Good morning. Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced the “Patriot Games,” a four-day athletic competition featuring one man and woman from each US state and territory.

Any way you slice it—whether it’s The Hunger Games, Squid Games, or Beast Games—someone’s IP is getting ripped off.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Starting in 2029, Hollywood’s biggest night will stream exclusively on YouTube—the Oscars are leaving ABC after 50+ years with the network.

Behind the deal: In a five-year contract, YouTube will gain access to other programming from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including red carpet coverage and nomination announcements. The livestream will be available to both YouTube TV subscribers in the US and YouTube’s 2 billion global users for free. 

The deal reportedly costs YouTube over $100 million per year (but it’s expected to make roughly $140 million per year from ad sales). In the past, ABC shared a portion of ad sales with The Academy. It’s unclear whether YouTube will do the same.

But this is about more than money. It’s a cultural milestone, like YouTube’s acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket in 2023—and yet another play toward dominating the living room. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan expects the Oscars to increase in viewership (which has dropped steadily since 1998) on its new home.

“Partnering with The Academy will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy,” Mohan said in a statement.

So what are traditional media creatives saying?

While creator economy natives joke about the transition:

Looking ahead: The Academy Awards are regarded as one of the most important nights on television, on par with the Super Bowl. We want to know: How will creators be incorporated into the huge cultural moment? Hit reply and let us know your thoughts.

For many creators, short-form video is all about discovery (and brand deals). But travel creator Peter Santenello is taking the road less traveled—short-form won’t be a meaningful part of his video strategy rolling out a new product.

Context: Santenello has built a following of over 4 million on YouTube. He’s spent the last six years documenting life across America, spotlighting places like Appalachia and El Paso. 

He’s about to release his first book, Your Fellow Americans, next August, and he told us short-form won’t be a big part of promoting it.

“Sometimes we go deeper into issues that need full context, and to do Shorts you have to outsource it, and check their work,” Santenello told us. “As a lean team [of two], we have to ask ‘how much more do you want to add?’ and what we have is working really well.”

His strategy → leaning into long-form. Santenello’s viewership is 80% on TVs, and Gen X is one of his fastest-growing audiences. AdSense makes up the majority of his revenue, followed by brand deals and subscriptions.

“I want to be able to understand the facets of a society, and they’re longer videos—they’re not quick edits,” Santenello said. “We’ve developed an audience that knows what they’re getting in that respect.”

The plan for 2026: Dive into more US cities and deepen audience engagement. One of those ways is through postcards, which he writes and sends to his top tier members from every city he visits.

“These little things aren’t much of a lift but they add to it,” Santenello said. 

In the spirit of recap season, we’re sharing our top metrics from a full year of sending newsletters each week:

We’re so grateful to everyone who clicked, read, shared, and commented this year. Thank you for sticking with us, and we’re excited for you to see what we’ve got cooking for next year.

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The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to before the holidays.