Happy Friday. The Colin and Samir video team has been hard at work producing a documentary that follows MrBeast at the opening of MrBeast Burger—and it’s finally premiering this weekend. It’s unlike anything they’ve ever put out and I’m so stoked for you to see it. Check out the trailer here.

–Hannah Doyle

Danny Duncan's a Good Sport

What was the last outdoor game you played? A dusty game of corn hole? Or a deflated volleyball match? Comedy creator Danny Duncan wants to broaden your horizons with his new sporting goods company, Good Sport.

The details: 

• Good Sport is a partnership between Duncan and the founders of sporting goods company CROSSNET, Chris Meade and Mike Delpapa. 

• Duncan brings over 12 million followers across his social channels to the brand. Meade and Delpapa bring five years of industry expertise. 

• Good Sport launched this week with three games for purchase online (more on IRL retail in a sec).

Meade and Delpapa’s decision to partner with Duncan was no coincidence. He has retail experience with his signature “Virginity Rocks” clothing in Zumiez, Spencer’s, and Tillys. Plus? “Danny can consistently drive online and retail traffic—a marketer’s best friend,” Meade told us. 

• Good Sport is slated to sell online and in retail stores, including Scheels, DICK’S, and Academy in the spring of 2023. 

• Duncan’s ability to gather an audience IRL (like, for example, at a meet and greet) is a major factor in Good Sport’s multi-channel launch strategy. 

So what’s in it for a creator like Duncan? Equity. “Every creator understands that they are one account deletion away from losing something they worked years on,” Meade said. “The sooner they can own assets that they can control and not rely strictly on views and ad revenue, the better position they can be in.”

Our Take

For creators: We know that building a brand on social media is building on rented land. Earning equity in a brand gets you closer to owning some of that proverbial acreage—and, ideally, for the long haul. 

For businesses: Advertising on social is getting costlier by the minute, and operating system changes have made performance difficult to track—creators are a viable way to escape the mercy of platforms while tapping into an audience that’s already bought in.

YouTube Wants More Vlogs

Relationship-based storytelling is back in vogue on YouTube, and the platform is eating it up. 

Over the last week, longtime creators Jesse and Jen each landed on YouTube’s trending page, sharing new day-in-the-life vlogs that follow a similar format to the videos that brought them to popularity 12 years prior.

Zoom out: Their videos come on the heels of a vlog comeback led by the likes of Casey Neistat and Emma Chamberlain. They, like Andrew Schulz and Ludwig, are deepening audience relationships by showing their personal sides through well-loved and worn-in formats like vlogging, podcasting, and streaming. 

But relationship-based content wasn’t always king—for a time, idea-based content like challenge videos from MrBeast, Airrack, Ryan Trahan, and Matthew Beem dominated. That genre is still performing well (they’re doing just fine, trust us), but the re-emergence of relationship-focused videos illustrates the way YouTube ebbs and flows.

“What will be most craved as the pendulum shifts from challenge videos is a desire to connect with authenticity,” Samir said in a recent Creator Support podcast. “Podcasting, streaming, and vlogging—those three styles of content will start to be on the rise.”

Our Take

To be clear: Vlogging never died. But as YouTube nears its 20th year, we’ll start to see more trends recycle as the major creators of yesteryear come back from hiatuses. Surely in the next 10 years, challenge content will become novel again. But until then, we’ll enjoy this familiar era of authenticity.

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VTubers Climb Up the Streaming Charts

The rise of animated streamers who came up during the pandemic has continued on its steady incline. Five of the top 10 female streamers in Q3 2022 were VTubers, according to Stream Hatchet. 

And they continue to break records across YouTube and Twitch. But not just for VTubing—they’re stacking up to (and surpassing) their real counterparts, with VTuber Ironmouse recently beating Korean-American kkatamina’s record as the most-subbed female Twitch streamer last year.

Our Take

VTubers were once thought to be a pandemic fad, but now it’s clear they’re outliving that era of the industry. Considering the privacy benefits, we wouldn’t be surprised if a decade from now, the majority of streamers presented themselves virtually instead of exposing their faces and likenesses.

🔥 Press Worthy

• TikToker Benito Skinner will star in an Amazon comedy.

• Casey Neistat uses over 120 clips of fan footage for his video running the NYC Marathon.

• David Dobrik’s new pizza place has a couple special features.

• Hook Point is giving away a free guide to going viral.*

• Airrack joins FaZe Clan.

• Sporty & Rich collaborates with Adidas.

*This is sponsored advertising content.