Good morning. On Saturday, QTCinderella hosted the 4th Streamer Awards on Twitch to over 500K live viewers at its peak.

Kai Cenat walked away with three of the five awards he was nominated for, including Best Marathon Stream for Mafiathon 2. IShowSpeed won Streamer of the Year, accepting the victory with a heartfelt speech and, true to form…a backflip.

— Hannah Doyle 

Colin and Samir Wrapped: 2024 Edition

Happy Monday, Samir here. Inspired by my Spotify Wrapped, I spent the weekend reflecting on the last year for The Colin and Samir Show. 

Today, I’m sharing a few key metrics that caught my eye—including the numbers we typically use to measure success and the ones we’re starting to care about more and more.

Here’s a snapshot of our YouTube channel in 2024:

• 32 new episodes

• 40.7 million long-form video views

• 156.6K new subscribers

• 11.1 million hours of watch time

• 26 minutes 29 seconds for average view duration (AVD) on our past-year episodes

These numbers tell us a lot about the health of our audience, our show, and our business. But this year, we started focusing on what we call “loyalty stats”—metrics that go beyond reach to measure the strength of our community.

Loyalty stats we’re watching closely:

• 20.6% of our YouTube viewers are “returning viewers”—they regularly come back to watch.

• 37,000 Spotify users had The Colin and Samir Show as their No. 1 show on Wrapped.

• 83,000 Spotify users had The Colin and Samir Show as a top five show on Wrapped. 

What that means for us: In 2025, we’re focusing on our most loyal fans first. Jay Clouse once asked creators what they’d do differently if their next upload couldn’t reach any new viewers. It’s a great question—and a reminder to prioritize the audience already showing up week after week.

We’d love to hear about your year in review. Hit reply and tell us what metrics you’re focusing on in the new year.

Why This Travel Creator Launched a Tea Company

Brett Conti has built a YouTube following of 900K over the last decade, documenting his international travels and NYC side hustles.

Now, he’s launching a premium tea brand called Beleaf—and taking his audience through every step of the process on YouTube.

Why start a tea company? “From traveling, I knew that tea was the most popular drink in the world besides water, and I wanted to start a business that I knew could be successful even if I didn’t have 1+ million followers,” Conti told us.

Here are two of Conti’s top insights from his year-long journey of business development →

Narrowing his audience. Conti made a dedicated newsletter for Beleaf updates, which started with about 3,500 subscribers 10 months ago. And when he opened up pre-orders exclusively to that audience on Friday, Conti sold over $1,000 worth of Beleaf merchandise within the first hour.

Turning mistakes into a story. Conti is sharing the challenges of production in 20-minute YouTube videos—from running out of ingredients to falling behind schedule to testing caffeine levels—which adds intrigue and connection with the viewers, he said. 

“My number one principle is to always create the content you want to watch,” Conti said. “I personally love watching shows documenting startup businesses, and I want to bring that type of storytelling in real-time on YouTube.”

Sponsored by Spotter Studio

Brainstorm YouTube Video Ideas, Get $25K

Spotter Studio is giving away $25,000 to YouTube creators this holiday season.

To enter to win, all you need to do is sign up for a free trial of Spotter Studio, the AI-powered brainstorm partner we use to come up with better titles and thumbnails. There’s no purchase necessary—you just need to sign up for a free trial, connect your YouTube channel, and start brainstorming.

Every video idea you brainstorm with Spotter Studio gives you an additional entry into the sweepstakes.

One creator will win $20,000 and five creators will win $1,000 each. If you’re already signed up for Spotter Studio, you’re eligible to win. Sign up for a free trial by 12/31/24 11:59 PM PST.

US TikTok Ban Holds Steady

Last week, a US federal appeals court upheld a law forcing China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US-based company by January 19—or face a nationwide ban.

Context: TikTok and many of its creators have filed lawsuits against the ban, arguing it violates the right to free speech. TikTok plans to appeal the latest decision to the Supreme Court.

What’s next: If the decision holds up in court, President Biden will decide whether to grant ByteDance a 90-day extension to find a US buyer. When President-elect Trump takes office January 20, he’ll take over the decision to enforce a ban or not. 

FYI: Trump tried (and failed) to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020. More recently, though, he suggested he wouldn’t force the TikTok ban.

👀 Creator Moves

• Food creator Michael Ligier is hiring a thumbnail designer to test design ideas based on performance analytics.

• MrBeast is looking for an assistant editor with at least three years of experience in Premiere Pro.

• Theorist Media is hiring a production coordinator to support workflow across its four YouTube channels, GTLive, and LoreFi.

Looking to bring on new team members? You can post opportunities on our (free) job board here.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Meta partners with filmmaker James Cameron to make a Roblox competitor.

• Spotify for Creators now gives creators, like The Dropouts, tools to let fans watch their shows anywhere. Learn how they have found success using them.*

• Cameo is accepting applications from more creators.

• Bobbi Althoff and Morgan Jay are starring in a rom com called Love Language.

• Ikenna’s language learning app, Fluyo, is launching December 19.

• Adin Ross is leaving Kick indefinitely with plans to return to Twitch.

_{*This is sponsored advertising content.}