and a card game.

Here’s a timeline of how Hot Ones became one of the most influential interview shows of the last decade →

2015: Chris Schonberger, founder of Hot Ones parent company First We Feast, asks Evans to host a wings-centric interview show, and Hot Ones is born.

“What’s amazing about having the show on YouTube is that it wasn’t a big hit at first. Who knows if we were on a network, maybe Hot Ones would’ve been canceled before it got a chance to find itself,” Evans recently told Variety.

2016: Hot Ones goes viral with an interview of Key and Peele, opening the door to bigger guests like Kevin Hart and Tony Hawk.

2019: Hot Ones releases its most-watched (and requested) episode with Gordon Ramsay, which helped the channel reach 5 million subscribers. Later episodes lead to viral memes like Shaq Face, Paul Rudd’s “Hey, look at us,” and Idris Elba coughing.

2021: Hot Ones gets both 11 million subscribers and a daytime Emmy nomination for outstanding entertainment talk show. BuzzFeed acquires Complex Media (which owned First We Feast) for $300 million. 

2024: Evans, Schonberger, and a group of investors buy First We Feast from BuzzFeed for $82.5 million.

Big picture: As other TV talk shows lose viewers, Hot Ones has stayed steady. How?

“The interview is the oldest construct in the history of media, and you have this unique and novel hook [of spicy chicken wings], but it is an effective interview tool,” Evans told Deadline. “As long as we’re booking people that audiences are interested in and as long as we stay committed to the interview in total, I don't see why this can’t go for another 10, 20, 50 years.”

Spotter to Host Creator Showcase

On March 27, Spotter will hold a showcase event with top creators like MrBeast, Ryan Trahan, Dude Perfect, and Kinigra Deon. 

Context: Traditional media networks typically host upfronts to pitch their content schedules to advertisers. The upcoming Spotter Showcase has the same goal, with creators unveiling their video schedules to 150+ CMOs in the hopes of landing big brand deals.

We spoke with Colin & Samir, who are hosting the showcase, to learn more → 

“As creators are getting more sophisticated, the content calendars are planned in advance. And there’s just not many opportunities for them to present their slate of content,” Samir said. “Behind closed doors it does happen. But I think it’s a moment to activate the whole industry and show that this space is progressing.”

Big picture: Programming events like this signal that brands are beginning to take digital content more seriously. 

“Brands were so used to just buying ads across YouTube,” Colin said. “But now, the creators that are gonna be on stage are creating moments and uploads within the span of a month that are at the same scale as TV.”

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Who Might Buy TikTok?

A handful of deep-pocketed US investors are extending offers to purchase TikTok from its parent company, ByteDance. TikTok has until April 5 to find a domestic buyer or face a nationwide ban. 

Here’s your rundown on the potential buyers and their latest pitches → 

Billionaire Frank McCourt and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian entered a bid with the hopes to “give individual users more control over their data” through “AI enabled tools.”

Tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and content creator Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson made their bid on January 20.

Search engine Perplexity AI has proposed a merger with TikTok US that would allow the US government to own 50% of the company.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is back in the running after he led the charge to buy TikTok in 2020, with support from his close relationship with President Donald Trump.

📽️ From The Studio

88% of YouTube Videos Fail—Here’s How You Can Change That

Hey everyone—Colin & Samir here.

A 2018 study found that 88% of YouTube videos never cross 1,000 views. For five years, we were part of that stat (look at this graph of our channel).

Then in 2020, something clicked. We studied the platform, learned from top creators on our show, and boiled YouTube growth down to three simple rules:

 🔹 If they don’t click, they don’t watch.
 🔹 Respect their time.
 🔹 Do you want more stuff like this?

These rules became the foundation of our new course: The YouTube Growth Playbook. We’ve been working on it for the last 18 months and are excited to finally launch. 

Whether you’re a creator, working with one, or creating on behalf of a brand, this course will give you a repeatable system for making videos that find an audience and grow your channel.

What’s inside:
✅ Three hours of instructional video
✅ 14 downloadable worksheets
✅ A five-day ideation sprint to generate 50 high-view videos

Press readers get a special discount. Click here to learn more.

Offer valid through March 18. 

🔥 Press Worthy

• Fashion creator Alex Consani walks in 17 shows during Fashion Month, including Marc Jacobs, Hermès, and Versace.

• Food creator Jess Filippo discloses her UGC rates for brand deals.

• Gaming creators Alpharad and JaidenAnimations shut down their joint YouTube channel, WILDCARD.

• Best Buy plans to let creators build digital storefronts on its website this spring.

• German TikTok boy band Elevator Boys signs with CAA.