Good morning. Timothée Chalamet has been making the rounds to promote his Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. From a sit-down with Theo Von to an appearance on Brittany Broski’s The Broski Report to Anthpo’s lookalike contest, maybe Timothée is setting a new standard for the A-list promotion cycle—focused on creators.

— Hannah Doyle 

BTS of Beast Games

Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson premiered his highly-anticipated streaming show, Beast Games, on Prime Video yesterday. The reality show is widely considered to be unprecedented in terms of production scale—for YouTube, television, or any medium.

Colin and Samir went behind the scenes for four days on set in Toronto to capture the production dynamic . 

“Today was a crazy day—it was quite literally a historic day in entertainment,” Samir said following the first episode shoot day. 

Context: Before the first episode aired, Beast Games broke some 40 world records, including largest single pot of prize money in television history ($5 million) and largest island given away in a show.

More eye-popping stats…

What we heard from the Beast team: Making Beast Games required close collaboration with the traditional Hollywood production paradigm.

• “Nobody has directed something like this before—there hasn’t been a reality show with 1,000 contestants before—so it’s a little bit of pressure,” reality show director Kate Douglas-Walker told Colin and Samir.

• “The thing these TV people know how to do is make really big sets and they understand how to film with extreme professionalism and structure,” MrBeast Head of Creative Tyler Conklin told Colin and Samir. “We pivot like crazy, so we’re almost teaching them that good content can happen right in front of your face—don’t be afraid to change it in the moment—that’s what I'm trying to show.”

Worth noting: The show’s production was surrounded by public controversy, some of which has spilled into its publicity run with Beast Games giveaway partners.

Matt D’Avella Returns to YouTube

Productivity creator Matt D’Avella was one of many creators who announced they were scaling back their production teams at the start of the year…but soon after, D’Avella stopped uploading altogether.

Now, he’s back with a new approach. “I really found over the past year my mental health is deeply connected to my ability to create and sometimes my ambition can be a detriment,” D’Avella said in a video announcing his return on Thursday. “I’m back because I’m excited about making YouTube videos again. I’m a creator through and through.”

In addition to regular YouTube uploads, D’Avella is also publishing a new 20-minute podcast, a second YouTube channel, and a weekly newsletter. 

Kids Creators Dominate Retail Store Shelves

Step aside, Mattel. Some of the biggest toy sales this holiday season are coming from YouTube-born kids brands like Blippi, Cocomelon, and toddler education creator Ms. Rachel. 

Walmart told the NYT last month that the Ms. Rachel doll was the most successful presale for any toy line in company history. 

Some background: In the past year, Ms. Rachel’s YouTube channel has nearly doubled in subscribers to 13 million. YouTube told the NYT that the channel has also had one of the platform’s highest watch times on televisions this year.

Zoom out: The toy category is proving to be a viable space for kids creators. By end of year, Ms. Rachel is expected to be the top new toy license of 2024, according to data company Circana.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Kajabi and Course Studio release a list of the top 24 knowledge creators this year (two of them look pretty familiar).

• For YouTubers Only: Win a $25,000 giveaway from Spotter Studio. Just start a free trial of Spotter Studio, brainstorm YouTube video ideas, and enter to win—no purchase necessary.*

• YouTube partners with CAA to take down AI-generated deepfakes.

• Comedian Grace O’Malley joins Unwell.

• Nick DiGiovanni breaks the Guinness World Record for world’s largest chocolate bar.

• Substack partners with newsletter creator and journalist Bari Weiss to launch a website builder for media brands.

_{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

📚️ Thank You For Pressing Publish

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.

• Read: What happens to all the unclaimed mail in the post office? The WSJ explores the business of Fundelivered, a gift shop that buys and resells pallets of unclaimed mail.

• Watch: Lifestyle creator Alexandra Hayes Robinson (aka Hello Hayes) translates her newsletter into video with “advice vlogs.”

• Listen: Cultural commentary creator Jules Terpak hosts entrepreneur Mark Cuban on her Fishbowl podcast to discuss what creators are running the best businesses.