Good morning. Weβre headed to San Francisco this morning to attend science creator William Osmanβs Open Sauce conference. If youβre going too, let us know by replying to this email. And keep a look out for Hannah and Josh from the Publish team.βοΈ

BTS of a Journalism YouTube Channel

Adam Cole (left) and Joss Fong (right) share their plans for their science and journalism channel Howtown / Howtown
Howtown, the new YouTube channel from former Vox journalists Joss Fong and Adam Cole that asks βhow do they know that,β released their second longform video yesterdayβan exploration of the Covid death toll with Hank Green.Β
Fong and Cole shared with us what went into the launch, plus how theyβre approaching the channel with fresh eyes after 10 years of making YouTube videos at Vox.Β
BTS: Fong and Cole take turns producing each biweekly video. They banked four videos before launch, and theyβre teasing new topics on Shorts.Β
βThereβs so much thatβs been said about having a strong cadence and having your audience know when youβre going to be publishing,β Cole told us.
βWeβre constantly wondering if itβs still true and if itβs true for other people, is it true for us. More data is coming in by the hour.β
Their channelβs differentiatorβ¦in addition to cameos from big names like Cleo Abram and Jarvis Johnson? Adhering to journalistic standards like using primary sources, issuing corrections, and forgoing sponsored contentβinstead doing ad reads with no editorial input from advertisers.
βI think it would be cool if these [journalistic tenets] became more of a norm, but itβs tricky because thereβs a lot of different pressures on YouTube than reporters have inside a news organization,β Fong said.Β
βThings like how you make money and what kind of deals are brought to you by brands and what you can and cannot consider depending on where you stand in the ecosystem.β
Fong and Cole started a Patreon to hedge against that risk: Viewer support gives them a buffer should AdSense tank or a video get a 10/10.
Looking ahead: βI still think thereβs a lot of room to explore in terms of combining information in journalism with visual creativity, visual explanation, and those kinds of techniques,β Fong said. βSo even though weβve been doing this for a decade thereβs still more to play around with and more to do on YouTube. Though the competition is more fierce than it was in 2014. Weβll say that.β

Ryan Trahan Preps for βJoyride Dayβ

Ryan Trahan (left) promotes the release of Joyride in Target stores and what products to look out for (right) / Ryan Trahan
Vlogger and challenge creator Ryan Trahan added a new title to his rΓ©sumΓ© in February: candy entrepreneur. He joined better-for-you candy company Joyride as co-owner and chief creative officer.
Now, Trahan has declared tomorrow, June 15, as βJoyride Day.β
Why? The candy brand will become available to purchase at 1,200 Target locations.
βOur goal is to be the #1 selling candy in Target, even if itβs just for a day,β Trahan wrote in an Instagram post.
The creator has pulled out all the stops to market the launch, including developing an online store locator and revealing a mascot named Joyride Jerry.
Looking ahead: Trahan said on IG that the sales success of Joyride over the next three months will influence the candy lineβs opportunities to stock products at other retailers. Weβll be keeping a close eye on how it pans out.

YouTube Experiments with New Features

YouTube tests QR codes for channels and more / Illustration by Moy Zhong
YouTube announced several new tools and features in testing this week. Some that caught our eyeβ¦
Channel QR Codes. Ever pay a friend back for dinner by scanning their QR code on Venmo? YouTube is experimenting with a similar feature that allows creators to share their channels IRLβand the codes are scannable both online and offline.
Live Chat Summaries. When logging into a creatorβs livestream, test users can toggle between reading comments normally or skimming AI-generated discussion summaries.
Google Lens Search. Some Android users can now receive search results on YouTube based on where they point their phoneβs camera (think a nearby statue or type of car tire).

π₯ Press Worthy
Deestroying shares his football plans after his neck injury.
This new tool from Spotter helps you create click-worthy titles for your next YouTube video.*
Gaming creator ThinkNoodles signs with CAA.
Jake Paul starts a deodorant line called W.
YouTube education creator Ed Lawrence (aka Film Booth) starts fresh with a new channel.Β Β
Logan Paul releases a podcast episode with former President Donald Trump.
*This is sponsored advertising content.

π Thank You For Pressing Publish
The content weβre looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.
Read: Why the staff of an Indian restaurant in England is filming bad music video parodies to boost its business via TikTok.
Watch: Johnny Harris shares a look into his actual brain to explore why we often fall for liesβand what we can do to prevent it.
Listen: Film critics Amanda Dobbins and Sean Fennessey discuss the fallout from recent moviesβ poor box office showings (and build their own fantasy movie studio from scratch) on The Big Picture podcast.

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