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Why These BuzzFeed Alums Are Starting Over on YouTube
In the latest video on their new food channel, Adam Bianchi (left), Steven Lim (center), and Andrew Ilnyckyj (right) compare LA fried rice at three different price points / Steven Lim
Two years after their viral series Worth It wrapped on BuzzFeed’s channel, Watcher Entertainment’s Steven Lim reunited with his former BuzzFeed coworkers Andrew Ilnyckyj and Adam Bianchi to debut their joint YouTube channel: Andrew, Steven, and Adam.
Catch up quick: Since leaving BuzzFeed, Lim and Bianchi have been working mostly behind-the-scenes at Watcher Entertainment, and Ilnyckyj has been intermittently featured on the channel. The trio returns—independently from Watcher and BuzzFeed—on this new channel by searching for the best fried rice in LA. More episode formats are on the way.
Why now? “Andrew, Adam, and I have been making food videos together for over 10 years now, and over that time have developed what we feel is our own perspective and style,” Lim told us via email. “We wanted a dedicated place to continue to create and publish the newest evolution of videos made by the three of us together.”
How they plan to build on a beloved format →
Worth It premiered in 2016 and quickly became one of BuzzFeed’s biggest shows alongside The Try Guys and Unsolved. Ilnyckyj, Lim, and Bianchi’s goal with the series has always been to spotlight chefs and kitchen staff while educating the audience about culture through food—something they plan to carry with them to the new channel.
“We’re excited to weave in more storytelling, play with new visual styles, experiment with different narrative formats, and add more depth to the videos whether through voiceover or other creative devices,” Lim said.
One week in: Andrew, Steven, and Adam has gained over 180K subscribers since its launch on May 1, and it’s receiving high praise from fans:
“This new chapter shows so much growth from all parties. The artistic direction, the storytelling, the chemistry. It's been so great seeing you guys,” one commenter said.
“You three made something very special and timelessly wholesome for the internet. I know you never left but it's so good to have you back,” another fan commented.
Yes Theory Sells Its Fulfillment Business
Fan of a Fan, which powers creator apparel brands like Yes Theory's Seek Discomfort (left), has sold its fulfillment arm / Seek Discomfort, Fan of a Fan
Creator group Yes Theory recently sold the fulfillment arm of its merch development business, Fan of a Fan, to Texas-based (and Mark Cuban-owned) logistics company Selery Fulfillment in a multi-million-dollar asset sale.
Context: Yes Theory (along with creator industry entrepreneurs Zack Honarvar and Ryan Westberg) launched Fan of a Fan (FOAF) in 2016 to help power the creator group’s apparel brand, Seek Discomfort. FOAF 1) helps creators launch and operate merch brands and 2) manages fulfillment logistics with three warehouses in California.
Go deeper: Owning logistics helped Yes Theory consolidate ship times to two weeks or less by bringing everything from design to printing to fulfillment under one roof.
“Rather than [Yes Theory] deciding ‘lets do a merch brand,’ they said ‘lets do a merch brand and build a company that powers our merch brand.’’” Honarvar told us. “That perspective is really important for creators to have.”
Looking ahead: FOAF will continue to operate as an independent creator agency after selling its fulfillment assets, which frees the company up to zero in on design and conceptual services for creator brands.
Big picture: “A lot of people think creator businesses need to be the drink or forward-facing consumer thing and this is not that—this is Yes Theory running a logistics business,” Honarvar said. “But it panned out to give them a really cool return and all they had to do is let it power their merch brand.”
Political Streams Skyrocket
Streams Charts reports the most-watched political channels across livestreaming platforms, including Hasan Piker on Twitch (left), Al Jazeera on YouTube Live (center), and the Right Side Boradcasting Network on Rumble (right) / Illustration by Moy Zhong with photography via Hasan Piker and Media Matters for America
Last year’s election was largely characterized as the podcast election—but new data show politics are returning the favor by influencing the creator industry.
The stat to know: Viewership on political content on streaming platforms is up 56% year over year, according to a new report from Stream Charts.
In Q1, streams of political content nearly matched those for gaming content on Twitch, Stream Charts reported.
Twitch is home to 55% of political channels, yet 97% of live political viewership happens on YouTube—which Stream Charts chalks up to most major news outlets choosing YouTube for 24/7 live broadcasts.
Where do you get your political content?
🔥 Press Worthy
The Golden Globes adds a Best Podcast category for its 2026 award show.
Reece Feldman, aka Guy With A Movie Camera, is releasing his first short film at a TikTok event during the Cannes Film Festival next month.
Gymnasium launches Roommate Court, a show about roommate disputes.
Elyse Myers is releasing a book: That’s a Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You.
Nick Digiovanni partners with Yahoo to make written food content.
Revive Health launches CreatorCare, a therapy service with sliding scale prices for creators based in California.
📚 Thank You For Pressing Publish
The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.
Read: Brock Colyar’s New York essay on the women creators shaping New York City’s West Village spawned a million think pieces as a case study on how TikTok creates subcultures.
Watch: TikTok food reviewer Joe Is Hungry meticulously measures the temperature and weight of popular fast food items, filming it all from countless camera angles.
Listen: We’ve been streaming LA-based band After’s self-titled EP for the past few weeks. If you’re looking for grungy-Y2K-realness, this is for you.
