Good morning. In his highly anticipated return to Twitch two years after leaving the platform, Ludwig streamed his Creator Dodgeball Championship on both YouTube and Twitch yesterday. Over 115,000 people watched at once between the two platforms, helping Ludwig tally nearly the same viewership as his past live Chessboxing championship (which streamed exclusively on YouTube last year).

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Inside KARO’s Pop-Up Shop with Emma Rogue

Multimedia artist and designer Anya “KARO” Karolyn hosted a pop-up shop at fashion creator Emma Rogue’s NYC clothing store on Saturday, showcasing how creators can successfully welcome their online audiences into curated, physical spaces.

We stopped by the pop-up, where Karolyn explained to us that she brought back sold-out apparel and dropped one-of-one denim pieces as a way to reward her core community members who visited.

How she built that community: Karolyn began selling prints of her art and uploading behind-the-scenes TikToks in 2020 under the alias KARO.

She landed a graphic design job with Universal Music Group upon graduating college in 2021. After spending some time saving up, Karolyn went all-in on KARO in 2023, making videos with brand partners like Adobe and selling clothing online.

And her clothing drops have been a hit. Thanks to engaging BTS clothing production videos Karolyn posts on TikTok and Instagram, her drop-style streetwear collections regularly sell out.

“With each collection that I’ve dropped, it’s supposed to be this little world I’m building piece by piece,” Karolyn told us.

So what’s the key to bringing that online success to an IRL pop-up? Working with a partner like Rogue who shares similar values (and audiences) while building deeper connections with her community members in person, Karolyn said.

“[In the past], I would get so caught up comparing myself to other brands where they have a line down the block…but you set your own parameter for success and you need to be just as excited if one person comes through that door,” Karolyn said.

”As long as I’m making enough [money] to put into the next drop, that’s all I need right now,” she added.

How a 4-Hour Video Essay on Plagiarism Went Viral

Earlier this month, video essay creator Harris “Hbomberguy” Brewis released a four-hour video about plagiarism on YouTube.

Behind the decision to go for four hours: Most of Brewis’ videos are over an hour long, but after a 3.5-hour video quickly became his second-most-viewed video on his channel, he wanted to test the limits of watch time by revisiting a topic he covered six years earlier: plagiarism, he told creator news site Passionfruit.

Brewis' longer video worked: He tallied 3 million views in under 48 hours. 

And the content itself quickly made waves in the creator community. In the video, Brewis tells stories of creators accused of plagiarism like fellow essayist Internet Historian, film and culture commentator James Somerton, and Filip Miucin, who was fired from Imagine Games Network (IGN) for copying another creator’s video game review.

The takeaway? Self-regulation may be the biggest tool to protect creators from plagiarism. 

Because Brewis’ video has had a ripple effect on the creator community: Somerton promptly deleted his Patreon and Discord and shut off comments on his YouTube channel. And those whom Somerton plagiarized, like writers Gita Jackson, Katelyn Burns, and Mick Abrahamson, have spoken up. Abrahamson called the video a “wake-up call.”

The creator POV: Plagiarism has been a growing concern among creators in the last year. While there currently are very few protections for creators against plagiarism, Brewis joins the ranks of Jacksfilms and Coffeezilla in appealing to creators to hold each other accountable.

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Creator Campuses are Coming to NYC and LA

Creator talent agency Whalar just announced The Lighthouse, a creator workspace and event venue opening in Venice, CA, and NYC next year.

How it works: Members will get access to The Lighthouse’s video-enabled podcast spaces, a test kitchen set, and edit bays, plus workshops on everything from creative direction to HR and investments. There will also be private offices and production studios, shared workspaces, and social events. Creators can apply for membership starting in January.

FYI: Colin and Samir will co-chair and select The Lighthouse’s founding Creator Council, who will decide on creator admission and help guide campus programming. They’ll also be creators-in-residence, with an office and studio at the Venice location.

👀 Creator Moves

• Jomboy Media is hiring an account executive to drive revenue growth for its sports-focused content. 

• Epic Gardening is hiring a marketing manager to build and execute paid marketing strategies. 

• George Blackman is hiring a freelance scriptwriter to develop video scripts for YouTube creator clients.

• Fan of a Fan is hiring a production manager to cultivate relationships with suppliers. 

Hiring for any positions in the new year? Add them to our job board here!

🔥 Press Worthy

• Jules Terpak explores how Bard (Google’s version of ChatGPT) will change the way we watch—and create—on YouTube.

• Michelle Khare’s next challenge: learning how to sail a pirate ship with Max Fosh and Sam Denby.

• Mark Rober brings back his Glitterbomb series and takes on car thieves for the second straight year.

• Levy “GothamChess” Rozman opens up to The New York Times about giving up grandmaster chess dreams to focus on YouTube.

• TikTok’s former COO V Pappas joins the board at book publishing giant Simon & Schuster.

• Comedian Bill Maher analyzes MrBeast’s philanthropic efforts (and some of the blowback). 

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