Howdy. Creators and members of the Colin and Samir Discord, Sticks Films, recently tripled their subscriber count to 300,000 in one week after posting movie trailers of popular YouTube creators like Ryan Trahan and Mark Rober.

Though there’s still a ways to go before they meet their next goal of 5 million subscribers, it’s safe to say they’re on the right path.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Earth Alliance Announces Climate-Focused Creator Fund

Global nonprofit Earth Alliance just announced its first Creator Fund, a new initiative that awards $2,000 grants to creators who make climate-friendly content.

“Working with digital creators is a huge opportunity [given] they have such a trusted relationship with their audiences,” Earth Alliance CEO Brady Piñero Walkinshaw told us.

Context: Co-founded by Laurene Powell Jobs and Leonardo DiCaprio, Earth Alliance brands itself as a philanthropic studio working at the intersection of climate and creativity. It wants to inspire less “doom and gloom” and more “hope and possibility.”

How Earth Alliance works with creators to make that happen: Walkinshaw explained his team’s two main initiatives…

1. Delicious Nuggets. Earth Alliance translates science-backed data such as the United Nations’ 2023 report on climate change (which runs 7,500 pages) into bite-sized “nuggets.” These brief visual summaries help creators weave accurate climate information into their content and are distributed through the nonprofit’s Instagram and website.

2. The Creator Fund. Earth Alliance realized that organic calls-to-action—like when partner creator Mark Vins asked for specific replies at the end of a YouTube Short—drove the most engagement. That’s why Earth Alliance wants to support creators educating their respective communities. It’s more effective than broad messaging from a big nonprofit.

Big picture: Walkinshaw wants to fund as many pitches as his team (alongside creator judges like Vins and Nuseir “NasDaily” Yassin) feels are high-quality.

“I’ve really come to believe that culture and shifts in stories are the tools by which we create spaces for social and political change, and those shifts are inspired by a lot of creativity as the backdrop,” Walkinshaw told us.

Creators See Moderate Success on TikTok Shop

As of this week, TikTok Shop has been live in the U.S. for a month, and creators are starting to share their experiences.

The results so far: Sellers have seen a moderate increase in sales, according to ModernRetail. For example →

• BK Beauty has seen net new sales increase 10–20% from TikTok Shop transactions.

• An ​​affiliate video from makeup artist Melissa Murdick led to a 30% day-over-day sales bump for BK Beauty.

It’s not all roses, though. Some creators are earning commissions from misinformed product recommendations. Some sellers are experiencing a buggy user interface. And countries like Indonesia have banned TikTok Shop entirely.

To increase TikTok Shop sales, the platform is currently subsidizing discounts up to 50% so items are significantly cheaper for consumers. But some critics are saying that is a questionable strategy for long-term success.

Big picture: Around $4 million in sales are made on TikTok per day, and the platform hopes to reach $10 million/day by the end of the year, according to The Information. For reference, ecommerce platform LTK facilitated $4 billion of sales (an average of $11 million/day) during the entirety of last year.

Media Brand Pulls Animations from YouTube

Long-time comedy creators Rooster Teeth (RT) have pulled some of their animated videos from YouTube due to what they consider lackluster AdSense earnings.

“YouTube revenue isn’t cutting it for us right now…It just doesn’t make sense to have our whole back catalog on YouTube anymore,” RT showrunner Kerry Shawcross said on Instagram last week.

Context: RT has been on YouTube since 2006, creating comedic shows like Red vs. Blue and Camp Camp for their 9 million subscribers.

According to Shawcross, ad-supported content viewed on the RT website generates 5-10x more revenue per ad than content posted to YouTube.

👀 Creator Moves

• The Nerdwriter is hiring a video editor to work with creator Evan Puschak on all stages of production.

• The Publish Press is hiring a newsletter editor to review story pitches and edit writers’ work.

• AMP is hiring a video editor to translate the group’s creative visions into compelling visual narratives.

ICYMI—we just launched our very own job board.

After a year of sourcing job opportunities directly from your messages and helping creators find/hire top talent, we’ve added a dedicated space for you to list and monitor those opportunities. Find your next opportunity in the creator world here.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Dude Perfect has launched an app and streaming service. It debuted at No. 2 in sports apps behind only ESPN.

• GothamChess explains why the canceled streaming event between two of the sport’s most famous players is a massive loss for the chess world.

• Creators are launching online businesses in a matter of minutes with this free tool.*

• Alex Cooper is going on a live tour across the U.S.

• Coffeezilla challenges the accuracy of author Michael Lewis’ new book on the fall of FTX.

• Hank Green debuts a comedy show about cancer.

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