Good morning. YouTube documentary channel S3 recently toured testing grounds for a new antenna working to send data to and from space, founded by former Wizards of Waverly Place actor Bridgit Mendler. From Disney channel to Harvard to launching new data tech into orbit…that’s one heck of a story arc.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Jomboy Media Enters New Season of Blitzball

This week, creator sports brand Jomboy Media launched Blitzball Battle 5, a tournament featuring the wiffleball-like game on Jomboy’s Warehouse Games channel. 

It received the most views ever in a single day for a Blitzball video over the channel’s three-year history, with 54,000 views in 24 hours.

What’s making the game a hit? Tweaking the rules (like two-inning games for faster pacing) and raising production value, Jomboy Media COO Courtney Hirsch told us. 

“I would say a big difference has been shifting our focus from pure gameplay and adding reality TV elements,” Hirsch said. 

• Jomboy budgets around $50,000 for its Blitzball games, which includes filming play-by-play commentary, producing stats packaging, and conducting in-game interviews and postgame press conferences. 

• Blitzball regulars like Jack Doyle and Lorenzo DeMalia have developed their own followings outside the series, and professional sports vets like former Minnesota Twins infielder Trevor Plouffe have both played in Blitzball and provided commentary for Jomboy.

The key ingredient that keeps people watching? Investing in the characters, Hirsch said.

“While the gameplay is still awesome, our editors have focused on the character development early and shedding as much light to who each play truly is on and off the field.” Hirsch said. 

Big picture: Blitzball Battle 5 is part of a banner year for Jomboy Media. This summer, they inked a six-figure linear TV deal with Bally Sports, and the company is set to make $10 million in revenue by the end of 2024—up 43% from last year, according to Fast Company.

Platform Roundup: Election Night and a Country Ban

Tuesday featured a busy night across creator platforms. Here are some of the headlines you might have missed →

Meta extended its block on new political ad sales across its platforms several days past Election Night. The move was intended to stem the flow of potential misinformation from spreading among creators and advertisers, as votes are still being counted.

This comes as users on Meta’s “Twitter killer,” Threads, called out the platform’s “For You” algorithm for surfacing outdated and inaccurate content on Election Day—which included posts up to 24 hours old.

Rumble set a new peak viewership record with 1.8 million views on Tuesday, as political streamers including Dan Bongino and Steven Crowder streamed live commentary on election results on the platform.

• While significant, Rumble’s concurrent viewers paled in comparison to its competitors’ previous highs—YouTube hit 16 million live viewers in October, and Twitch reached 6.7 million this past July.

• Worth noting: Political streamer Hasan Piker observed that the majority of Election Night’s most popular streamers across platforms were conservative-leaning.

TikTok was ordered to dissolve its business operations in Canada after a “national security review” by the Canadian government concluded on Wednesday.

Canadian citizens will still be able to access the app. TikTok has already pledged to challenge the order in court.

Kai Cenat’s Subathon Off to an Explosive Start

Kai Cenat is officially one week into his month-long subathon on Twitch. During that time, he streamed with Snoop Dogg, became a knight for a day, and even launched a late-stage campaign for US president.

The result? Cenat passed 240,000 paid subscribers yesterday—meaning he only needs 90,000 more by the end of November in order to retake his spot as the Twitch sub record-holder (currently held by the VTuber Ironmouse).

Elsewhere around the streamer-verse, Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. passed 33 million subscribers on YouTube on Wednesday. Later that day, Watkins Jr. raced Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles live on stream…and came surprisingly close to winning.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Disguised Toast qualifies his esports team for the official League of Legends Championship of the Americas.

• NYC creators—snag your spot for ‘Frames of the Future’ on November 18th exploring case studies and pro tips for using AI in your creative work.*

• The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is renewed for a second season.

• Scammer Payback answers scam questions for Wired.

• Call of Duty streamer Censor breaks the Guinness World Record for most pull-ups in 24 hours.

• Jschlatt releases a single off his upcoming Christmas album.

_{*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: Some creators have made a name for themselves online by talking about their journeys to sobriety. GQ investigated what happens when members of this growing group relapse.

• Watch: Tejas Hullur releases the final episode of his deep-dive series on the science of attractiveness.

• Listen: Dr. Peter Attia joins The Colin and Samir Show to discuss how to increase creativity and prevent burnout on YouTube.