Good morning. Thanks to our reader, Phillip, who tipped us off to a new tool called GPTube—it’s an AI chatbot that will reply to a creator’s YouTube comments for them. If your favorite creator starts to sound a little robotic in their replies…now you know.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

News Roundup: Creators Give Back

Here’s a creator trend picking up steam: High-profile creators spearheading charitable efforts that make an impact on issues close to both their hearts and their channels.

First up: Cody Ko is currently raising money for the kid’s program After School All-Stars, pledging to run one mile for every $1,000 raised. So far he’s raised $31,000 with 33 days left to complete his $50,000 goal.

Next: Through his charity organization the MrBallen Foundation, crime storyteller MrBallen pledged $1 million to families that have been affected by violent crimes and organizations that support those families.

• FYI: Some true crime shows have been criticized for capitalizing on and profiting from the trauma of other people.

Since MrBallen’s foundation launched last year, it has given more than $400,000 through its financial assistance programs.

Also: Welsh creator and artist CDawgVA recently raised over $550,000 for the Immune Deficiency Foundation during his second-annual cyclethon, a live-streamed 500-mile, nine-day bicycle trip across Japan. The streamer raised $315,000 for the same organization last year.

Big picture: One of the biggest hurdles for charities and nonprofits is exposure—something big creators can help solve for with their significant (and bought-in) audiences. Altogether, the above creators have a collective 10+ million followers, with each of their channels often getting over 1 million views per week.

Critical Role Acquires its First Podcast

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) creator group Critical Role is expanding its media repertoire to include podcasts. The group just purchased Third Person’s Midst audio mystery series.

Quick background: Critical Role is a D&D web series and media company that started on YouTube and Twitch in 2018.

• It’s made up of eight actors and creators (including Ashley Johnson from HBO’s The Last of Us) who role play a game most Thursdays.

• Over three “campaigns” (aka series of gameplay), Critical Role has gained 607 million total views.

• In a 2021 Twitch leak, Critical Role was reported to be among the platform’s top earners with a total payout of over $9 million since its launch.

Why this podcast? Critical Role’s story-driven content has spun off other media including comic books, art books, and an animated series on Amazon Prime. This podcast, however, represents the group’s first non-D&D title and an expansion into more diverse sci-fi storytelling.

Fan Shorts Boost Music Artists

In January 2023, fan-created Shorts increased the average music artist's audience of unique viewers on YouTube by more than 80%, according to recent data from the platform.

• Translation: Those fan-made Shorts of live concert footage and lip-syncs are translating to increased exposure for artists on YouTube.

Zoom out: This data comes as YouTube debuts its new Total Reach analytics tool. Though TikTok and Spotify are the leading platforms in music discovery, YouTube appears to be offering creators something those platforms don’t—advanced audience analytics.

👀 Creator Moves

• Sidetalk is hiring a video editor. Must be based in New York.

• Hayden Hillier-Smith and Creator Now are looking for an editor to help build an online course.

• TBNR Productions is hiring a full-time thumbnail artist with at least two years of experience.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Logan Paul and KSI's PRIME is now the official sports drink of the LA Dodgers.

• 19% of American TikTok users support a TikTok ban, according to data from Pew Research.

• Hot Ones collaborates with Emmett’s Pizza.

• What to know about Twitter’s new algorithm.

• FaZe Clan reports a $53.2 million loss for 2022.

• Seek Discomfort releases a merch collaboration with artist Julie Solvstrom.

• 100 Thieves launches a spotlight series highlighting female creators.

• Spotter has paid $740M to over 400+ creators like Dude Perfect, Airrack, & Deestroying, see if you're eligible to partner with Spotter by clicking here.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

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