Good morning. “If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines.” That was the call to action from SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher yesterday as the actors’ union joined the Writers Guild of America in striking, the first dual strike since 1960.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

John Green Mobilizes His Community in #PatientsNotPatents Campaign

In a video uploaded Tuesday, author and education creator John Green called on his community to pressure pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) into making tuberculosis medication more accessible. By Thursday morning, J&J gave in.

The campaign mostly took place over Twitter, where Green and his brother, Hank, encouraged their “Nerdfighteria” community to raise awareness about tuberculosis through tweets and memes, leading #PatientsNotPatents to trend on the platform.

Context: For the last 10 years, J&J has had the exclusive right to produce and sell bedaquiline, a life-saving medication to treat tuberculosis (TB). J&J’s patent domination has made the medication unaffordable for a huge percentage of people in low- and middle-income countries.

Though J&J’s patent was set to expire this year, nonprofit activists like the Stop TB Partnership and Doctors Without Borders warned that the company would attempt to extend its patent another 4 years, which meant 6 million people who needed bedaquiline wouldn’t be able to get it.

Enter: John Green. “I think that if you’d asked 99% of people…they wouldn’t have said that the Stop TB Partnership would publicly announce today that J&J is allowing the distribution of generics in almost every country with a high burden of tuberculosis,” Green told us.

But that’s what the company is doing, thanks in large part to Green’s YouTube video this week that, as he said, “really blew up.” It gained over 500,000 views within its first 24 hours, quickly eclipsing the impact of other efforts on Green’s behalf, including an op-ed in The Washington Post in May.

FYI: The Green brothers have spent several years community-funding a state-of-the-art hospital in Sierra Leone, a country with one of the highest TB rates in the world—something they often talk about in their videos.

“My audience has spent the last year learning about tuberculosis with me,” Green told us.

Zoom out: Green believes creators can rally their online communities to fight for real change by doing three things: narrowing their focus, learning from experts, and listening to their audiences.

“The truth is, we give 100% of the profit from Awesome Coffee and Socks Club because our community demands and expects that,” he told us.

“This is a big part of what has allowed me to sustain a 17-year career as a creator on YouTube—the views go up, the views go down…but the thing that I’m grateful for is to be able to encourage and work with people who are changing the world every day,” Green said.

We’re sharing our full interview with Green in Monday’s edition of the Press. See you there.

Creators Carry Amazon Prime Day

Creators were front and center during this year’s Amazon Prime Day, which brought in $12.7 billion in sales over the two-day event—a company record that made it the largest ecommerce day in the U.S. this year.

Here’s how creators showed up:

• Prime Day videos from The Deal Guy brought in over 3 million views and appeared on YouTube’s trending page.

• Over 500 YouTube channels participated, nearly 100 more than last year.

• The hashtag #PrimeDay2023 received over 57 million views on TikTok, with content from creators like Alix Earle, Lauren Wolfe, and JohnsFinanceTips.

• Amazon hosted a live TikTok game show called Prime Night with creators including Octopuslover, Alix Earle, Bigfoot Bae, and Leendadong.

Zoom out: Amazon is increasingly betting on creators to push traffic to Prime Day deals. Earle is a solid example. As one of the more recognizable faces of this year’s Prime Day, she hosted a live video on her Amazon storefront and highlighted her favorite products—including Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask, which jumped from No. 182 in its category to become the No. 1 top seller, according to data from commerce analytic company Profitero.

Sponsored by Spotter

How a YouTube Grillmaster is Building a BBQ Empire

Aaron Brown has always had a deep passion for cooking. But for most of his life, it was just a hobby. In 2017, he launched his own YouTube channel, posting videos that explored BBQ and home-style cooking.

Fast forward six years and 2.5M subscribers later, Smokin’ and Grllin’ is the machine behind a fully-fledged business that includes:

• A home in Las Vegas that doubles as Aaron’s cooking lab and YouTube Studio.

• A food truck that serves as the foundation for a new restaurant.

• A line of branded products that includes seasonings, cookbooks, and cutting boards.

But Aaron didn’t achieve this alone. To build his empire, Aaron turned to Spotter.

In exchange for licensing his catalog of content, Spotter provided Aaron with upfront capital to bet on himself.

Spotter’s distributed over $775M to creators like Aaron to build the next generation of media companies. Learn more about how Spotter is doubling down on creators by clicking here.

Shopify To Launch AI Assistant

Ecommerce platform Shopify is investing further in generative artificial intelligence with Sidekick, an AI assistant that can complete tasks and answer detailed questions about market and sales trends.

What it will look like in action:

• Through text-based prompts, Sidekick will help creators design storefronts, set up discounts, and analyze market trends.

• It can answer questions like “I’ve had a drop off in sales from March ‘til now. Why?” and complete tasks like “put everything on sale.”

The tool will be placed on the Shopify dashboard and is set to roll out “soon,” according to CEO Tobi Lütke.

Zoom out: Shopify has been using Bard, Google’s generative AI and ChatGPT rival, since March. So far, Shopify has mostly used the technology to improve the product discovery experience, creating custom search results when consumers look for a product on a Shopify webstore.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Deestroying partners with the NFL to run his popular “1ON1” series in 10 cities, with local talent competing for a chance to face off at the Pro Bowl.

• Hayden Hillier-Smith shares three editing secrets to hook viewers.

• Twitch announces improved tools for cutting clips from streams.

• Anthony Padilla reveals an emotional letter he wrote to Ian Hecox a month after he left Smosh in 2017.

• TikTok partners with FIFA to promote exclusive content from this year’s Women’s World Cup.

📚️ Thank You For Pressing Publish

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

• Read: Netflix has always won by being ahead of the pack—first with DVD-by-mail, then with streaming. The company’s next big bet: interactive entertainment. The Ringer dove into Netflix’s long-term belief in video games.

• Watch: Eli Stone asked ChatGPT for advice as he struggled with his mental health. He shared a look into what he learned.

• Listen: In one of his only public interview appearances, Minecraft creator Dream sat down with our very own Colin and Samir and opened up about his upbringing, marketing strategy, and whether or not he regrets that face reveal.

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